Let's Start a 25% Club!

Over on alt.support.diabetes someone invented the "5% club" which is an
informal group of people who managed to make their blood sugar target. It's
kind of silly, but we all like to get some kind of reward now and then, and
when I make it into the 5% club, it does give me a little boost.

So with that in mind, I was thinking about all the people here who have lost
spectacular amounts of weight who sometimes seem to get depressed about how
they can't get to some distant weight goal when they've already beat the
odds. Statistics I've read in a mainstream book that chronicled weight loss
studies showed that most people rarely lose more than 10% of their starting
body fat. That makes the accomplishment of some of the people here--people
like Nancy H, and Roger Z and several others-- all the more impressive. They
have lost 25% or more of their starting weight.

So I thought why not have an asdl-c "25% Club" designation for people who
have managed through months of intelligent dieting and exercise to lose that
25% of their starting weight? It seems like there should be some way of
honoring people who have made that kind of achievement. I know I'm never
going to. (I'd have to get to 126 lbs to do it, and baring a serious wasting
disease, that ain't gonna happen.)

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c 25% Club?

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm

Jenny wrote:
:: Over on alt.support.diabetes someone invented the "5% club" which is
:: an informal group of people who managed to make their blood sugar
:: target. It's kind of silly, but we all like to get some kind of
:: reward now and then, and when I make it into the 5% club, it does
:: give me a little boost.
::
:: So with that in mind, I was thinking about all the people here who
:: have lost spectacular amounts of weight who sometimes seem to get
:: depressed about how they can't get to some distant weight goal when
:: they've already beat the odds. Statistics I've read in a mainstream
:: book that chronicled weight loss studies showed that most people
:: rarely lose more than 10% of their starting body fat. That makes the
:: accomplishment of some of the people here--people like Nancy H, and
:: Roger Z and several others-- all the more impressive. They have lost
:: 25% or more of their starting weight.
::
:: So I thought why not have an asdl-c "25% Club" designation for
:: people who have managed through months of intelligent dieting and
:: exercise to lose that 25% of their starting weight? It seems like
:: there should be some way of honoring people who have made that kind
:: of achievement. I know I'm never going to. (I'd have to get to 126
:: lbs to do it, and baring a serious wasting disease, that ain't gonna
:: happen.)

Probably doesn't need to, either.

::
:: So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c
:: 25% Club?

Nice idea, Jenny....However, there is still that issue of keeping it off!
Still, as a tool for encouragement, I see nothing wrong with it. In fact,
maybe we could expand your idea to track 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. That might
encourage people to keep at it....it might take a while to build up to
25%...

Jenny wrote:
So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an
informal asdl-c
25% Club?

-- Jenny

Hey, I'm game. And I like Roger's suggestion of increments.
--
JJ.
275/193/183, BMI 27.7 - as of Feb 21, 2004
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
70.2% of the man I used to be.

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Over on alt.support.diabetes someone invented the "5% club" which is an
informal group of people who managed to make their blood sugar target.
It's
kind of silly, but we all like to get some kind of reward now and then,
and
when I make it into the 5% club, it does give me a little boost.

snip
So I thought why not have an asdl-c "25% Club" designation for people who
have managed through months of intelligent dieting and exercise to lose
that
25% of their starting weight? It seems like there should be some way of
honoring people who have made that kind of achievement. I know I'm never
going to. (I'd have to get to 126 lbs to do it, and baring a serious
wasting
disease, that ain't gonna happen.)

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c 25%
Club?


Sounds like a great idea, and I also like the idea of increments - even
possibly higher ones as well, for those who had more to lose.

Stargazer
192/149/140
(only 5lb away from being a 25%'er myself, g)

Jenny wrote:
Over on alt.support.diabetes someone invented the "5% club" which is an
informal group of people who managed to make their blood sugar target. It's
kind of silly, but we all like to get some kind of reward now and then, and
when I make it into the 5% club, it does give me a little boost.

So with that in mind, I was thinking about all the people here who have lost
spectacular amounts of weight who sometimes seem to get depressed about how
they can't get to some distant weight goal when they've already beat the
odds. Statistics I've read in a mainstream book that chronicled weight loss
studies showed that most people rarely lose more than 10% of their starting
body fat. That makes the accomplishment of some of the people here--people
like Nancy H, and Roger Z and several others-- all the more impressive. They
have lost 25% or more of their starting weight.

So I thought why not have an asdl-c "25% Club" designation for people who
have managed through months of intelligent dieting and exercise to lose that
25% of their starting weight? It seems like there should be some way of
honoring people who have made that kind of achievement. I know I'm never
going to. (I'd have to get to 126 lbs to do it, and baring a serious wasting
disease, that ain't gonna happen.)

