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All I can do is echo what others have said - you look amazing!

There's even a twinkle in your eye, I noticed!

I lost another 3.0 lbs this week! More than I had expected, since I'm getting close to the prize--I jumped off and on the scale 3X to make SURE, LOL.

AND I just crossed over into the high NORMAL BMI range!!!!!!! That's my last major interim goal DOWN before the final goal.

That said, I have decided that since my plan is to not change anything about how I eat (i.e., stick w/ mostly MWL/unprocessed, with occasional regular plan days and very occasional feast days (still vegan)), I'm going to let my body tell me when I'm at the right weight. I'm eating plenty of food and feeling great, so when I'm at the right weight, I assume the weight loss will stop. We'll see where that turns out to be!

Well done. You are a singular example of the attainable success possible. In fact, reading your signature block at the end of last month was a primary motivating factor in getting my @$$ in gear this month.

I'm glad if I can help! I did it before and I KNOW it works, but even I took years after I started gaining weight back to get my a$$ in gear. <sigh> Absurd, but true. I feel SO GREAT now--I will never ever go back. You can do it too nomikins!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!

Thought I would post a blow-by-blow account of my weight loss so far in case anyone is interested.

It's fairly self-explanatory. The running total is in the "total lost" column. The "Per. lost" column is for the loss for a particular period--monthly (in red) or per week or other period between weigh-ins.

The period 1/1/10-5/28/10 was when I was trying a little harder to be a "good vegan" but not McDougalling. You can see how things took off once I re-committed to the program!



My HUGE weight loss in July was mostly just because I was pretty overweight then (and it comes off faster when you're farther over your goal weight). I was compliant in June but became SUPER compliant in July.

I like that chart, and it's a good visual. I like the BMI column but never would have thought to add that. Once again, you have inspired me, as I made my own spreadsheet. I'm looking forward to getting out of the obese category, but at my height, I will have to get down to 163 (but I will, you wait and see)!

If you send me your email addy privately, I can send you the actual excel spreadsheet. There's lots more info on it and you can adapt it for your own stats.

Congratulations!!! Have you posted before and after photos anywhere? It'd be great to see your transformation! Way to Go!!

Photos from a few weeks back compared w/ last fall on page 3 of this thread.

I love love love the charts. Your such the new face of a Star Mcdougaller. Can't wait until you decide to do your full story. Keep on keepin on

Congratulations on your arrival at normal!!!! I was so psyched for you when you passed out of the obese range (and I trailed you by a few weeks!), and now--normal! Woo Hoo!

I'm on vacation right now so I just saw this, and I have to tell you I have been trying to follow you right on down the scale! You have 3 inches on me though, so I have to plunge down the scale further than you will! I love your plan of continuing what you've been doing, which is the same as I have been doing, "stick w/ mostly MWL/unprocessed, with occasional regular plan days and very occasional feast days (still vegan))," and I'm planning on the same game plan to find my right weight, "I'm going to let my body tell me when I'm at the right weight. I'm eating plenty of food and feeling great, so when I'm at the right weight, I assume the weight loss will stop. We'll see where that turns out to be!", because I'm assuming that, like me, you are going to eat this way for the rest of your life! It is so sensible and it has become second nature. I have even managed to become much better at getting restaurants to get me food I can eat!

I liked your graph, too. I was only keeping track of my weight losses on a tiny notebook, in pencil, for months. I actually have years of ghastly loss-gain statistics from my South Beach and other lame efforts in the same tiny notebook. But once I realized and began to believe that I was really losing on McDougall, I made an Excel S/S to which I keep adding more metrics! I don't have BMI tracked, though--I didn't learn much about that until later in the process.

You are doing incredibly well! Congrats one more time!

I really think this is the only way to do it. The whole "Biggest Loser" thing isn't going to work for most people b/c (1) they really do nothing significant re: food, and (2) those people work out 4-8 hours a DAY to lose that kind of weight--when BL is no longer their whole JOB, how can they possibly keep that up??

The only way to be successful long term is to find what works for your body and then KEEP DOING THAT. My mistake last time was thinking I could slack off when I got to goal weight. I also listened to all the people who were telling me I was "too skinny" at 130. I was thin, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get there this time, but if I do, great! I certainly wasn't TOO thin. Either people are so used to seeing fat people that they don't know what normal looks like or they're envious, but IMO one of the keys is to listen to yourself, not other people. Unless you have an eating disorder, you WILL know when you're at the right place and your body will keep you there as long as you keep doing things just as you had been while losing weight.

I just read this last post but oh, boy - can I relate. I have been bewildered by this same thing lately. I'm 5'5" and recently lost 20 pounds to put me at 124. Keep in mind, I have a VERY small frame. I come from a mother and a grandmother who never weighed more than 100 pounds at the same height. My frame is a little larger than both of theirs but still, a neat party trick is to compare wrists and watch people's eyes pop out at how small mine is!

So 124 is hardly too thin for me. It's fine, it's ok... if I never lose the pesky flab that remains in my tummy area and thighs, well, I have bigger problems than that. But the point is, I have excess flab. Quite a bit, to tell the truth.

And still, people come up to me and ask if I've been ill because I've gotten "so thin!" And I'm admonished to not lose any more.

As a reality check, just to make sure that I haven't developed some kind of eating disorder or become dysmorphic, I run these conversations by my husband of 22 years, who has seen my body at many different weights and stages, and he is as perplexed as I am and agrees that I am HARDLY "too thin."

I don't know what is up with people sometimes, I really don't...

I think the first time I hear someone tell me I'm "too thin," I'll fall over and faint and know I've arrived!

People don't think! I actually had a friend lose about 30 pounds a few years back and people who barely knew her asked is she had CANCER!!!!!! How rude can you get??? She looked great and not at all too skinny. Ignore them...they're just jealous!

Well, keep in mind that our society has increased the amount of fabric in womens' (and to some degree, mens' as well) clothing over the years to a pretty drastic degree. Marilyn Monroe was a size 14, and I've heard people justify being a 14 b/c Marilyn was.

Fact is that Marilyn was 5'-5" tall and 115-120 lbs. with measurements 35-22-35. She would be a 4 in today's sizing! That's how much sizes have changed over the years to accomodate the GROWING American woman! I know this for a fact b/c my size 10s from college 25 years ago fit me when I was wearing 6s many years later, when 10s made in 2002 were WAY too big.

Eating disorders ARE real, of course. But I think that a far more insidious problem than anorexia is obesity, and our growing acceptance as "normal" of overweight.