"You have young children, so I presume you are fairly young. 15 lbs this year and another 2 each year makes you pretty fat in no time at all."

I'm 43. I've been at this weight for four years now.

I thought I was when I got up to a size 12 sophomore year in college. I actually carried the weight proportionally and was thick/muscular so I didn't look obese---but I was much heavier than normal.

I dropped the 20 lbs in a 3 month period and added weights to my workout routine...watched the sweets a bit more and I've been a size 4 ever since (22 years later and after 2 kids).

I was not happy during that timeframe and I was fooling myself. I am much healthier and eat pretty much what I want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5'9" here former 12, now 4 after a lot of hard work. I lost 40lbs to get here. I was very overweight and would say I was fat. It really was pretty gross. There is really no excuse as to how I managed to get so fat and out of shape, other than too much eating and too little moving. I think it is a horrible example to your children to allow yourself to get so out of shape, especially if you do not naturally have a big build and never struggled with weight until kids came along. I feel for people born heavy, or people who's parents fed them junk as a child they really have an uphill battle.

As a former fat girl, I really hate all the excuses people make about fat. You don't do the fat person a favor by making excuses.

How did you lose it?

I lost 50 lbs 4 years ago and the answer to your question is more exercise and less food. People always ask me that question and seem disappointed with the answer. I've never known anyone who kept it off with a fad diet.

You are exactly correct! People ask how I did it, as if there is a secret that I'm onto and are a bit saddened to hear that I did not lose it on Atkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, or some other gimmick.

I say the only thing I find exceptional about it, is that I do manage to fit in daily (7 days of exercise) into my life a a Full Time working mom of two small children 5 and under. I keep one goal in mind and nothing will get in my way.

Do you enjoy life? Do you have time for family and friends? Any hobbies besides exercise?

I would consider myself highly social. However, my social activities often revolve around friends who are also into being fit. I would say that I spend 2 evenings a month out with girlfriends and then have a group of friends who I very often go hiking, sign up for races with, cycle with, or (like tonight) attend a class at the gym with. When I say I exercise 7 days a week, not every day is at the gym. I often bike to and from work, which unfortunately has just stopped since the clocks changed, but simply commuting on my bike 2-3xa a week means 60-90 miles right there. However 7 day a week means each and every day I break a sweat for at least 30min.

Hobbies? Like what? Woodworking, knitting, scrapbooking? No. Does reading count? I play the piano and I read 2 or so books a month….

I know some people don’t quite understand how exercise could be fun. I understand that riding a bike out to Purcellville with your kids on the back having lunch and turning around might not be considered “having a life”, or that going on a hike with the little one on a hiking pack on my back, but I find there are not only physical rewards to getting fresh air, but it also feeds the soul. Also, incorporating my children into these weekend activities is fun for them and teaches them that being active is a normal everyday adult behavior.

You get mommy of the year!!! Incorporating your children into your workout obsession.

I'm a cynical person. BMI is a load of horsesh*t for the most part (other than for morbidly obese).

If you have to have a debate about whether or not someone is fat then chances are that they aren't.

Being moderately 'overweight' by BMI standards is not a risk to someone's health if they exercise, eat well, and are overall healthy (i.e. LDL/HDL is good, no diabetes, non-smoker, bp is normal).

Obsessing over this question about clothing size is a sign of an unhealthy self-image. If there are those of you out there that think your self-worth or others' self worth is proportional to their waist line, I would highly suggest speaking with your doctor or a counselor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, i'm a size 12 and i"m fat. So what? I'm not in the market for a date and I'm not so fat it's detrimental to my health.

Not being a bitch here, but even being 20 pounds overweight can be detrimental to your health in the long run. Increases your chances of heart disease.

I'm writing this as I eat cookies. I've been gaining weight over the last several months, and have now reached size 12. I wouldn't call myself "fat", or even "chubby", but definitely carrying more weight than I should. I don't have as much energy, tire a lot easier, and am somewhat disgusted with myself.

Worrying about excess weight would be more detrimental than accepting my extra 15 pounds. I lift and do cardio 4 to 5 times a week. I just like to eat normal portions and not worry about food. I have no problems keeping up with my young boys.

You have young children, so I presume you are fairly young. 15 lbs this year and another 2 each year makes you pretty fat in no time at all.

It's all about the boobs! I'm an A cup, so at a size 12 I would definitely look "fat". A bigger chested woman, not so much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, i'm a size 12 and i"m fat. So what? I'm not in the market for a date and I'm not so fat it's detrimental to my health.

Not being a bitch here, but even being 20 pounds overweight can be detrimental to your health in the long run. Increases your chances of heart disease.

I'm writing this as I eat cookies. I've been gaining weight over the last several months, and have now reached size 12. I wouldn't call myself "fat", or even "chubby", but definitely carrying more weight than I should. I don't have as much energy, tire a lot easier, and am somewhat disgusted with myself.

Worrying about excess weight would be more detrimental than accepting my extra 15 pounds. I lift and do cardio 4 to 5 times a week. I just like to eat normal portions and not worry about food. I have no problems keeping up with my young boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good lord, no. Women who wear a size 0 look ridiculous and are not healthy. Also, you and others need to understand that a person's character is the only important thing about them. You are pathetic for even asking such a stupid, stupid question.

I think we just learned something about your character.

Yes, you did. You learned that I don't automatically think that someone is a bad person if they are overweight. You need to learn this lesson.

