Hello Everyone, I need some help and motivation. I used to be really thin but gained 60lbs after I got married 7 years ago and had my 2 kids. I have been trying to lose weight, but I always slack-off.
I really need help.. motivation and some competition. I would like to get some words of encouragement from you guys. Also I would like to get some advice on the diet plan to embrace. Please help!!!! I know tha I am an emotional-eater.... and I need to control that.
HELP

If you're looking for some (all in fun) competition, you've come to the right place! There are lots of "5 pound challenges" and other sorts of things to keep you motivated. We're all in this together!

Best of luck to you! You will do it!

Being able to post my weight really helps me stay on track. I look at it everyday and I update it as soon as I lose a pound and it keeps me motivated. Good luck to you.

Let's see...what I did was got a few new hobbies and decided to lose weight for them. I picked up travel, motorcycling and swimming. I kept reading the 3FC board and became addicted to it. Hey, everybody is losing weight so why can't I? I jumped on the bandwagon. A lot of people here use FitDay but I use SparkPeople to track my progress with nutrition and fitness. I collect motivational pictures and I keep my eye on the mini-goal and goal pictures people post here. This is where I get my motivation from. Oh and I want to be able to wear a bikini on my next trip and the only way to accomplish that is by dropping this weight.

Also, you can set mini-goals of five lbs each to make things easier for yourself...so, grab a ticker and get to it. As for diet, I'm biased so I only recommend the South Beach Diet because it worked/still working for me. Check out my progress pics...I accomplished so much between mid-July to early-October taking a stroll on the beach.

Lastly, I can buddy up if you like. Just let me know.

-Sass

It is of my opinion that diets don't work. You say you are an emotinoal eater, then you must find the reason behind that and deal with it. Then you need to start eating healthy. IMO and this is only me, I started by cutting fat out of my diet, such as baking or roasting instead of frying, choosing less fat snacks over the regulary fat ones. It has taken me a year, I still stumble but I am slowly eating healthier and better. I have also started to lower my portions and such, a bit over time.

remember..it didn't take you a week to learn to over eat, it will NOT take you a week to learn to eat properly.

As for exercise..park farther away from the store, take the stairs, and things like that to get your body moving. My first few weeks of exercise was an iPod and dancing while I cleaned the house. LOL

You will stumble, but we can help pick ya up.

*hugs*

You've already done the first step... admitting that there is a problem. I told myself when I started my new healthy lifestyle that I wouldn't obsess this time. I would take it slow and steady. I started June 28th and I haven't looked back.

I started by making small changes. Eating breakfast, small healthy snacks throughout the day and just making healthier choices. I started taking small walks after dinner which over time, got longer and longer. I found that I actually enjoyed getting up and moving. Now I am doing Turbo Jam kickboxing and I absolutely love it!!

I have a 3FC blog (link to the left) that outlines my meal plan and lifestyle ground rules. You'll see that they rules are easy to follow. My meal plan is also very simple. Now this may not work for everyone but it works for me.

Start small. Make small changes and let them evolve and become habits then make some more small changes. Change is hard but small changes are easy. I also use sparkpeople.com (link in my siggy) to track my calories and fitness. It's fun and easy.

I also use the WOWY fitness lottery every day I work out too for the possiblity of winning some money just for working out!! It's fun and I do it every time I work out now.

Just tell yourself that you can do it and you can! Best of luck to you!!!

Size! You'll find tons of support here at 3FC! Look around and grab some motivation, you can do this!

I personally think Weight Watchers is a great plan.

Remember 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat.
Count those calories !! and Exercise is the key !!

I'm right there with you! Got married had two kids, porked up a bit, determined to lose it! My big downfall is going to long between meals (two boys keeping me busy) and then I eat the first easy thing I see...leftover pizza, chips...

Setting goals really helps me. I'd like to be under 160 for our trip to Hawaii next month. Ultimately would like to be down to 145 by my son's first year birthday Feb. 26th. Baby steps to it!

Hi there size8soon! I am back on the boards after a hiatus and I can TOTALLY relate to your post. I know the eat right/exercise plan but DOING it is another matter. I am not following a particular plan, really. I am tracking my calories/etc. with some computer software and slowly getting exercise back into my life. Water will be another goal. It helps to break things up sometimes--work on 1 goal at a time. Feel free to PM me if you want to buddy up or something. Best of luck!

I have been an emotional eater for years. When I became upset about something or a situation, unconsciously I would eat junk food. I am now drama free. I have been overweight ever since I had my son who is now 16 1/2 years old. I have been losing and gaining weight for the last 16 years. Since having my daughter nine years ago, I had been steady gaining weight and was maintaining a weight of 280 pounds. This summer, I decided that it was time for me to let go any emotional and mental baggage that I have been carrying around for the last 16 1/2 years. I told myself that that there was no need for it anymore. I have been controlling my thoughts about food. At one time if I thought about a specific food that I wanted to eat, before I knew it, I purchase it and ate it. So it wasn't easy the first month. I cut out all sweets (cakes, cookies and soda). Something did upset me during the first two weeks, but something crazy happened. Instead of overeating, I ate very little until the anger and depression had passed. Even after that, I still didn't eat alot of food. Also exercising helped me to get over the situation alot faster. Now I feel that I have more control over my life. I eat more healthier foods like salads and vegetables now. Once in a while I will drink a juice (kool aid) but not processed juice or soda that you would buy in a store. Since changing my eating habits, I am losing weight. For me, the key is taking it one day at a time. The support that I have received from this site has been a tremendous help.

I just want to say congratulations to you all. It appears that unlike most diet forums you guys have managed to make healthy lifestyle changes in order to achieve your goals rather than jumping on drastic commercial diet plans. I truly believe that the hardest part is the baggage in our minds. The "quick fixes" never seem to get the job done long term. Your advice is very sound and helpful. Thanks.

I agree Kddid... most diet forums plug one diet as the 'be all end all' of diets. Everyone here is doing what works for them whether it be WW, JC or South Beath or like me, their own plan... but the nice thing is that we all respect each others choices and support each other.

Welcome to 3FC!! Stick around a while!!