Hah! That's actually one I'd noticed fairly recently. If I'd be sitting down while putting my shoes on, I'd have to reach down and grab my leg to pull it up on my knee. Now, I just casually cross them without needing to grab my ankle and heave. I'd lost over 40 pounds before I could be convinced that there was a noticeable difference. I tend to be pretty critical of me. The whole '1/4 of my mass' thing is a framing I'd actually used with myself. I did consider that a milestone. My ultimate goal is 1/3. At only 5'7", 200 would still make me a big boy, but it sounds great to me. Haven't been at or below 200 since I was like 21. I'd been a chainsmoking, sedentary lardass for a good 15 years before I just kinda said 'enough is enough' one day. Didn't really think I'd stick with the whole walking thing, but it seemed to be incorporated into my current zeitgeist pretty quickly. Plenty of days I just wanted to sit around and not have to sweat through 60+ laps around my fence line, but I just felt really weird not doing it. Pretty sure I'm gonna gain some weight over winter since I'm not going out there when it's below 40, but at least I've shown myself that I absolutely can do it. Did it once, should be easy to pick back up again when the weather is good again. Thanks for the kind words. Always hated compliments, but have a feeling I could use some these days.
Heh, you've earned it. Very few people are able to do what you've done.
"I'd lost over 40 pounds before I could be convinced that there was a noticeable difference." - goes with the "Always hated compliments" and "I tend to be pretty critical of me." The weight gain did not happen for no reason.
"My ultimate goal is 1/3. At only 5'7", 200 would still make me a big boy, but it sounds great to me. Haven't been at or below 200 since I was like 21."
20'ish years later — sounds like it's time to do it again.
"but at least I've shown myself that I absolutely can do it." - yup. Notch on the desk time. Heh, you also quit smoking (same here). That's a bitch. For me it was the "hand to mouth" thing. I quit in early 1985 and am very glad I did.
"it's below 40," - and I don't like it when it dips into the 50's!
![Smile :-) :-)](/styles/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
You're in MN, AK? -40's a bitch. I went to college in New Brunswick, Canada and we hit the - teens a few times a year but -40, yikes. It might be a fact of significant weight loss that we feel the cold more after the loss. I know that, as we age, we lose the layer of fat under our skin but, it might be that significant weight loss, which includes loss of "brown" fat makes it harder for us to regulate temps//makes us more susceptible to cold temps. We keep the heat at 68° and I have to wear three layers and use a light comforter on the bed. Something to keep in mind if you decide to play Nanuk of the North - don't freeze your 'nads off, says the guy from SoCal to the guy who lives in South North Pole.
You might want to get in touch with this guy:
J. Graham Thomas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Research)
Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center
The Miriam Hospital & Brown Medical School
196 Richmond Street
Providence RI 02903
Phone: 401-793-8154
(I don't have an email addy for him.)
I don't now how I found him but he works for Brown University. They're sponsoring his research and they send out a survey every year to folks who have lost a lot of weight. I'll admit that I didn't answer for a few years when I was obese again but I realize I should have. Maybe filling out the survey will help someone at some time.