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Old 08-13-2011, 09:50 AM   #1  
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Red face Tales of a featherweight!

Having just been introduced to these forums by a very inspirational friend of mine, I wanted to say a brief hello. I'm very excited to have such a wealth of knowledge to delve into. More importantly I'm excited to hear about the personal experiences of others and see how their knowledge can apply to my journey through weight loss!

To offer a bit about myself… I'm a recently 29 year old woman who has never, before now, ventured down the path of actively seeking to reduce my weight. In younger years I was oblivious to the fact that I was a bit underweight and I believe it impacted my life negatively in contributing to anxiety disorders I have suffered. Having started to eat more healthily over the years as I became more financially secure and aware of my own body, I've moved into dabbling into a little (delicious, delicious) excess here and there.

At 138.5 pounds, I'm at the higher end of what is considered a healthy weight range for my height and now I'm seeking to explore what is right for me specifically. Currently I know I have a few pounds that are extraneous. What my range of experience indicates is that 138.5 is too much and 120 is definitely too little. I'm setting a very flexible goal of 125 that I will re-evaluate as I go along, to make sure I settle on a number that feels healthy to me as an individual.

Right now my goal is to eat limited carbs and lots of healthy fruits/veggies/proteins/fats. Since adjusting my regular needed amount of calories (1575 if the calculator is correct) for a deficit that is conducive to weight loss doesn't leave much room, I will be aiming for 1200. As I understand that is the minimum I can hazard while not negatively impacting my health. That leaves me with a fairly low rate of weight loss, so I'm hoping that I can remain motivated despite the slow rewards!

I'm also going through a period of real struggle in my life. I'd never had my heart broken until now and some of my motivation to transform my body comes from a desire to regain self esteem that has been severely wounded by the events of the last weeks. As such, I'm trying my hardest not to let my lack of appetite stemming from depression convince me to restrict my calories too much. I'm doing my best to track my caloric uptake so that I can supplement my consumption until I'm at or past my daily goal of 1200. Every day I come up short I worry that I'm immediately compromising a metabolism that has been good to me for many years.

So here's to a goal to maintain good health, self esteem, reflection and perseverance. Cheers!

Last edited by Penelope; 08-13-2011 at 09:54 AM.
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Old 08-13-2011, 12:00 PM   #2  
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Welcome, Penelope! It sounds like 3FC is definitely the perfect place for you! I've only been here for a month but I've found that everyone here is incredibly supportive, not only about weight loss, but anything that us members need help sorting out in our lives. Again, welcome and good luck!!
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Old 08-13-2011, 12:23 PM   #3  
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Welcome! I'm a first-time dieter as well, and I too began to lose weight during great stress (in my case, breaking off contact with a family member). I found it helped, I had something to focus on where I was making progress and feeling good about myself.
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Old 08-13-2011, 03:15 PM   #4  
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I can relate to your highest weight because that's where I basically started at and we are the same height too. Although even in the low 120s, I still had a soft layer of belly fat and a leftover pooch from two pregnancies. Everyone is different though. Good luck on your journey! Welcome to 3FC.

Last edited by fitmom; 08-13-2011 at 03:46 PM.
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Old 08-13-2011, 03:24 PM   #5  
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Welcome. Keep in mind that oftentimes, with featherweights as light as you, what will give you what you want is more toning than weight loss. While I'm not discouraging you from dieting, I think what might help you the most is weight lifting. When we see fat, we immediately think of dieting, right? But it's not necessarily always the best choice. Sometimes, when you have so little to lose, all that needs to happen is building a little lean muscle to take the place of the fat. Chances are, you'll lose more inches and look much fitter if you build lean muscle vs. worrying about what the scale says. I mention this in your case because your goal weight would put you at a BMI of 19, which is at the line of "underweight" category- which can be very dangerous for your health.

Last edited by kelly315; 08-13-2011 at 03:25 PM.
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Old 08-14-2011, 01:59 PM   #6  
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S/C/G: Current:128.8 Goal:125

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Kelelaoha: I was a little reluctant to join, honestly. I imagined in my head that someone trying to drop a few pounds might be ill received in a community that might be more focused on people making a bigger life change for their health. Finding out that there was a specific place that addressed the idea of losing a smaller amount of weight was what tipped the proverbial scale for me. Thank you for the warm welcome!



Esofia: I think that fine-tuning your body is a great way to positively focus grief or depression if you can do it while respecting the needs of your body. It definitely gives you an immediate sense of purpose to pour your efforts into. For me the tricky part is not falling into a line of thinking like... 'If I don't want to eat at all, at least I'll lose some weight.' Having no appetite makes it really hard not to give yourself permission to starve yourself on calories. I'm doing my very best to keep that tiny voice at bay and reach at least 1200 a day.



Fitmom: It's always good to hear from people that come from a similar starting point! From past experience I think that anything less than 125 will probably be and look unhealthy, but I'm going to adjust as I go along and observe the results. I'm inspired by your exercise goals! I'm going to have to set some up for myself.



Kelly315:My calculations put 125 at the bottom of 'healthy' as far as I could tell, but I'm a complete novice at using all the charts and calculators. Regardless, I'm definitely going to re-adjust as I go along. That means if I never reach 125 but look and feel good, that will be fine with me. You're definitely right about the exercise and what tone can do for a figure. I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how best to tone my abs, my upper arms and my butt to contribute to the change of my shape. Those areas are my least favorite right now and I know that weight loss alone will not make them the shapes I'd like to see!
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Old 08-14-2011, 08:36 PM   #7  
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Penelope, welcome to the forums and I wish you the best in your journey.
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Old 08-14-2011, 10:14 PM   #8  
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Thanks, SweetTreat80!
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