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c 25% Club?

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!


Jenny,

As always, you're coming up with good ideas.

Anything which reminds me what I've achieved, and why I NEVER want to
have to lose 1/3 of my bodyweight again, is a great idea. Having seen a
number of people who have managed it, especially Roger, has been
incredibly motivating.

Pete
--
287/196/175 (31.7%)

I'm not clear. 25% of the gross beginning weight, or 25% of the weight they
need to lose to have a proper BMI?

Cubit,

The percentage is computed with the starting weight and amount of weight
lost. Goal weights are often set using formulas that are generic may not
really be appropriate to an individual

This is particularly true for people who are very heavy, because while they
are heavy they build up a lot of heavy bone mass and extra muscle to support
that extra weight that does not go away when they lose weight. So a person
in the 350s may end up at a very healthy weight carrying 40 or 50 lbs more
than a person who was never that heavy.

The academic studies I saw--in a wonderful book I read some years ago and
must track down soon--talked a lot about weight loss as percentage of
starting weight rather than using other ways of measuring weight loss. It
made the point that after certain percentages of weight loss occurred,
changes happened in the metabolism that made further weight loss much
harder--and also made it much easier to regain.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm



"Cubit" wrote in message
. com...
I'm not clear. 25% of the gross beginning weight, or 25% of the weight
they
need to lose to have a proper BMI?

Roger,

I'd like to do some kind of motivational thing for maintainers too, but am
not entirely clear on what would be the most motivational/supportive
approach.

For me the most important thing has to move from the obsessive focus on
every thing I eat to something more relaxed--and to do it without getting
too sloppy and going off course. With that in mind, I've stopped logging
food and charting exercise, but I still weigh daily and I find I naturally
go up and down in how much I eat. Since I did all that logging (and have a
mathematically inclined mind) I have a pretty good idea of what I'm eating
even without tracking it.

I think the very best part of the period of weighing and measuring what I
ate is that I now have a much better idea of how big a real portion might
be. But enough is enough. It's time to take off the training wheels. I did
very well in the past maintaining and only got out of control when I took a
drug that ended up pushing me into having to eat a lot more carbs and when I
had the cancer surgery which sent me into "Eat it while you still can" mode.
Every now and then since I've stopped logging I've totted up a day to see
what it looked like, and it usually looks like what I was eating when I was
logging and meeting targets--probably because I worked out how to eat the
stuff I like to eat and still meet those targets.

But it is a long process to move from a weight loss mentality to a
maintenance mentality, and I don't think I'm really completely there yet.
Maybe in another year . . .



-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm



"Roger Zoul" wrote in message
...
Jenny wrote:
:: Over on alt.support.diabetes someone invented the "5% club" which is
:: an informal group of people who managed to make their blood sugar
:: target. It's kind of silly, but we all like to get some kind of
:: reward now and then, and when I make it into the 5% club, it does
:: give me a little boost.
::
:: So with that in mind, I was thinking about all the people here who
:: have lost spectacular amounts of weight who sometimes seem to get
:: depressed about how they can't get to some distant weight goal when
:: they've already beat the odds. Statistics I've read in a mainstream
:: book that chronicled weight loss studies showed that most people
:: rarely lose more than 10% of their starting body fat. That makes the
:: accomplishment of some of the people here--people like Nancy H, and
:: Roger Z and several others-- all the more impressive. They have lost
:: 25% or more of their starting weight.
::
:: So I thought why not have an asdl-c "25% Club" designation for
:: people who have managed through months of intelligent dieting and
:: exercise to lose that 25% of their starting weight? It seems like
:: there should be some way of honoring people who have made that kind
:: of achievement. I know I'm never going to. (I'd have to get to 126
:: lbs to do it, and baring a serious wasting disease, that ain't gonna
:: happen.)

Probably doesn't need to, either.

::
:: So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c
:: 25% Club?

Nice idea, Jenny....However, there is still that issue of keeping it off!
Still, as a tool for encouragement, I see nothing wrong with it. In fact,
maybe we could expand your idea to track 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. That might
encourage people to keep at it....it might take a while to build up to
25%...

Jenny wrote:

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c 25% Club?

I just squeaked in by a pound. LOL



168/125/125 7 years: LC since 2/18/97 maintaining since 3/17/99
--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

jamie wrote:
:: Jenny wrote:
:::
::: So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of an informal asdl-c
::: 25% Club?
::
:: I just squeaked in by a pound. LOL
::
::
::
:: 168/125/125 7 years: LC since 2/18/97 maintaining since 3/17/99

She's been maintaining longer than I've been LCing. We need to track that!