Leonie,

How do you manage to fit in the machines? I hurt myself today while at
curves trying to get in all the machines. Maybe I gave up too fast.

My brother was discouraged when I told him I don't want to go back. He gave
me hell.

I also could only go around once. You must be more active then me. Are you
active somewhat? Are you able to go around the whole 30 minutes?

Congrats on deciding to lose the weight.

Good luck.

Dianne

The heavier a person is, the faster s/he will lose weight.  With that
and being on only 1200 a day you should see some results fast to
encourage you.

People will always harass you something......just read usenet or drive
on a crowded road.

You are fairly coureagous for doing something from the postion you are
in.  Many people at lower weights would just give up.

Good Luck

Steve

Hi Leonie, 420 lbs is quite a bit of weight. May I suggest eating a
little bit more than 1000-1200 cals per day, and also consider
consulting with a doctor prior to starting your diet. Also, check out
low carbing, it could be helpful.

good luck!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @ @ @    Please forgive my typos as my right hand is injured.    @ @ @
char*p="char*p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
        "It's never too late to have a happy childhood."

Leonie, you have a great attitude.  It's all about taking it a day at
a time, and remembering that every pound lost is an accomplishment.
Stick with us -- I know we all look forward to watching your progress!

Chris
262/154/ (145-150)

You have a wonderful attitude, Leonie.  I've been going to Curves for
almost a year and love it.  Lately I've slacked off since I've been
spending most of my time riding bikes but I'll probably start back full
time after biking season.

I look forward to you posting your progress.

Beverly

One more thing, be prepared that losing 250 or so pounds may be
actually very hard, with binges, cravings, giving up etc
interceding. Pretty much expect some obstacles on the way and do not
give up completely even if you, say, go on a 3 day binge and regain 10
lbs. Rationally speaking, there is no viable alternative to losing at
least 200 lbs. Even if it is very difficult.

i

Congrats on the determination.  You will need it!  I have a
couple of suggestions.  One is to eat more like 1500 calories
a day so you won't be hungry and binge, and so your body won't
go into the "hardship" response and start conserving fat (and
making you tired).

Secondly, if you can, go to a gym, even off hours like an hour
before closing when it's almost empty if you're self-conscious
about your looks. The gym can give you energy and motivation
that you might not get at home.  I do my treadmill at home,
everything else seems to get put off, so I got to the gym
where it's the ONLY thing I can do when I'm there.

You can do low-carb if you want, but at least eliminate white
bread, white pasta and rice and reduce saturated fat as much
as possible. Become a label reader!

Lord, I hope you are under doctor supervision with your diet.  Cutting
calories that low at your weight should require close monitoring of
your vitals and blood work by your doc on a regular basis.

Leonie, don't do that.  That's not enough food.  You'll be shooting
yourself in the food and guaranteeing that you'll hit 440 by the end of
the year.  I'm not saying this to be mean, and I missed your
introduction, but if you're hear to learn how to do this successfully
then you need to listen to me.

Figure out what your maintenance calories are a day.  I have no idea
what someone of your obesity needs.  Do you know?  You're looking for
the number of calories that you would eat when you're not gaining or
losing.  My guess is that it's around 3000 calories.

Did you log your normal eating patterns at www.fitday.com yet?  It's an
important first step.  This will also help to get a handle on what your
maintenance calories are.

Once you know what "maintenance" is, eat 500 less calories a day than
that.  Also exercise an additional 500 calories.  You'll be likely to
lose 2 pounds a week doing this.  Some weeks you'll lose more, some
weeks you'll lose less.

There are many reasons why you want to lose the weight slowly.  Here are
some of them.

You want to partition your weight loss mostly towards fat.  You'll have
to lose some lean body mass, too, eventually, but try to hold onto your
muscle mass as long as you can.  You need it to burn calories, you need
it to feel energetic and you need it to prevent injuries.  As a very
large woman one of the things you've got going for you is a lot of
muscle.  Use it, don't waste it away on a starvation diet!

Another reason you want to lose fat slowly is to allow your skin to
shrink along with the rest of you.  Google for some of our whining about
excess skin.  Going from a bag of lard to an empty sack of skin isn't
all that it's cracked up to be.  Be kind to your skin.