Do you think that someone who calls someone else pathetic for asking a stupid question is a good person?

No. Judging someone by their weight, race, religion, political affiliation is pathetic. Asking such a question is pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:Yup, i'm a size 12 and i"m fat. So what? I'm not in the market for a date and I'm not so fat it's detrimental to my health.

Not being a bitch here, but even being 20 pounds overweight can be detrimental to your health in the long run. Increases your chances of heart disease.

I'm writing this as I eat cookies. I've been gaining weight over the last several months, and have now reached size 12. I wouldn't call myself "fat", or even "chubby", but definitely carrying more weight than I should. I don't have as much energy, tire a lot easier, and am somewhat disgusted with myself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good lord, no. Women who wear a size 0 look ridiculous and are not healthy. Also, you and others need to understand that a person's character is the only important thing about them. You are pathetic for even asking such a stupid, stupid question.

I think we just learned something about your character.

Yes, you did. You learned that I don't automatically think that someone is a bad person if they are overweight. You need to learn this lesson.

New poster here. Do you not see what an incredible hypocrite you are? reading your first message and your follow up message teaches us all something quite different. You have a pretty bad sense of self-perception.

You need to learn that soomeone is not a bad person if they are small. You clearly must not be asian, nor have any small asian friends. I'm from Vietnam and sometimes even a 0 is too small, we are small people, open your eyes lady!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good lord, no. Women who wear a size 0 look ridiculous and are not healthy. Also, you and others need to understand that a person's character is the only important thing about them. You are pathetic for even asking such a stupid, stupid question.

I think we just learned something about your character.

Yes, you did. You learned that I don't automatically think that someone is a bad person if they are overweight. You need to learn this lesson.

Do you think that someone who calls someone else pathetic for asking a stupid question is a good person?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good lord, no. Women who wear a size 0 look ridiculous and are not healthy. Also, you and others need to understand that a person's character is the only important thing about them. You are pathetic for even asking such a stupid, stupid question.

I think we just learned something about your character.

Yes, you did. You learned that I don't automatically think that someone is a bad person if they are overweight. You need to learn this lesson.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5'9" here former 12, now 4 after a lot of hard work. I lost 40lbs to get here. I was very overweight and would say I was fat. It really was pretty gross. There is really no excuse as to how I managed to get so fat and out of shape, other than too much eating and too little moving. I think it is a horrible example to your children to allow yourself to get so out of shape, especially if you do not naturally have a big build and never struggled with weight until kids came along. I feel for people born heavy, or people who's parents fed them junk as a child they really have an uphill battle.

As a former fat girl, I really hate all the excuses people make about fat. You don't do the fat person a favor by making excuses.

How did you lose it?

I lost 50 lbs 4 years ago and the answer to your question is more exercise and less food. People always ask me that question and seem disappointed with the answer. I've never known anyone who kept it off with a fad diet.

You are exactly correct! People ask how I did it, as if there is a secret that I'm onto and are a bit saddened to hear that I did not lose it on Atkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, or some other gimmick.

I say the only thing I find exceptional about it, is that I do manage to fit in daily (7 days of exercise) into my life a a Full Time working mom of two small children 5 and under. I keep one goal in mind and nothing will get in my way.

Do you enjoy life? Do you have time for family and friends? Any hobbies besides exercise?

I would consider myself highly social. However, my social activities often revolve around friends who are also into being fit. I would say that I spend 2 evenings a month out with girlfriends and then have a group of friends who I very often go hiking, sign up for races with, cycle with, or (like tonight) attend a class at the gym with. When I say I exercise 7 days a week, not every day is at the gym. I often bike to and from work, which unfortunately has just stopped since the clocks changed, but simply commuting on my bike 2-3xa a week means 60-90 miles right there. However 7 day a week means each and every day I break a sweat for at least 30min.

Hobbies? Like what? Woodworking, knitting, scrapbooking? No. Does reading count? I play the piano and I read 2 or so books a month….

I know some people don’t quite understand how exercise could be fun. I understand that riding a bike out to Purcellville with your kids on the back having lunch and turning around might not be considered “having a life”, or that going on a hike with the little one on a hiking pack on my back, but I find there are not only physical rewards to getting fresh air, but it also feeds the soul. Also, incorporating my children into these weekend activities is fun for them and teaches them that being active is a normal everyday adult behavior.

Anonymous wrote:I ate less and moved more. I eat only protein in the morning and hardly any white carbs throughout the day. Due to all my exercise, I would guess I'm eating about 2100cal/day to maintain. It took about 9 months for my metabolism to really start to kick in and crank up. Once I got most of the egregious excess weight off and had a lot of strength training under my belt, I started to run. The running has shaped me into my dream...a nice slim build.

I just hear a lot of people overweight who have more excuses and I was one of them until I was truly digusted by what was in the mirror and how out of shape and tired I was feeling.

As to the PP, I'm not calling fat people gross. I was speaking of myself. I find it very hard to believe that there are many women out there happy with themselves as a 12. Today's 12 is yesterday's 16 and whichever you slice and dice it, a woman in her 30s and 40s should not be that size. Your 30s and 40s should be prime time for looking and feeling your best ever.

I'm not willing to give up carbs to go from a size 12 to a size 8. I'm 5'6", 158 pounds and 45 years old. Enjoying my food is more important than weighing 140. I'm very active, I just like my carbs and wine!