kimalicious

Great job!!!! I bet your head is held so high! Keep up the awesome work!

It is very rarely that I am physically hungry anymore. If I could just tell my head that I would be just fine. Some days are easy, some days I am kicking and screaming with myself about my head hunger. I have to tell myself one day at a time!

Don't be so hard on yourself sweetie, everyone has their different reasons for overeating. I still don't know what mine are and still struggle with it every single day. The only thing that stops me is my band. I have a great restriction now and 1 bite to many and I am in pain or the food is coming back up. I'm surely hurting my band, but it works!! We all face the food demons but once you have the restriction you need it really starts to help in that area. I actually quit trying to push my band to the limits and don't try to eat things any longer that I can't. I took me PBing in my car several times before I slowed down, but it is a slow and steady process. I am especially good in front of other people so I try to make sure I eat in front of people because I don't want to PB in front of them or not be able to talk because I am stuck. It works for me so that is what I use and when I do this I may get in 5 bites of food before I have to slow way down or completely stop. You will hit your stride, just don't give up!!!

I need the 16-18's too, I need to get rid of the 20-26's I have a few bags of them right now and already gave a bunch after the hurricane Katrina only to see that picture on the news were clothes were piled high and strewn everywhere in a parking lot. They were saying they really needed plus sizes so I gave a lot of bags worth of really nice clothes. I have about 3 bags worth now, I am definately near you. Just let me know if you can find someone who wants our old sizes and I am there!

I am at 2.9 I think, it is crazy that I forget. Well, I guess I will need to read my signature. Anyways, I am at the perfect level for myself right now. I did not lose over Christmas, but I ate everything in sight and still did not gain, including tons of chocolate. Now I need to kick in into gear, cut out the chocolate and start exercising to watch it start falling back off again.

Wheetsin, I did check and UNT has a techology, training and development masters certificate and program. I had no idea. They are wanting you to have a year experience in training for a company for you to take the masters program (which I don't understand) and if not to do an internship for 6 months. I am making an appointment once school is opened back up after the holidays to talk to them about it. Thanks again for your insight!

Kira, very interesting, my mother was an international event planner actually for the corporate part of the company I work for. She has since retired and just does events a few times a year now. International is a tough job but the perks are awesome. Thanks for the website, very informational.

Wow Road Queen, those are all such awesome accomplishments. I feel like a lazy bum now. HA!! While working a 50 hour week and going to school, I don't have time for much else in between, those are great ideas for when I do finish though. I love the idea of volunteer work and I had never heard of the other Organization you spoke for, but I am currently looking it up. I guess I was so involved with school work I never had time to join any of the groups invovled with the school to get the extras in. I will put my focus on this next semester. There are so many great orgs within my company and school, I just need to sign my butt up and get in there. I am so dead serious about school now that nothing is going to stop me from going all the way (again, why didn't I think of that sooner in life) Thanks! Wheetsin, I currently go to the University of North Texas but the business schools around here would be either Southern Methodist University(SMU), The University of Dallas (UD), or University of Texas Arlington (UTA). Thanks for checking and let me know if you hear anything, I am really appreciating all of this help. I don't know if the infomation or motivation has helped more! Thanks, Kim

Wheetsin, what does IPT/HPT stand for? I have actually done some training at a small company when I was younger and have looked for specific degrees in this area. They don't really exist at the bachelors level in our area. There is a Masters at the University I attend though, but it is very decript as to the areas that you want to train in and you basically already have to be in that field to do so. All of your information was really helpfull. I have wanted to be a teacher from as far back as I can remember, so teaching adults just makes more money with less time off. I knew I could get some insight on this sight, I swear there is someone who knows everything in this place. Thanks everyone for the info!

I totally had the same problem in the beginning. It was so annoying. But don't worry, it does pass!

You laugh, but if Osama liked big girls, they would have already tapped this place down! HA!!!

I have actually talked to the training department here and they require a bachelors degree minimum. I guess I need to just finish school and then worry about moving around. There are so many opportunities outside of my department, most of which require a degree. So that is definately the route I would like to go. I work for a major finance company that is all over the world, so the options are endless. I just need to get my degree, learn to network and make friends just to move around. I hate networking, but I guess I am going to have to suck that up. I hate it when people get jobs only because they are friends with the management. I guess instead of hating them I will just have to join them.

I goofed around when I first graduated high school and never finished my degee. Now that I have the opportunity I am working on finishing. It is near impossible for me to finish completely without working part time at some point. That I could not afford in my life at this time, but also can't afford not to finish in the long run. I feel stuck and keep telling myself to stick through it since they are working with my school schedule and paying for my school. Then also I feel like, so I finish school and then what? I want something stable with normal hours and pays decently. I just thank god that this area of the US is not an expensive place to live. For instance, I could buy a 2000 sqaure foot home in a nice neighborhood for $160K easily. The commute is not wonderful, but not as bad as other places I have seen, so 60K a year is really not a bad salary in this area, but I always want more and something more rewarding than taking peoples homes from them. I am going to school to become a high school psychologist. It will be a massive pay cut, but much more rewarding I think? THen sometimes I feel like I am not living up to my potential as choosing this for my future? Does anyone else feel like they just chose their career because it was the easy degree?

