The reason I asked what you weigh, is with your references to anorexia and such, it could well be you don't have the weight to LOSE. It seems to me you are still plagued by fear and loathing about your body and food in general that need to be addressed before you can make the choices you need to be healthy and the shape that is healthiest for you.

http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/aww/Healt.../article747.asp

Please consider listening to these folks. Maybe you can share a better picture of your needs and position with them. Take care of yourself first-thi is not a drill its the only life you get.

Ex-Vegan, it's rather normal for a woman's legs to rub together at least a little bit when she walks unless she's super skinny.

growing up there was always a lot of pressure to be "perfect." When I felt like I no longer measured up I turned to starving myself. I am currently seeing a specialist in eating disorders and am in the process of trying to find a counselor. I don't have insurance so it has been really hard (the last lady I was referred to was $125 an hour). I ate rather good today if i do say so myself so I have nothing to worry about there. I promise not to weigh myself for a month (I never voluntarily do that anyway) I have just been sad to see cellulite piling on as well as clothes getting tighter.

I can understand that. I think we all come from backgrounds that in some ways warped our perspective of ourselves, whether it was family members or our peers. It took me absolutely years to realize there was one person in this life I had to please besides myself, and that's my hubby. Years after my mother was gone I was still trying to make her happy. She was such a neat-freak and a go-getter, and none of us kids ever measured up. It's so sad when parents are like that. Unfortunately, though, I've been too much the other way with my kids--haven't expected enough out of them. It would be so nice to find a happy medium somewhere!

Funny thing about cellulite: I've seen some of the thinnest people with a lot of it on their legs and I never had any until I was over 200 pounds. It's caused from the--oh, I can't think of the word, and it's so hard to describe, but it's caused from those pieces of tissue that hold our skin onto our bones or some such. I've read on here about skin brushing, which is supposed to help with various things like that. You might look into it.

Never heard of this...what is it and how do I do it?

Good morning. I have gathered from your prior posts that you need to lose about 8 pounds. Why don't you just skip straight to the pre-maintenance phase of Atkins where you can have a pretty good variety of foods but still slowly lose weight. You won't feel quite so much like you're on a "diet" but still be able to eat healthy, well, and slowly lose weight.


I have found that a slow weight loss works best for me. I only started with less than 20 to lose over a year ago. I'm a school teacher and during the school year I do pre-maintenance/maintenance, then drop to fewer carbs in the summer. I lost about 11 pounds so far, and hope to lose maybe only 2-4 more this summer. Yeah, so I don't get to goal in a hurry, but as long as I'm able to enjoy this WOE and not make it a stressful diet I'm happy. I'm enjoying the health benefits (check out my lipid profile in my signature) and don't want to treat this WOE as something I "have" to do to reach a goal.


Good luck, whatever you choose.

b: 3 eggs with celery and cream cheese
l: turkey burger with coconut oil, 1/2 avocado and yellow bell peppers
s: tuna with 1/2 avocado and 1 tbsp of mayo
d: a turkey leg and thigh

I still feel fat (clothes are still tight) but the water drinking (I was drinking virtually none before) has helped with the bloating. If one has been crazily overdoing the sodium how long does it take for the bloating to go down? Can one's legs/thighs bloat too? I like what the last person who posted said about taking this slowly. I am trying not to freak out and go back to low fat high carb. please bear with me.

It generally takes a couple of days to get over the salty water weight thing. It sucks--I know firsthand.

Your menu's making me hungry, and I just ate a mock Danish! LOL

If you are exercising that intensly, you should be eating enough calories to support it.

Also look into adding in weight training. That will give you the tighter, toned and lean look you want.

Weight training will also help get rid of the cellulite. Cellulite can happen on even the thinest people, it is a combination of genetics and circulation. Along with weight training there are other things to help with cellulite. Dry skin brushing as mentioned is one. You can do a google search on it for instrictions.

Other things that can help are:
getting a ton of water to keep hydrated
massage - the one reason most of those creams work. Try giving yourself a lotion rub down each night in trouble spots.


When I did the dry skin brushing and massage along with exercise and water my cellulite disapeared for the first time. Unfortunetly I just didn't have time to keep up all that and the cellulite came back. If you are willing to put in the time eahc morning and evening though it can have amazing results.

I'll definitely look up the skin brushing thing. Yeah...eating cream cheese feels so "naughty" after being a mcdougalling vegan for 8 mo's but what the heck I do weightlift but get discouraged sometimes thanks for all of the help everyone

With regard to cellulite and skin brushing etc., have a read of this - I think you'll find it far more helpful. Having low carbed for several years, as well as taking EFAs on a daily basis, I have no cellutlite whatsoever, and having read that particular article, I now know why

I used to buy turkey burgers when I was on the low fat kick. I stopped when I started doing Atkins, so now we buy the 100% hamburger.

According to Atkins, ground turkey has less protein and is less flavorful. I am not telling you to switch, but the more fat you have, the more full you will be IMHO.

Good Luck with everything.

FYI ex vegan:
I think you've made a great first step to try to find a counselor. To get an affordable one, try calling 1-800-LIFENET or call any of the psychology PhD programs at your local universities where you can be seen for free. The are also psychotherapy and psychanalysis training institutes that offer free or reduced fee therapy.
good luck!