New to Phentermine, but old to dieting!

**sandy** · April 8th, 2000, 10:24 AM

Today is my very first day on phentermine. I am 59 years old (last month), and have decided that I a want to be a skinny, (thin, will do), sexy senior citizen - so when my day comes, the paramedics won't complain about the fat old lady they had to carry out. I've been reading all you young'uns messages and if my 40 years of dieting experience will help you - I will not have dieted in vain all my life.... I love to eat and have successfully lost weight fasting, and on various diets. But when I get to my goal weight, I go back to my old eating habits and gain it all back and then some. I am now at my heaviest ever - 5'4" - 218.
This is what I plan to do.... maybe it will help you..... 1. Maintain a sense of humor. All my life, I have obsessed about my weight and made my life and everyone else around me miserable....There is more to life than our weight, even though we don't think so. Looking back on 59 wonderful years has shown me so.... 2. Drink plenty of water. This is the one consistent thing about any weight loss program. If you don't drink water, your weight loss will be slower... 3. If you plan to lose a lot of weight and I do, take 1-2 aspirin a day to prevent problems with your gallbladder. This was a must on the medically supervised fasting program I was on... 4. Exercise in moderation. A 30 minute walk everyday 5-6 times a week will do more for you than a 2 hour spree at the gym or whatever, which you may not be used to or which you will not enjoy... 5. Now that I have a successful diet aide, (hopefully, the phentermine), try to develop a good eating program that I can live with. Not a fad diet. I am seriously considering going to Weightwatchers again. They have a new program that teaches you to eat soundly. If I can learn to eat correctly, while I am taking phentermine, it will be easier to go off and maintain my weight loss, which is where I always slip up and I don't want to go through this again... 6. Pat myself on the back for every pound lost. I want to lose 70 lbs, but I will consider every pound lost a success story... I will remind myself that it could have been a pound gaine.... 7. Laugh, laugh, laugh and enjoy my friends and family. Do what I have to do, but try not to obsess about this weight loss. 8. Only talk to you dear friends, about my weight. Nobody else really cares and when I talk about it, I bore them and continue my obsession. Not a good thing. 9... Well, Good Luck everyone! Hope to read all your wonderful success stories and hope to tell you when I have become thin and sexy - hopefully, before I am a Senior Citizen... Let's all lighten up!

**Catherine** · April 9th, 2000, 08:30 AM

sandy...I have one word for you...AMEN! You are a wonderful lady! We should all have someone like you by our side each and every day to keep up the motivation of dieting and of everyday's up's and down's! You are proof that a good attitude is a gateway to success and happiness in life. I doubt very seriously anything you have to say is boring! May you be forever blessed with good thoughts and good health! Please, keep us informed of your progress! We're with ya! Catherine

**ROBIN** · April 9th, 2000, 03:05 PM

Sandy,
You sound like a remarkable woman. I do try to maintain a sense of humor (mind tends to be more on the dark side). You are so right about "Only talk to you dear friends, about my weight. Nobody else really cares and when I talk about it, I bore them and continue my obsession." My mother-in-law once said to me, "Why do you care so much about what you look like? You've already got a husband". Can you believe this? Like the only reason I care about making myself better is to please other people? Well, her son is no prize (ha ha). I've never cared about bettering myself to please anyone other than me. I exercise for me! I eat healthy for me! I want to look good for me! I can't believe (or have respect for) a women who would only want to look good so she could please her husband or catch a man. I once made the remark about getting breast augmentation and she said, "Why, you're already in your 30's." Was she trying to make me feel better? Sandy, thank you so much for letting me know that a 59 year old women does still think about being sexy. Even though I'm 35 and married, I haven't given up the dream of one day having a butt like Jennifer Lopez.

**Gail** · April 9th, 2000, 06:19 PM

Sandy, Thank-you so much for the uplift!!! I've been on phen. for close to 3 months. I have had good results, but lately began to wonder if I have it in me to do this for the rest of my life.I get tired of watching what I eat and drink. My husband loves me anyway I turn, but as crazy as I am, not happy losing weight or staying fat. So I went to go look at myself in the mirror and had a good cry then a hearty laugh. Thanks for the reminder to just enjoy life and my family,and myself. So please keep up the upbeat, you are a true gem!!!

**sandy** · April 9th, 2000, 11:41 PM

Catherine, Robin, Gail,
Thank you for your very kind words...You made my day! Robin, my daughter-in-law's name is also Robin, and I know that many times I say things one way and she interprets them another....I bet your mother-in-law was only trying to tell you that you look beautiful to her and she sees no need for you to take off or augment anything. We mothers of sons, think our sons are pretty special and she figures if you make her son happy, then you are pretty special, too....This weight thing really makes us crazy. I know that no matter how much weight I lose, I will always think I'm fat. I look back at pictures of me in my younger days, when I spent my time fretting over my body and dieting - and now I know that I looked fantastic! I just never thought so. We really have to learn to love ourselves - fat/skinny or whatever, because otherwise we are never happy and boy, can we be miserable!
I don't mean that we should neglect ourselves. The more fit we are,the better we feel and this radiates to others and they enjoy us more... However, remember, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. I teach 3rd grade and I told my class last week that I was going to go on a diet. Well, one little boy, said Why? You're not fat. You look perfect!... It was then I realized that when you really think someone is special (thank God one of my little ones, thinks I am)--- you see them in a different light! We are all beautiful to someone - When you have it, and we have it --- Flaunt it! LOL.