What will you look and feel like at goal?

[grizzly]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Why is it when you are dieting, everyone wants to tell you; "Oh, you can eat that, there's no carbs in it to hurt you. Oh, you don't need to lose weight, you wouldn't be Grizzly if your skinny""" They don't even understand.

Discuss this please, or am I the only person with friends like this.

[Chris]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

am I the only person with friends like this.

Nope, we've all got 'em, Grizz. People don't want to see us change. They know us as we are, and seem to feel that we should stay that way. Of course, there are also those who are jealous of postitive accomplishments. They seem to think if we do good things, and they don't, it makes them look bad.

As you approach goal weight, you will, without any doubt, find those who keep telling you to stop losing. "You're getting too skinny," they'll say. What they really mean, of course is "You're starting to look really good, and that's not right for you. You're supposed to be fat." Or, something to that effect.

Just remember, your friends don't live in your body -- YOU do! In the past, when I've come up against situations like this, I just try to tactfully step around it, without making it into a confrontation. If I'm offered something that I shouldn't eat, I'll say something like, "thanks, but I really don't care for any right now. Maybe later." If I'm told that I'm getting too skinny (that certainly was in the past, but it did happen many times!), I'll say something on the order of, "Perhaps you're right. Maybe I should slow down." Of course, I then just keep on doing what I've been doing. Works every time!

[ValidRouge]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Good Advice Chris!

Grizzly, keep your eye on the prize and don't let anyone get in your way.

[cleochatra]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Also, too, people don't like change. Period.

Man's greatest inherent need is to be able to anticipate behavior.

Your job, along the way, is going to be to prove that you're still the adorable and happy-go-lucky guy you've always been, and that your friends, family, and co-workers don't have a reason to worry.

Because people do worry. How will your weight loss affect them? Let's make it positively!

{{{grizzly}}}

[Adena]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Someone telling me that I'm getting too skinny.....? Sounds like heaven to me.

[Chris]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Someone telling me that I'm getting too skinny.....? Sounds like heaven to me.

Trust me, Adena, long before you get to that goal of 165 pounds, it will happen!

[cleochatra]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Wait until sweet guys start telling you you must have big feet because there's no way you could weigh what you claim to.

[Chris]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Wait until sweet guys start telling you you must have big feet because there's no way you could weigh what you claim to.

Hey, YOU'RE the one who said that's why, in your pictures, you look so much thinner than what you claim to weigh. You even showed us that adorable baby pic of yourself with those enormous size 28 feet!

At least you don't show it in your face. I still look like I swallowed a whole basketball -- and it won't go down! (Hmm, maybe that's because there's already a beach ball down there.)

[cleochatra]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Robbie started it! I just ran with his suggestion. I'm all about the suggestions. Save for the ones where they're hypnotic. Because I'm not an emu who wears purple and tapdances in front of people at a high school event. I'm not! Mook! *tap tap tap*

[Adena]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Okay, so since I did start this thread, maybe it's uncool to bump it myself, but I thought it might be helpful to some of our newer ADBBers.

Take a look, and share your own visions of success....

[Theperfect10]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Adena, its a wonderful thread. I've read everyones visualisations and so many of them struck a chord with me. In fact, pretty much everything each person said relates to me at some level.

For me though, I see myself as a healthy size 10 - 12. I was always a size 8 - 10 in my teens and twenties. Realistically, to be a toned and fit size 10 - 12 would be a dream come true. I'll weigh somewhere between 160 and 175lbs. I'll know when I get to the right weight.

I love fashion, and at this size I'll be able to indulge my love of fashion without worrying how big my butt looks! My biggest dream is to wear jeans with a simple t-shirt tucked in. No loose fitting smock to hide my tummy and bum. I can shop anywhere, not just stores that do plus sizes.
Like Joy I'll be able to cross my legs comfortably, and also be able to walk without my thighs rubbing uncomfortably together.
Also like Joy - at 5'10, I mostly wear flats so as not to draw attention to myself, as I feel so big. I want to be proud of my height and start to walk tall again, with heels, not feeling like I'm the biggest person in the room. I can just about remember that girl I used to be, who never felt like she was enormous - just a leggy brunette.

I will feel beautiful again and believe my bf when he tells me so. I'll be confident to walk around naked if I so desire, without having to do the current walking backwards to the bathroom, so he doesnt have to see my butt too closely!

