LDGillis

I started on this site (and my journey) back in July of 2008 and really started doing something about it in October. In July of 2009 I had lost 60 pounds and lots of sizes by walking and drinking water. That’s the month I started working and thought that all the movement I did there (I walked around all day and unloaded trucks once a week…lifting heavy boxes etc.) would keep me fit so I stopped walking. I also needed energy for my work days and started drinking sodas again. Quit that job 8 months later but still drank sodas and didn’t start walking again. Two months later I got another physical job that required walking and bending and lifting so I stayed in the same mind frame. NOW, it has been over a year with this job and I weighed myself (I had stopped doing that) and was pissed to see that I have put on 30 pounds!!! SO, my 60 pound loss has dwindled to a 30 pound loss and growing smaller!! Time to take action again; and I will; but I am so mad at myself for not being alarmed when I had to go up in sizes and for not realizing that my stomach was getting bigger and bigger How did I let this happen again?! Why did I think that the stresses in my life (struggling to keep the lights on and supporting 7 people on one check when my sister and her hubby and 3 kids moved in and they didnt work) were more important than my health and my pride at what I had accomplished? I have no real answer other than I was more focused on the crappy people in my life and trying to get through my days peacefully. Somehow it crept up on me and here I am…back again! If anyone is in the Daytona Beach area PLEASE contact me and maybe we could check in to keep each other on track. I refuse to let this happen and will lose 40 pounds! I never saw my goal weight of 135 as I was shy about 5 pounds but I WILL this time!

I have been on this site for a very long time and need some help. I managed to lose 60 pounds (ok so I put 5 back on since quitting my job two months ago…sue me lol) and I have no idea of how to lose my stomach. It did shrink from the weight loss but its still not flat like I want and I am losing my confidence that I gained!! I need help figuring out which exercises truly are the best for toning my stomach and flabby upper arms..thats all I have left that is fat…unless someone has figured out a way to tone the top inner leg area that rubs when you walk. I am currently hanging my shoulders off my couch and crunching up slightly to get the upper abs and more to get the lower abs. Anyone wanna send me some intruction and/or be my crunch buddy to keep me accountable??? If anyone is in the NSB or Edgy area please feel free to contact me for a workout buddy too!!!

over 6 months later and still at a great weight! 140’s for six months now and it feels good!!! Still hard for me to believe it though. People will call me skinny and I am like who me??? lol. I was called that a few times in the last month by customers and truly had to smile..even told one lady I loved her lmao. Seems so hard to believe it when I try on jeans sized 3!! I stopped walking back in July cuz I got a job that I walk all day long at and unload/load heavy things 3 days a week so that substituted for it I figured. I still have trouble eating 3 times a day but at least now I try for two. I need some toning exercises targeted to my arms and stomach since those are being stubborn but the work did a great job the last 6 months so it should be quicker than had I being sitting at a desk. I am really happy with my success and wish everyone here the best with theirs too! I havent met my goal which I lowered to 125 (family thinks I have an issue lol) but I wont give up on it…plan to get there before another 6 months has passed.  Guys are flirting with me like crazy and its reallllllllly nice. I am 41 (42 in March) and I get more date offers than I ever have! I put it down to the wieght loss, the fact that I aged well and my confidence from my struggles of the past year. Surviving having no water, heat or air and barely any food with a 4 year old can make you realize that you truly are strong and need no one, which in turn makes you confident in yourself. I got a job, the ex boyfriend back, am making my own money, drive my own car and really living my life on my own (and my beautiful daughter of course!!) and I am pretty happy and I felt like sharing with you guys. Hopefully I will make someone want to write the same thing next year and get motivated

Ok so I have gotten some feedback that I have motivated a few on here and I think that is really frackin awesome but now I need some. I am sooooo close to my goal and yet my tummy is still big and I dont know why. How can I feel so proud of my 52 pound loss but still not like myself in the mirror? How can this damn stomach take away the joy that I feel at working so hard and achieving my goal (ok alomst lol)?!  I really really really want someone to email me at cheerokeegirl@yahoo every few days and make sure that I have done some yoga or crunches or something PLEASE. My web access is limited and so I can only check in here when I can get access but I can check emails from my cell.  I am really down right now and this tummy thing isnt helping. I cant find a job, have no car, no water and electric will be turned off this week. Ex hubby pays for cell thank goodness and I live in Fl so I collect the rain water and I have candles but it still brings me down! I have sold just about everything I have worth of value just to keep from being foreclosed on this month and have no idea of what I am gonna do for Julys payment if a job doesnt come through. PLUS I am still in love with my ex and cant get him the hell outta my mind even though I truly want to! I have all of this on my mind for the last two months and am pretty much wore the hell down so someone please email me to keep me on track. It may help some