I've never been on any drugs for mood elevation other than the stupid kid drugs everyone does in high school. HA. I feel like I should wait, because when I think I need them I also think 1 day I could be even worse and then seriously,really need them. So I am waiting for that day. If it ever gets to that point I will call a doctor stat and have them pill me up. My step-mother who raised me has Panic disorder and Agoraphobia that started after she had my little brother and her mother died when she was 7 months pregnant with him. On a regualr day she can't drive out side her city limits and would never imagine getting on a plane to go somewhere without a panic attack. She would rather live like this than to get the pills and therapy she needs because she is scared she will end up in the hospital again. I feel she is missing out on so much life, but while she was on the pills, whatever they were she said that it leveled her mood so much, that not only could she not feel the lows she could never feel the highs either. I hate this for her and since she is my best friend wish that she would get the help she needs so we can go everywhere together and travel and go whenever and whereever we want to go. That is just me being selfish though so in the mean time I just try to talk to her about seeing a phychaitrist, but she would have to drive to get to a decent one, so I don't know what the answer is.

I have it also in my left shoulder when I over eat or get too gassy, or drink something carbonated. I asked my doc and she said that a lot of nerves are around our stomach and those go up through our shoulders...just like the pain from the CO2 after surgery in our shoulders. I think our stomach and esophaugus get full and move the band around just enough to hit those nerves. One time when I had pneumonia I coughed so hard I thought I broke a rib, ended up being some main nerve I upset. Weird how nerve endings can cause us so much pain.

Congrats on the wedding, that looks like it was a bunch of fun. Here's to a wonderful life for the two of you!

Congratulations. I am so close to that I can taste it. I want to be below 200 also!! WAY TO GO!!! Keep up the good work!!

I know a chic that won't take birth control because it's against her religion, she has 5 kids by 5 different men, some were married, I guess they never went over that part in her bible studies since she is so worried about religion. I can't stand that. It's one thing to be a dumb teenager, but the woman I know is 32 years old and still doing this crap, living on welfare and her poor mother who has full retirement but had to get a teaching job to pay for her daughter and 5 grandkids extras. Ok, I need to quit talking about these people, they are obviously sick and demented and this is the holidays, so I will just say, bad decisions and hopefully the children will grow up with a better head on their shoulders.

Ohh lordy, I would get my money back stat!!! That Christmas spirit must ahve taken you over. Get it back and give it to a real charity! Maybe that is just my scrooge comin out, bu bah humbug then. Women like that really give us all a bad name.

Bwhahahhaa!

Vines, you are not a fruad, I felt the same way and left for 6 months from this board and during that time gained 6 pounds back. What other year can you ook back and see that you have lost this much weight and continue to keep it off. I know that is what keeps me happy about my weightloss even when the scale isn't moving. I came back to this board after a well needed fill and have been moving down ever since. I need this community to keep me on track and keep me sane when I fall off the track. Don't ever leave, just re-evaluate and see what can be changed and what processes to try next, Don't give up, we need you!

Vanessa, so true: "God wouldn't take anything away from without giving you something much better. I can tell you from my own life that this is true. Try to believe that if someone turns their back on you when you are succeeding at something, then they may never have been your friend. Misery loves company." I do feel like I am trying to better myself in many ways, but I also feel like I am being a snob when I feel this way, like I am making myself BETTER than they are. My husband so far is much better to me than any of my friends were recently. Candy, 25 was when it all changed for me because that is when I got married, I sit back and wonder if I could have been different or done something different, or maybe I was acting different. Now, that best friend who left me at the beginning of my engagement is going through some of the same things with her new friends due to her new engagement, so I am hoping she understands. She is never someone I can be close to again, because I am always scared she will "dump" me again, but I have always tried to forgive and not hold a grudge because I am still close to the rest of her family and wouldn't want to cut that off completely. Maybe I just need to come to terms with the fact that they will just be good memories I have and I will never have that again, especially not be able to go back. I also need to learn to be happy with what I have in front of me...which has always been a downfall of mine. Sarah, I am dealing with it that way too, I have never been closer to my mom, she is the only one besides my husband that goes shopping with me and out to eat and she is supportive and listens to me when I need her. She knows what I am going through with my weight loss since she herself just lost like 80 pounds from Atkins. To me it is not the same as those friends, but I am glad ya'll helped me with my post, I needed to hear all of this. I just needed perspective and I can always come here and get it. Thanks Y'all!

I am having a really hard time this holiday season. I am saddened by a lack of close friends this year. Since I was very young I have always had tons of friends around, and for years the very same close friends that was one big close group. Well, between fights, marriages, everyones work and just lack of trying we are all no longer hanging out and may only see each other 2 times a year. By all, I mean they have moved on to other friends because I got married and I am stuck alone while they go out and have a good time with all of their new friends and aquantainces. I;'m sure some would say our previous group were too close, but that is how I liked it. I have never had a problem making friends in the past but I am at a standstill in life where I am very busy with school and work. I am used to all of us going out for Christmas and birthdays and any event we could make up to have an excuse to go out and now I feel like I am all alone. I do have my wonderful husband and would not have been able to get through all of this without him, I am just feelin lonely and wanting for the times we used to have together. I don't like most of the people I work with and we get moved around so much up here that it is hard to make a close friend you would actually see outside of work. I'm tired of trying to make new friends that will never live up to what those friends were and I'm tired of feeling lonely. I feel like I lost a family and support system all in one and maybe it is just the holiday's talking but it is really upsetting me. Why is it so hard to find good, strong, loyal friends when you start getting older?

Can you ship me some of your basic instincts please, I will give you my mailing address and I will order 100 boxes please!

so true about the blessings, I couldn't have found a more loving husband. He may not bring the fun, crazy girl out in my like my old friends did, but he is my rock, stable and loving. I guess I feel more rejected than anything and I am going through a stage where I am lackin in self esteem right now. Seems like the more weight I lose the more I see I have to lose and the fatter I feel because I haven't lost it all yet. I feel like I am bigger now than I did when I was 60 pounds heavier, probably because I am actually trying hard at it now and focusing more on my looks. It is crazy what a mind messup fat can be.