Most importantly - and this is where in the spirit of honesty that Adena started this thread - I hope and believe that my bf will propose and when he does, I want to know that I can walk down the aisle with my Daddy and really feel that I am a beautiful bride. If we are blessed with children, I'll be a good role model for them, making good food choices for myself and them.

Also, I can see myself when I reach goal as a photograph junkie! I have a lot of photographs to make up for. I avoid them like the plague and hate looking at myself, particular my double chin and big arms. At goal, my arms will be toned and my face will look like it should!

Lastly, garden furniture, airport seat belts, amusement park rides, seats with arms & scales will all no longer be objects of intense embarassment for me. I'll have the confidence to know that I am now the size I should be.

Now, I wonder if I visualise that I'm going to win the lotto what will happen?

[MorningGlory]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Loved reading this thread. I am a visualization freak...it keeps me going.
My goal visualization is of a flat stomach and a chin and neck that aren't joined into one sloping bit of flesh.
I don't have a lot to lose, but I am not at a healthy weight so need to get it under control.

I will come back to this thread and read through it a lot I think.

Thanks.

[ValidRouge]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Thanks for digging this back out Adena! It's really cool to go back and see this stuff....

When I get to goal, I am going to be able to cross my legs like a woman does not a man because my thighs are too fat to allow them to cross normally.

Accomplished! I love being able to cross my legs and look feminine.

WHen I get to goal, I am going to have a flat, firm stomach, even if it has some skin...it is going to be flat and firm underneath without me having to "suck it in".

I still have some fat to lose so my stomach will continue to go in, but for the most part, I don't have to "suck it in". My stomach is semi-flat, could be better and I need to focus on some ab work.

When I get to goal, I and others, will be able to see my cheekbones and my collar bones. I will not have a double chin.

No double chin here, cheek bones and collar bones are lovely.

When I get to goal, I will walk TALL and PROUD in my 5'10 frame AND in high heels. I won't have to feel the need to get shorter, so that I appear smaller.

Oh, I love shoes. Including high heels. My posture is great pretty much all the time. I don't try to "shrink" myself anymore.

When I get to goal, I am going to be physically fit. Able to dance all night long in the salsa clubs or in the swing dance clubs! I will be able to run and play. I will not get winded going to the third floor in our office building!

When I wrote this, I certainly wouldn't have imagined myself RUNNING 7.5 miles!! LOL I haven't been to any salsa clubs or swing dance clubs--I must fix that and soon! I can go up the stairs at work to the 4th floor--stairs still give me a workout, but I'm in excellent physical health.

I will have sleek muscles in my arms and my legs, my shoulders, chest and back.

Oooh I love my arm and SHOULDER muscles. The leg muscles are there, just still covered in a little bit of fat and skin.

When I get to goal, I am going to eat plenty of fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and beans. I don't ever need the foods that made me fat to begin with, ever again.

There isn't any food I could think of that I would trade the way I look and feel today for. Not one.

When I get to goal, I am going to start a family with my husband. Hopefully, my children will never know what it is to be obese. They will be taught to eat fresh vegetables, meats, fruits, grains. Treats will be treats, not every day staples in our home.

Still working on this one.

When I get to goal, my husband will think I am the hottest thing he's ever seen (not that he doesn't already...but he's never seen me thin) and here's the most important thing...SO WILL I!

He's told me so...heh!

When I get invited to parties, I will take extravagent dishes so that I have appropriate food. I can see everyone else eating that food LOL

I always make sure to take a dish. It always gets eaten first.

When I go on trips, I will be taking food with me, or planning ahead of time where I can get the food I need.

I am almost "obsessed" with making sure I can get food. If not, I take it with me.

Size-wise, I'm smaller than I was in high school. Which means I'm smaller than I ever can remember being...other than being a child. This is new territor for me. I am going to start visioning myself being firmly in a size 10. That means that I continue to build lean body mass through exercise and diet. This is the way I eat for life. I can't even imagine not eating this way. And, if the thought crosses my mind, I envision myself fat again. That cures the "urge" really quick.

[Adena]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Perfect, what wonderful, honest goals. Thanks so much for sharing. I love not feeling like you are "enormous" -- but "just a leggy brunette." Same goes for me, but blonde. I notice I've been buying higher heels lately. I didn't put two and two together until now, but it's b/c I'm not afraid of having a hulking presence anymore!

