# I love this pic - I HATE this pic



## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Fergie and I showing over the weekend









So many good things about the way she is going and I am riding....LOVE all that

HATE the fact that I am a blimp...

I haven't put on any weight, I have been exercising more, I can feel my muscle tone improving but these pics are horrible. I usually wear all black, I think it hid more....so I really have to do something..

Trouble is I always want to go on this big diet, losing lots of weight in a short time, when I decide that I can't bear it any more it has to be fixed NOW. Of course I know that really doesn't work I have to change completely and just eat better most of the time.....I HAVE lost lots of weight quickly 3 or 4 times in my life but always gained it back.

Much as I detest it I guess that calorie counting is the way to go, its 27 weeks until the earliest show next year 2 pounds a week would be 54 pounds, just perfect, I could live with that.....


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## DannyBoysGrace (Apr 6, 2013)

I think it's a great photo. Gorgeous horse and a beautiful rider.
It's important to remember that rapid weight loss is a quick but temporary fix. My mom drinks skinny tea which I think is silly and seems unhealthy.
Weight loss takes time.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

You look good and like you are having fun. Think about all of the people in the world that let their weight stop them from doing something they would enjoy. Look at this pic and think - I am doing something I love. 

Many of us have a Love/hate relationship with our bodies. What is important is that you are trying to be active - and you are out and being active.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

I thinks its great you are out enjoying your horse!

You are color coordinated with your horse!!!

Beautiful picture, thank you for sharing


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I, too, think the photo is lovely. We are always much more harsh with ourselves then we would ever be with someone else.

If you want to change your body, you need to change your lifestyle. Crash dieting is not good for you physically or mentally. Before torturing yourself with a starvation or other fad diet, start a food journal. Record everything you eat or drink for a week. See if you start noticing patterns (eg, are you an evening snacker? I know I sure am!), and then come up with a plan to help shape those patterns into something else (instead of breaking out the chips after dinner, snack on carrots and hummus, etc). Are you a soda drinker? Try to wean yourself down to a soda or two a day, then eventually to one, then to none. Small steps set you up for success.

Be kind to yourself! You are not a blimp - would you ever in a million years call someone else that? Bet not!!


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

I do not see any resemblance to the Hindenburg! I see a lovely rider and horse having a moment of softness and good communication. And killer style! So much color matching!


Also remember weight doesn't automatically link to health! If you want to lose weight, keep your health (ie don't crash diet and starve yourself), and do it for YOU!


But as far as this pic, it is lovely.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

phantomhorse13 said:


> I, too, think the photo is lovely. We are always much more harsh with ourselves then we would ever be with someone else.
> 
> If you want to change your body, you need to change your lifestyle. Crash dieting is not good for you physically or mentally. Before torturing yourself with a starvation or other fad diet, start a food journal. Record everything you eat or drink for a week. See if you start noticing patterns (eg, are you an evening snacker? I know I sure am!), and then come up with a plan to help shape those patterns into something else (instead of breaking out the chips after dinner, snack on carrots and hummus, etc). Are you a soda drinker? Try to wean yourself down to a soda or two a day, then eventually to one, then to none. Small steps set you up for success.
> 
> Be kind to yourself! You are not a blimp - would you ever in a million years call someone else that? Bet not!!


Yeah, I know that I should really start with the recording week, it would be very enlightening, but at the same time seems like the waste of a week......which is hilarious because I have been fat for a very long time. 

It is actually interesting watching how many calories my fitbit says I burn in a week, the more active days are quite good, LOL, it has taken me nearly a year to achieve that amount of progress with Fergie, why should it be any quicker to change me?


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

That is a great pic. I love it too. I would love to look that good riding a horse.

I've always admired you in many ways, including the way you look on a horse.


May be the wrong thread, but I confess I know what you mean. I have a pic I love, but I hate:









On the other hand I have one that I like. My late husband took this. 

