The A2K (virtual) Weight Loss Club !!

Material Girl--

One more useful fact.

Each pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories.

This means if you require 2000 calories a day to maintain your weight and you eat only 1500 calories a day, you'll burn 500 calories a day.

Five hundred calories a day times seven days will mean a deficit of 3,500 calories or one pound of fat.

Excellent, excellent, excellent article here by Gina Kolata:

Genes Take Charge, and Diets Fall by the Wayside

I think I'll probably be referring to it as often as I referred to the Atul Gawande article ("we are a species that has evolved to survive starvation, not resist abundance") and I thought about just copying and pasting the whole thing somewhere since the Gawande article faded from the web to the point that I had only my own old quotes of it to rely on. But I have "Times Select" (for New York Times subscribers) and so should be able to access this indefinitely.

It's somewhat depressing, yes, but I find it fascinating and useful in terms of combating how fat people tend to be viewed, plus the aspect of deciding where resrouces would be most useful.

It also demonstrates what an accomplishment it is for people like Mac, who have taken off a lot of weight and kept it off -- that's DIFFICULT, and she's doing an amazing job of it.

Thank you for the kind words, soz. Yes, that's a fascinating article. Lots of interesting points - like the idea that one's body has a weight range that it will naturally stay within. I wonder what mine is?

So I had an amazingly great weigh-in today. I am down 3.2 pounds from last week. My new focus seems to be working! That's a total of 107.2 pounds down. Tomorrow is my two year anniversary on Weight Watchers.

I have about 23 pounds to go.

Wow!!Well done Mac11!!I wish I had yuor focus.

Luckily my yoghurty thing did the trick last night and I didnt snack after dinner,..... tho I was in bed by 9pm, maybe that helped in some way.

Wonderful, mac -- you definitely rule!

I know what my range is. The problem is that I would rather be on the lower end of it and my body would rather be on the upper end of it. Probably why I've lost and regained the same 10 pounds at least 10 times.

Mac--

Wonderful news--particularly after your Character Testing Plateau.

Way to go Mac!!

I've just got under the 160lbs benchmark for the first time for 10 years and feel amazed! And amazing, natch!

Pig out day today, then healthy eating from tomorrow.
Ive even been thinking about restarting aqua-aerobics.

Aqua aerobics did it for me, mg, that and weightlossresources.co.uk

What puts me off water aerobics is the amount of leg shaving i have to do and I also seem to lose all bladder control when I get out.
Any ideas on why this happens or am I just a freak!?

lots of our group have to rush out to the loo halfway through!
I don't mind about legs, once in the water nobody sees!

mg, I know what you mean about bladder control issues after water aerobics. I think it's the combination of strenuous exercise and all that splashing!

Phew, thank goodness its not just me.I try to have a wee at the very last minute beforehand but still had to walk gingerly to the loo's after.

:-)

I've cleared a big hurdle -- I've settled in at the new gym and am now looking forward to going. I'm not sure I ever got there with the old gym -- I'd do it, and be happy I did afterwards, but always had to drag myself there. Now I'm like, "Yay, it's gym day!"

That's big.

Feeling pretty good, more energy, a bit firmer, stuff like that.

Good for yuo Soz.
I went a few months back just to check that I really didnt enjoy it, went there, stayed an hour,confirmed my dislike for it.
Now I need alternatives.

My parties for one will have to increase.

Clary--

Congratulations.

Material Girl--

Life is full of indignities. There is hope. The more weight you lose, the less fat presses on your bladder. The more muscle tone you gain, the more your abs support your bladder.

Dignity might be just around the corner.

Soz--

I'm glad that your gym time has turned into a sanctuary. Every mother needs a sanctuary--and adult sanctuary.

Yes, congrats to Clary and to soz. Excellent hurdles leaped!

This does put things in perspective, if more people knew about this it might change common misconception that obese people are just too damn lazy to loose weight and therefore are less reliable. This article sure opened my eyes, and it makes perfect sense.

In today's Mayo Clinic e-newsletter

Bladder control problems in women: Lifestyle strategies for relief

a coupla good techniques for those not already practicing them

Take away last night....constipation this morning!