I did it... so why am I still fat?

[takocos]

Hi there! When I first signed up to this guild a few months ago my father had just had a heart attach forcing me to achnowledge how dangerous my current lifestyle was. At 5' 6", I weighed a little over 200lbs, led a seditary lifestyle and lived off suger and chocolate. I have since, with the help of everyone here started exercising, mostly going on long walks or bike rides, and teaching my sweet tooth that it can be curved just as easily by fruit as it can by choco. So this morning I got up, looked at the scale, and it read "135lbs". I was overjoyed; my months of hard work had paid off. I'm down from a size 22 pant to a size 10, half my previous size and one size below the national average, meaning I'm now smaller then the average American girl...

But I still feel fat. When I look in the mirror, I know that my thighs are half their old size. They have to be, I keep telling myself, because they wouldn't fit in my new pants if they weren't. My grandma took me on a shopping spree and they all say size 10. I can fit in them... But the fat on my thighs still jiggles when I sit down, still rubs together when I walk so that I can't wear a skirt. I know that this doesn't make any sense in the real world, but I don't want to go off my diet even though I've reached my goal and a healthy weight for my size. My friends all compliment me about how good I look, but my brother came up to me and said that I had lost to much. He said that I needed a little meat on my bones, that I was starting to look like our grandma (a size 4 through drug problems). My girlfriend found the diary I had been keeping my calorie calculations in and got mad because I was still doing it. She says that it's great I got down to a healthy weight but she thinks I'm starting to obsess. I don't think I'm obsessing; I just want to be able to wear a skirt without getting a rash from my damn fat-a** thighs! Please, help...

BTW: If you want to see a pic of me, http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=38656006&albumID=0&imageID=3899909 is what I look like. Sorry it's big, I didn't know how to scale it down.  

[StilettoReject]

You =/= fat.

135lbs is on the healthy / pushing underweight for 5'6", isn't it? Or at least I thought so :3  

[__penguin__]

What kind of excersize do you do? Cardio or weight training? You should be doing both, and if you aren't, doing so might help tone your muscles more and help get a leaner look. 3nodding

Also, there's nothing wrong with keeping up a diet. As long as it's healthy, why stop?  

[BobbySoxer01]

I think you should, not just to get off more weight but keep it off. Just because you lost the weight doesn't mean it's gone for good, it'd be a shame to ain it all back simply because you let your friends/brother bully you into not paying attention to calorie intake and what you eat. Do weight training and make sure you watch what you eat still. Focus more on toning rather than sliming and as long as you feel healthy and don't starve yourself it's ok, don't let other people's critiques bug you,and btw you look great in your pic, perfectly healthy.  

[BobbySoxer01]

Frau Svenja von Wolfsberg

You =/= fat.

135lbs is on the healthy / pushing underweight for 5'6", isn't it? Or at least I thought so :3

Actually 135 is probably on the mid range, I'm 5'5 and with this lab I did in science I found my ideal weight is around 114, so 135 isn't too skinny or too overweight  

[Groovy Spleen]

I'd say, if you want to lose more weight, go for it.
Don;t be excessive though, 10 or 15 pounds off of a 135lbs person is a way more noticable than 10 or 15lbs off of a 200lbs person.

THe 'jiggle' you're talking about is probably loose fat. Loose fat is fat in the process of dissapearing. If you squeeze your fat and it feels firm, then it's not going away easy. If it feels jiggly, and cottage-cheesy it usually means it's in the process of breaking down, and esentially, going away.

That is a lot of weight to lose in such a short time, so your body is most likely in the process of firming up still. Keep at your workout routine, and be sure to incorporate weight-lifting or resistance exercise.
The fat will eventually go away, but it may take a year or so for it to fully firm up.

It didn't take a few months for you to get fat in the first place, so it's not just going to take a few months to get rid of all that damage.
As long as you;re eating sensibly (not eating under 1200lbs a day, or 1500 if you're exercising like an athlete) I don't see why anyone should be worried.

Congrats on your weightloss so far.  

[BlinkyTheRed]

First of all: congratulations on your weight loss! that's an amazing feat! <3 I'm glad you're living healthily.

Depending on your age, your skin may not be very elastic (even at age 20, skin is starting to lose elasticity), and it may feel "loose" on your thighs. But-- this might not be the case at all. If your skin feels firm, then obviously it has shrunk to fit your new size. Also-- if you lost weight very quickly, your skin and fat cells may take a bit of time to catch up (as Groovy Spleen said.)

It's fine to lose a little bit of weight if you want, but don't get obsessed. Being HEALTHY is what matters most. biggrin It's better to watch what you eat, than to just start being careless and rever to old eating habits, though-- I don't think there's any problem with keeping a food diary as long as you're still eating healthy and not starving.  

[duhhh leahhh]

It seems like in your post you were talking mainly about your legs/thighs. It may be that most of your weight lies in your legs, and so you are at a hea;thy weight, but your thighs are a bit bigger cause of genetics.
The only thing i can think to suggest is to do excercises that target your legs.
Also, about still counting calories, I think that it is a good thing that you do that. If you go back to your old eating habits than youll just gain back all of the weight you lost. It has nothing to do with obsessing.  

[Groovy Spleen]

There is no such thing as spot toning.
So you can;t 'target your legs'
Sure, you can tone the muscle underneath the fat, but fat does not turn into muscle.

Fatloss is diet and exercise.
It doesn't matter where.
Spot tone weight loss does not exist.  

[takocos]

Groovy Spleen

There is no such thing as spot toning.
So you can;t 'target your legs'
Sure, you can tone the muscle underneath the fat, but fat does not turn into muscle.

Fatloss is diet and exercise.
It doesn't matter where.
Spot tone weight loss does not exist.

This makes me very sad... I guess that I'm just going to have huge thighs no matter how much I lose... I totally thought that there were specific things you could do for specific areas... No wonder it wasn't working...