I took husband to the barn to take pics, showed him how to push the button on the camera.
He said he took lots and lots of pics.
This was the only one on the camera. Hahahaha










I was thinking of renting him out as a photographer for a plus size riding picture thread. LOL


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I guess if you hate the way you look in that photo its going to be an incentive to keep working at the diet?
Crash diets don't work in the long term, its better to go the slow but steady route and develop better eating habits - lower calorie, healthy foods and smaller portions


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

@jaydee I guess I should print out a couple and pin them in the kitchen


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Print out low calorie, nutritious recipes. Or love/hate pics?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Hating yourself is never a good incentive to diet. loving yourself is. but that is much, much harder to do.

and, I hate to say it, but 2 pounds a week is unrealistic, believe it or not. I well know that mental calculation that tells me just how much I'm going to lose by such and such a date. I have never, and I mean never, met that formula.

But, just wanted to say that I can completely relate to how you feel about pictures of yourself on horseback. in my mind I am always much thinner than I am in reality. so, when I see a photo of myself riding, I feel shocked and disgusted. haven't seen any video in recent years. I don't know if I couold stand it.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I think you look great. Both you and the horse, together! 
I know how it feels to be self-conscious in pictures, which I think all of us have been at least once in our lives.

As for dieting, I personally try to just eat cleaner. Like, I drink water ONLY. Try to eat more colors- like, veggies, chicken, etc.
You look great though. Don't be so hard on yourself. And you know what they say...skinny doesn't always equal happy OR healthy!


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

tinyliny said:


> Hating yourself is never a good incentive to diet. loving yourself is. but that is much, much harder to do..


This I know and is advice I give everyone, and is how I lost the 140 pounds before....BUT sometimes it is hard to get there...so now trying to get to do it for Fergies sake, or because we can be more competitive....



tinyliny said:


> I hate to say it, but 2 pounds a week is unrealistic, believe it or not. I well know that mental calculation that tells me just how much I'm going to lose by such and such a date. I have never, and I mean never, met that formula.


2 pounds a week is entirely realistic, looking back, and working just in round numbers, over the last several weeks I have burned an average of 18500 calories a week, according to fitbit. To lose 2 pounds of fat I need to burn 7000 calories less per week than I take in...so if I ate 1600 calories a day it would give me that deficit...


HOWEVER

I do entirely agree that setting targets like can doom a person to failure, because you can do everything you should, eat on target, exercise well, and still end up either not losing, or horrors gaining weight. The only target is to exercise and eat on target and let the body work it all out.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

I had several extra pounds a few years back and became a convert to Covert Bailey. One of the things he pointed out was that fast weight loss is usually from lost muscle which is dense. And muscle is what burns the stuff we don't want. Then when the fast loss diet is over, we go back to eating the same and gain faster because we have less muscle to burn what we don't want.

And he also pointed out that if a proper diet/exercise plan is begun, most people will gain weight at first which can be discouraging to those who don't know why this happens. Even though the stuff we don't want is actually going away, the gained muscle weight is larger which make it appear all the work is for nothing. But after while the muscle gain levels off and the stuff we don't want REALLY begins to disappear and the weight starts down at a good rate since we have a bigger engine to burn what we don't want.

And I used a heart rate monitor at first when exercising to keep my heart rate in the area that burned what I didn't want rather than up in the sugar zone.

I set my sights on a goal three years down the road.

All that aside, what others have said. You're out there doing it instead of on the couch! Hondo has taken an additional 30 pounds off of me in the last two and half years since I began riding.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

the most discouraging thing about losing weight, especially if you start from being fairly large, is that as you lose weight, you actually need fewer calories. so, in order to create the deficit that causes weight loss, you have to increase the amount that you are NOT taking in.

a big person needs MORE calories at a resting rate than a small person. just to 'feed' the body, even if it is fat cells that are being fed.

as the person loses bulk, the amount of calories needed to support the smaller body goes down, so you have to reduce calorie intake even further to continue weight lose. and, the final amount one can live on and not regain weight is , of course, less.

basically, it sucks!