I'm certain you would make a beautiful bride today, and certainly your BF would think so, but I understand it's about how YOU feel inside. The way you've embraced this lifestlye, I'm sure you'll get there. I completely agree about being a role model for your children. That has becoming increasingly important to me. I love when my kids exercise right along side me. Or when they observe aloud that "all I drink is water!"

MorningGlory, I'm glad it will be helpful to you. Yes, I'm with you about wanting to getting rid of that neck thing (my grandmother calls it a waddle... lovely, huh?) once and for all!

Joy, wow! It's funny, back when I wrote that back then and you responded, I sorta thought you were already there. Or at least, mostly there. It's odd to look back and realize that even you, our Atkins idol, have come a long way over the past 6 months. To me, you've always been trim and fit and healthy.

[Adena]

Re: What will you look and feel like at goal?

Inspired ONCE AGAIN by Joy, a progress report, based on my visualization back in September, just a few weeks into Atkins...




"At goal, I'll be a size 14-16. That's where I was at my lowest point in college, and it's the smallest (and most realistic) me I can imagine being."

I can already wear a size 16 in some things, and still have about 40 pounds to go! So, perhaps I'll even end up around a 12??

"Then, I was about 160 lbs. At the time, I still wanted to lose weight, but looking back, I was a good weight for my size, and relatively fit. That's how I'll be at my goal. Not perfectly flat and toned, but toned and shapely -- more soft curves and less bulges and bumps and jiggles and dimples. My "fat apron," as a friend of mine calls hers, will be gone."

I'm relatively fit for sure, but still have work to do in that department -- mainly, strength training. Still working on toned.

"I will feel so much lighter on my feet. I won't feel like I have to pay attention to how I walk so I'm sure not to "waddle." I won't constantly have to wonder if something is clinging to a roll, how my butt or hips look in "those" pants. I will be able to wear heels without my feet hurting (as much), because so much less weight will be on the balls!"

I don't waddle anymore! I don't worry as much about clothes clinging to me. The opposite -- most are too big now. My feet still hurt in heels, but not quite as much. lol

"I will be able to easily walk/jog 3-4 miles, and will do so on a regular basis. I will enjoy exercise, and will look forward to it. And I will make time for it, for me."

OMG, I can do this now -- and even further actually. Honestly, when I visualized this, it was so hard to imagine actually doing it... I am probably most proud of this.

"I will enjoy my food, but I will eat to live -- I will not live to eat. I will fuel my body with things that are healthy for me. I will treat my body well, through a healthy diet and exercise. I will not miss those "bad" foods, because my body doesn't need them. I will know and believe that my body deserves better, and so do I."

I am much better at this. I do occasionally miss (and indulge in) bad foods, but it's infrequent. Most of the time, it doesn't even cross my mind.

"I'll dress classically, Talbot's style (but at Talbot's Outlet prices!!). I see myself in classic, straight leg jeans, medium heels (brown) or boots, a white, crisp cotton button down blouse (TUCKED IN!), and a brown belt. I can also see myself in a similar outfit, but with khaki pants. At work, I see myself in a nice suit, tailored, a rich fabric... slightly shorter jacket, pretty trousers which make me look long and lean. Classically styled, simple, sophisticated, professional. Or, I'm in a form fitting, ribbed ivory turtle neck sweater and a slim-fitting wrap wool skirt. Elegant and simple. I imagine myself looking and feeling so much more graceful, so much more comfortable in my skin."

Working on filling out the wardrobe and finding my new perfect style. Right now, just wearing what fits. I am happy to report I've worn a white blouse tucked in with a belt and heels, and it felt great. And I got lots of compliments on my weight loss that day!

"I will not constantly be thinking about my size, or how my clothes are fitting, or what I'm eating (or not eating). I will live and enjoy my life, and my weight and how I look will be sources of hard-earned happiness and satisfaction, not a constant source of angst and disappointment."

This is becoming more and more true everyday. I'm proud of what I've accomplished, and for the first time ever, and am certain I will stay with this WOE and commitment to fitness for the rest of my life. As Joy said, NOTHING tastes as good as THIS feels!

I look forward to hearing more about what goal will be like for more of you!