has been met and exceeded I hit the 147 mark and my last mini goal was 149!! 52 pounds gone and I am so proud of myself. I have only 8 more to go before I hit my main goal but I figure that heck I might as well go for 135 so I will try to hit 12 more pounds. 10 months this has taken me when I was hoping for 6 but I really dont care. If it takes me exactly one year I will do it! It feels so good when my pants are falling off I cant wait to hit 135 and get new clothes that I know I will stay in…so far I only get new ones from hand me downs and a few that I bought when no one had any in the size I was in. I have gone from a size 20 to a 7 (and even some 5s lol) which means that I have gone down 7 sizes. That also means that I really dont have many clothes and weirdly enough that is fine by me. This is from a woman who had walk in closet; that you could have made a small baby nursery; filled with clothes!! So not only have I gotten healthier, look better, and feel better but I learned to let things go (old clothes) and not buy things just to buy. This has been a great journey. I have learned some self respect as well as learned that I do deserve to feel good! As do all of you so please stay with it and if you stop for awhile as I did, GO BACK TO IT! You are never behind when you start all over again since its a fresh start! Dont look at it like you lost 12 pounds and then gained 5 back so you are behind…look at it as you lost 7 punds and start from there.

I have hit my 6th mini goal (155) and I am thrilled!!! My next is 149 and I know I can do it. Just looking back at my weight tracker history is motivation for me. I would have never thought that I actually make it here which is why I made so many mini goals, but with each one achieved I felt so proud and just wanted more! I am so proud of myself and I truly hope that each one of you guys feel the same pride in yourselves when you hit your goal!!!! We should all be proud just for being who we are. Good luck to each of us and blessed be ya’ll!

Even though I maintained my 40 pd loss, I am not happy that I let 2 months go by and didnt walk, started drinking less water and really didnt care. I got too complacent and now I am not anymore. Prolly cuz beach weather is here lol!! Doesnt matter why, as long as I stay with it this time. I still have 20-30 pounds to go and I still have a flat stomach to get somehow. The stomach thing is bother me but I will figure it out I always do. SO this week I have started adding water again, went out and celebrated Bike Week Sat night (I live in Daytona Beach Fl baby!!!) by dancing for over two hours, did 30 mins worth of crunches the day before that and yesterday walked the beach for over 1 1/2! Nice start back I would say. Crunches tonight if I can lol…sunburned so it may not happen but I can do them tomorrow. Wed will be walking, Thurs crunches, Fri walking and Sat dancing. I am hoping that one of you wonderful ppl will be my buddy and keep me on task PLEASE. I want that bathing suit body that I hoped I would have by my bday on the 31st and wont now

Exercise Log

I have lost 32 pounds in four months. I was upset because somewhere at the 30 pd mark, about one month ago, I stopped losing. I didnt know what was wrong. I went out and got me a pair of new jeans to cheer me up since I knew that I had gone down a size. It turned out to be 2 sizes. I was pretty happy with that but still no more weight loss! I stopped walking for about a week due to my lil girl being sick and when I started back found I has lost 1 more pd and was like oh good, its starting again. Last night, when I visited my step sister, she was like you know are probably a size 10 now and I told her she was on crack lol. I was a 20 when I started and 10 sounded like maybe something I would be in March or so with the weight coming off slowly now. She bet me so I tried on her jeans and sure enough they fit as well as her 9’s. I have lost 5 sizes and they fit me sooooooooooooo perfectly :):) She even gave me 4 pair so I dont have to go buy any!! I am so excited I cannot even begin to write about it!! When I weighed this morning I had even lost one more pd to make the 32 in total. FIVE sizes….I am, yeah me, in a size  9 (NINE)…so go me!!!!!!!

Exercise Log

My bf left me and so I am used my confusion to motivate me to walk….cant think with my dd always talking so walking is where I think. Then it was to come up with devious ways to bring him back. Then it was because I realized that hey I was losing weight and I was walking faster and farther than I have ever done in my life. This week he called me pathetic, so its my anger pushing me forward. I was always told that people trying to lose weight had to do it for theirselves and no other reason but I dont believe that anymore. I started cuz my doc scared the Hades outta me, kept at it cuz I hve no car and needed to walk to the store, stayed with it for the above reasons and it really doesnt matter as long as it gets the job done I say! So if you cant do it for yourself, then think of other reasons to do it and just go for it.

Sad, angry, frustrated, thrilled and motivated. I was sad that I had to buy bigger sizes and angry that I gotten to that point. When I couldnt even get into those after some time I didnt allow myself to feel anything. Now I am thrilled because I can fit into back into those same jeans that made me feel sad and frustrated. I am motivated to keep losing so that I can give these jeans away (although they are quite cute lol) and get some new ones. Although I wont be getting many since I dont plan to stay in those either but to lose even more and get yet another smaller size