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

And also, benefits from exercise done at the proper heart rate taper off after 15 minutes with 15 minutes being the minimum time at the proper heart rate to gain any benefit at all in terms of teaching the muscle cells to burn stuff we don't want. That's just for burning stuff, not for aerobic conditioning. The benefits keep going long after the exercise has stopped, providing the heart rate is at the proper level for a full 15 minutes.

For losing weight, four 15 minute periods of exercise spaced well apart is much much better than one hour of exercise at the same heart rate.

Covert Bailey has three small books that tell all about it.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

It does suck.
I feel that I work pretty hard so should be able to justify a slice of cake, a few cookies/biscuits some ice cream in moderation but it never seems like I can
Seeing some pics of me riding Willow a few years ago forced me to lose the weight I needed too but keeping it off is another matter altogether and like already said hating yourself can be a negative if it makes you feel depressed and you eat to feel better
Lettuce and celery never seem to be high up on anyone's lists of comfort foods


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

jaydee said:


> Lettuce and celery never seem to be high up on anyone's lists of comfort foods


Aw c'mon How about some banana slices? Apple quarter anyone? Orange quarter mmm? Few nuts here and there. If one is into cooking, which I'm not, there is an unending list of low cal comfort food recipes on the net.

They made me hungry. I think I'll eat an apple


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## sarahfromsc (Sep 22, 2013)

But you are riding! Remember the melt down a few months ago?

If you had the determination to get back on a horse after your horrific accident, I believe you can do anything you set your mind to!

Just slow and steady as you have done with your riding.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Banana's are OK but better still in some ice cream!!!
I think nuts are quite high in calories - I love cashew nuts but at around 160 calories for an ounce I daren't start on them because an ounce would never be enough!!
When you start looking at calories in everything its a real downer!!!


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## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

Golden Horse, please don't hate how you look and recognize that it's what inside you that counts. Now if you really want to lose weight for your overall health, that's another discussion. Remember you didn't gain weight overnight and it won't come off overnight either. Far be it from me to discuss how to lose weight since I've never had that problem, but I can tell you that a diabetic diet maybe worth looking into since it does help you to learn how to eat healthy, will help you plan meals that are both satisfying and meet your daily nutritional requirements, and the focus is not on losing weight but improving your over health though food. Combined with a good exercise program to help burn excess calories and build muscles and flexibility, it may be perfect for you.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

Golden it is a lovely picture of you and your horse, be proud of the job you've done. I'm sure with all the hard work you do with your horse you are much fitter than a lot of people. Riding is hard work, especially schooling.

One thing that I know has helped others is to have a smaller plate, these big dinner plates just beg to be filled and really it's too much food anyway. A smaller plate with smaller portions and try to eat slowly and enjoy every mouthful. That has helped me.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

jaydee said:


> When you start looking at calories in everything its a real downer!!!


Celery should be high calorie and chips low....


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

It's a wonderful picture of you and your horse! I hear you though. Much like another poster above, I picture myself much thinner than I actually am! In my mind, I still weigh the same as when I was in my 20s. Then I see a picture of myself and I'm totally shocked. In one picture, I am standing next to my daughter and her horse at a show and I actually didn't recognize myself until about the 4th time I looked at the picture. Oh, and in my mind, I'm also youthful looking. And between us, I think I'll just keep thinking that I look the way my mind thinks I look. Really, what's the harm? Who cares what others think? 

But also, here's the thing - in that picture, you're focused on riding, not just pretending to be horsey like one of the fashion models in the tack magazines (where do they get those perfect girls???). Real riders rarely look like those girls. We sweat and get dirty and it's really, really hard to look good in one of those helmets! Then throw one of those safety vests on and forget it... no way that's slimming unless you're a size zero. 

Maybe what we should do is write to all the horsey magazines and tell them to use more realistic models!!!


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## WhimsicalMe (Aug 21, 2016)

I just wanted to say you look fabulous! I love the color matching.


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Holy smokes, I love LOVE that picture! You look so focused, so soft, but so in tune with Fergie. I would that I looked so natural on my horse....


