Non-food rewards are awesome, way to get yourself something nice. I went and bought some clothes a couple weeks ago because I hit my high school weight (ok, well the high end of my weight range in high school, but still. High school!) and my clothes were looking really dumpy in me. It was awesome. Glad things are still coming along, if you haven’t visited 3fatchicks.com I recommend it, I troll the forums there when I need some inspiration or need to vent or anything weight-loss related.

I meant my clothes looked dumpy on, me, not in me. I did not actually ingest them. I gotta learn to proof read...sheesh.

Buying clothes can be either really rewarding or horrible for my psyche. And I havent lost enough weight yet that i could fathom going shopping for fun. Except shoe shopping. God I love shoes.

I went to target to buy some jeans and I picked up the pair that were my size and tried them on. They were loose, which is a great feeling. Almost loose enough that I got to go down a size but far from the second skin suck-in-your-gut tight either.

shananigans - Congrats on hitting your high school weight! That's always such a marker for people that I feel really lame admitting that my high school weight was my highest ever - 20 lbs more than I am now. Most of my jeans already look dumpy on me because it is absolutely impossible for my to find jeans that fit my body shape. I have one single pair that does and they only come in one wash. So annoying. I have been to 3fatchicks, but not the forums. I'll have to check it out.

P.S. Don't even lie. You totally ate your fat clothes. It's like eating your enemies heart to take his power. Proof-reading is for losers. :)

jessiegirl - I hate shopping for clothes. HATE. I even kind of hate shopping for shoes, because none of the ones I like fit me. Even my feet are too fat! I get my retail therapy shopping for art supplies. And books. :)

Oh, I am so looking forward to going down a size. Having "your size" be too big is such an amazing feeling. You guys with your being awesome... you're such an inspiration.

The only current downer to shoe shopping is that I haven't done it since I became Vegan. Stupid cute leather shoes!

Pruufreeding is four Pantsees!

Except that you said you weren't eating great (and I don't know exactly what you meant by that- too much, or not healthy?) perhaps you are undereating for the amount of exercise you are doing? I've read your body can go into starvation mode and holds on to every bit of fat because of it. Of course, I don't know how you figure that out.

Unfortunately under-eating has never been a problem for me. It's always either eating too much, eating unhealthy stuff, or, most often, a combination of the two. When I'm really busy/stresssed/depressed I tend to forget about the realm of actual food and live off of junk and snacky stuff, eating cereal and never having proper meals. It's not a good time.

Hey, it sounds like you are doing pretty good. Don't get too stressed out over numbers.

It's good to treat yourself when you are reaching you goals. I've been sticking to my routine and recently started keeping track of my calories. So I treated myself the other day too. I got some health books and a raw food "cookbook" that I wanted and a new fitness DVD (I love fitness DVDs). I got them on amazon and I can't wait for them to arrive.

What's this about proofreading being for losers. I proof read for a living! (I don't proof read my blog or these posts though). Oh well, I know I'm a geek, hehe.

Aww, no offense Grace! I'm a certified spelling/grammar nazi myself. I was just trying to console Shananigans so she wouldn't eat anymore clothes. :)

What fitness DVDs did you get? It would be nice to have some around for days when the weather is just too awful to get outside, and during the winter, but I never know which ones to get.

Seconding the support for Shananigans - I actually despise internet shorthand and try to proofread my stuff regularly. Except for the letter i, That I can just never capitalize regularly. Microsoft Word has spoiled me. Now I want all of my programs to auto capitalize but I don't remember until I've hit submit.

I've heard good things about the crunch yoga tape. But not from anyone whose opinion I put faith in, just as a general review from a forum I use to read.

I'd totally go for fitness dvd's except I can't do tapes that bounce. My house is seriously over 100 years old. Just walking makes the whole room shake. So bouncy things like aerobics or Tae-bo totally out of the question. I might plunk through the floor, which while funny, will probably hurt.