But the best reason to lose the weight slowly is that you need to use
this time while you're losing weight to learn how to be a smaller
person.  You've got to figure out how to change your eating habits for
life.  Don't diet, just start acting like you're a 200 pound woman
instead of a 400 pounds woman.  I assure you, there aren't any 200
pounds women living on 1000 calories a day.  Make these changes
SUSTAINABLE.  Don't do anything you can't do for the rest of your life.
   Tackle issues head on but do them one at a time.

That's the way to make this fat loss be for good.

Good luck.  Keep reading and posting - you've got a lot to learn but you
CAN learn it and you CAN make this work.  Several of us here have lost
massive amounts of weight.

Dally
244/177/169

I don't know how you will manage to limit yourself to a meagre 1200 calories
per day as you must have been consuming 3 times that many per day to get to
420lbs or whatever.  Don't get hung up about specifics (counting calories)
quite yet: you should drop a ton by just eating good healthy food and cutting
out the junk. No second helpings, no soda, no ice cream, cheeseburgers, french
fries, cookies, candy, donuts etc.  Get some exercise - it doesn't take much
effort to go for a long, brisk walk.  

Being morbidly obese poses serious long term health risks: it is never too late
to start doing something about it.

Bert

Leonie:

I end my posts with YMMV -- your mileage may vary. You have seen from
the responses to your post that people here have had success with
weight loss in various ways.

But many simply don't understand what it's like to be supermorbidly
obese.

So, Leonie, as someone who has lived as a supermorbidly obese woman
and has improved her health and quality of life, here is my two cents.
Remember, my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

First, consult a nutritionist. Healthy eating is a complicated
business. Get the facts from someone who understands your medical
situation.

Second, I agree that 1,000 to 1,200 calories is far too few at this
stage. Record a week's worth of meals on fitday.com and cut that daily
caloric average by one-third.

Third, keep posting. Folks here do want to help and see you succeed.

As always, YMMV.

Kasey
365/266/???

You should try ATKINS! its the best diet around! Buy the new book of ATKINS
"Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution"

see here for details
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006001203X/qid=1084403046/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2
_1/104-5195836-7895132

the reason you should get the book is because it explains WHY you are going
to loose weight, and how to go by doing it in a correct manner.
I have done the diet in the past and I am doing it again and loosing
weight...
its not a FAD diet, it really works....!

Kenny

You should try ATKINS! its the best diet around! Buy the new book of ATKINS
"Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution"

see here for details
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006001203X/qid=1084403046/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2
_1/104-5195836-7895132

the reason you should get the book is because it explains WHY you are going
to loose weight, and how to go by doing it in a correct manner.
I have done the diet in the past and I am doing it again and loosing
weight...
its not a FAD diet, it really works....!

Kenny

I wanted to add that atkins is a LOW CARB diet and that is the direction you
should go. See a doctor before doing it.
Its not a good idea to eat a little. WIth atkins you are never hungry and
you loose weight, because you eat almost no carbs.
also visit the www.atkins.com site for more info.
I have to loose 80-100 pounds but I am sure I will acomplish my goal since I
am loosing about 2.5 -3 pounds a week.
Thats 10 -12 pounds per month. But its more than the loss. The atkins diet
has given me MORE energy now and most importantly
I am not hungry all the time.
If you try to eat so little food there is a chance that you will not be able
to continue for a long period of time.
You need time to loose that wieght.

I feel like my eyes have finally opened by reading the book... you should
try it!

Kenny

I wanted to add that atkins is a LOW CARB diet and that is the direction you
should go. See a doctor before doing it.
Its not a good idea to eat a little. WIth atkins you are never hungry and
you loose weight, because you eat almost no carbs.
also visit the www.atkins.com site for more info.
I have to loose 80-100 pounds but I am sure I will acomplish my goal since I
am loosing about 2.5 -3 pounds a week.
Thats 10 -12 pounds per month. But its more than the loss. The atkins diet
has given me MORE energy now and most importantly
I am not hungry all the time.
If you try to eat so little food there is a chance that you will not be able
to continue for a long period of time.
You need time to loose that wieght.

I feel like my eyes have finally opened by reading the book... you should
try it!

Kenny