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Captain Evil said:


> Holy smokes, I love LOVE that picture! You look so focused, so soft, but so in tune with Fergie. I would that I looked so natural on my horse....


LOL, I have just realized that wasn't the pic that I was looking for, THIS is the best one...lol, it's important, this one my hands ARE level










It has taken us a long time to get to this point, and we still have a ways to go, but now I am really enjoying the journey....


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## Eme1217 (Oct 27, 2014)

You are NOT a blimp!! You and Fergie are very lovely together and I think both of the photos are fabulous!!!


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## Kaifyre (Jun 16, 2016)

The two of you look wonderful : )
Kudos to you for coming this far, I've been rather a lurker but I've been following your recovery, and I want to say that you've made incredible progress thus far. Losing weight is an admirable goal, one that 90% of people could probably benefit from, including myself, and you're not alone for wanting to do so. Please don't be negative about your body, you're beautiful, and to see how far you've come is an inspiring image. 

-- Kai


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## ShirtHotTeez (Sep 23, 2014)

@Golden Horse you look fine, you look lovely. That safety vest thingy make you look bulkier than you are.
@anndankev i love that pic too. 

It is not good 'feng shui' to chop a persons head off in a pic, and hubby chopped the horses ears off too!!


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

You know what's beautiful on every person? Healthy. Healthy is always beautiful. 

Healthy doesn't mean thin. Healthy means that you're taking care of yourself. Whatever that means for your body shape/size is your version of healthy. There's nothing more beautiful than that. 

I have this discussion with my husband (and, of course, he throws it back at me to my chagrin) every few weeks. He has back and knee problems associated with too many years playing physically demanding sports (most notably all those years in football). Well, being any amount of overweight exacerbates both problems, but more specifically the back. He's heading into his late 30s and still wants to look like he did when he was 18-19 years old in the height of his football "career" and I remind him that isn't going to happen. He's not likely to have a rock solid 6 pack, or hit his dream weight (his football weight when he was down to something like 5% body fat). His body physically can't handle the demand to accomplish it and we have a busy life. So I remind him that I just want him to be healthy. Healthy is my favorite look on him. I joke that I'm only interested in preserving his body for my own selfish desire. The truth is that he's happier when he's just healthy.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I'm not going to knock losing weight because my DH lost a LOT of weight last year and feels 100% better for it, most of his joint aches and pains have gone and his blood pressure no longer needs medication to keep it normal, plus he's riding like he used to be able too again (sticks on better!!) and a lot more active which also helps keep his weight down. 
The wrong thing about losing weight is doing it too fast and compromising your health instead of improving it, making yourself miserable and also getting obsessive about it because too thin is worse than being a little overweight especially us horse riding ladies as we get older and have to worry more about things like bone density and not breaking too easily when we do hit the floor


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

You look awesome! It seems we're not the only ones who feel this way which is always encouraging. I absolutely HATE photos of me riding but at the end of the day, you're riding, you're ahead of the you who was not riding  You're doing great! Focus on the positives!
Also, what a beautiful horse!


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## Iridescent (Sep 8, 2016)

Just have to say I understand! I've gained about 20 pounds in the last few years and i'm so used to thinking I look a certain way but I don't anymore. I hate making meals that take longer than 10 minutes or eating the same thing every day so dieting sucks. Sounds like you have a game plan though. Good luck to you. Stay determined


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Here we go, heading for starting on Monday again...have printed out a couple of copies of the best pic to stick on the cupboard and the fridge, now to spend tomorrow deciding if it is 

Low Carb
Low Calorie
Meal Replacement

or something other.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Low carb is easiest. Easiest to start, easiest to stick with, which is realky important. Also, best for your health, also important!!!

Check out "Wheat Belly Total Health" . The book has a whole lot of information, about other health aspects. 

All my best to you, GH!!


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

I think it's a beautiful picture of both of you. I don't think liking/disliking a picture is entirely related to weight. I really never like pictures of myself either and it's not because of my weight. We are just really hard on ourselves in general, I think. Maybe all of today's kids who have grown up taking selfies will have better self confidence. LOL


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