And for whatever reason I dont necessarily want to advertise the fact that I'm working out. It is my time and if the kids (daughter 6, sister 9) find out they want to join in. And I want them to be healthy but i need space for my sanity

I've been wanting to get some bellydancing, salsa dance, and kickboxing videos. Yoga doesn't do much for me, at least not from the limited experience I've had with it. It's very relaxing, but I just get... bored. I'm really easily distracted. Kickboxing would be excellent for me, I think, because it's somewhat fast-paced and I get to be violent. Which pleases me. :)

I hear you on the floor issue, though. My apartment building is pretty old, and there are spots in the floor where, if you jumped hard enough, I'm pretty sure you could break through. Luckily the spot in front of my TV isn't one of them. I wonder what the people who live below me would think I was doing, though. I'm also not keen on telling the world that I'm working out, especially with videos. I feel like such a spaz, jumping around in my living room. Like you said - it's "me time." I need to be a spaz in peace.

Thanks for the support guys. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read my own comment back and realized I must come across as a complete idiot. It’s not that I don’t know better, I just need to actually read what I write before I hit “publish”. So impetuous I am. And just to clarify, my high school weight is not really something to brag about like it is for some people since I’ve been overweight since around, um birth, but it’s an improvement so I’m just going to be happy about that.

There’s a bunch of workout video reviews here that you might find helpful. If you don’t dig the yoga (though I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t) you might like doing some Pilates on one of those stability balls? I’m getting one, I took a couple classes at the Y and I’m hooked now. It’s not only great for your core muscles but also you legs and butt. Also it doesn’t require a lot of bouncing/jumping/house shaking and it’s kind of fun.

There's also www.videofitness.com for reviews and http://www.collagevideo.com
(they have 60 second video clips of their DVDs which I like.)

I ordered "Self : Sleek and Slim, Fast" because it had good reviews and it was cheap (I wanted to my order to be a certain amount of $ to get free shipping). Most of my DVDs are yoga, and I have Tae Bo. I want to collect more areobics, strength training videos.

Belly dancing is a lot of fun, I took beginners lessons but I'm not that good. The collage link above has some beely dance videos that you can preview. I have Tribal Fusion with Rachel Brice (my favorit BB dancer) but is it just isloations and no routine.

You know what would be totally fun? Strippersize! I would totally buy a video to learn. How much better does it get? Stripteases and loosing weight- that rocks.

I'm going to look into some pilates videos. I've heard they can be hardcore with a low bounce factor.

I've totally thought about getting a strippercise tape. I don't know if I could deal with that right now, though. Maybe after I lose 20 pounds or so. Or 30. Or, um... all of it. Yeah, I think stripping of any kind needs to wait until I'm more comfortable with myself. Right now I think I'd just feel like a giant lardy loser spaz. Which isn't so good for the ol' self-esteem.

hey vegancore: try winsor pilates. i love the 20 minute fat burning and the 20 minute abs (once you get the jist of the program) because they're fast, you can do a quick little workout first thing the morning, and they TOTALLY trim you down. it kicks your ass at first, though. but, generally, i think pilates is not only good for building muscle but also helping posture, etc. i need to get back into it, but last year i did it a few times a week and i was walking taller, sitting straighter, feeling stronger to my core. it's awesome, really. they probably have some cheap on e-bay, too.

I was thinking about getting some pilates videos too, so thanks for the reviews.

About strip areobics, I have Carmen Electra's first 2 DVD's in her strip areobics set. The routines are fun and not complicated. the 2nd DVD in the set is "Fit to Strip" which is muscle toning--not too bad if you are new to strength training an dit has a good ab section. Eventually I'd like to get the other 2 in the set (Advanced Strip; lap dance and hip hop)

I totally get the loose weight before you strip thing. Really. My body certainly need to be in more shape before i would attempt that. My daughter is now 6 but My body still reflects the fact that I once carried a small human inside it. It aint pretty.

I am going to look into winsor pilates dvd's. That sounds great for a morning workout that isn't going to disturb the whole house. Just because I want to become a morning person does not mean the rest of the house feels the same way.