Happy to have found people who "get it"!
Hi, this is my first time joining this forum, but I have spent a lot of time reading many of the posts here. This seems to be the one place where people truly understand struggles people can have with weight, and where people can have real conversations with other people who "get it".
I'm just off a very bad experience on another site that offered a weight loss forum among many other general topic forums. The general topic forums were filled with threads such as, "I think fat people should pay for two seats on an airplane", and (the one that really did me in) "I think fat shaming is a good way to get people to lose weight". The weight loss forum was dominated by a couple individuals who have, incidentally, never been overweight. Whenever someone attempted to start a thread, they would pounce in, say "the only way to lose weight is to eat less and move more", and stomp on anyone who didn't follow the "just eat like a normal person--duh!" agenda. Personally, I think it's perfectly acceptable to tell people "that didn't work for ME". It's a whole other thing to tell people, "What you're trying is never going to work for YOU". And that was the constant theme. It drove me nuts, and I don't believe it. I've just seen too many people successfully lose weight (and keep it off) using too many different weight loss methods to buy into the idea that there's only one path that everyone needs to follow. So I'm here in search of a more positive and constructive environment, and this seems to fit the bill.
My situation: Was thin most of my life but developed very poor eating habits in childhood that are catching up with me now. I'd gained 65 lbs in my 30's during my pregnancy, and lost it all after my son was born. That was easy. I just exercised and ate less, everything in moderation. I don't remember much of a struggle. I managed to keep it off until...
Fast forward 10 years and I was determined to kick a long-time smoking habit. Because I used food to quit smoking during my pregnancy, I decided to do that again, remembering that I was able to lose the weight rather easily once I'd decided to. I gained 70, very flippantly, eating sweets to overcome the smoking habit. The bad thing was, when I finally decided I had kicked cigarettes and needed to get the weight off, the "everything in moderation plan" didn't work this time. In fact, I found the only way I could lose weight was to literally starve myself all day. I'd work hard with the "moderation" thing, be hungry all the time, crave sweets constantly no matter how much I "just had a little", and lose a whopping 1 lb by the end of the week. So help me if I went to the movies and had a popcorn, that pound would be back plus two. Because I chart my weight loss every time I get serious, I looked back and realized I've been trying to lose this 70 lbs for 7 years, and have only successfully kept off 20. I'm now in menopause and am feeling it's almost impossible.
For me, I feel like I have done a good job kicking the bad eating habits that caused me to gain the weight. I can live very comfortably just working on maintaining. I spent 4 years in Weight Watchers reinforcing moderation and portion control but never really getting anywhere. Having to weigh food and count points/calories/whatever is not something I can stick with. I just can't do it. I can maintain, I just can't cut back enough to actually LOSE consistently over a long period of time.
So, tomorrow I am starting Medifast. I have done it before and it worked for me. I was just stupid in that I went off it, thought I was "cured" and went back to my old eating habits. I believe I'm smarter now, and hope that's true. My goal is to lose the 50 on Medifast, then follow the good advice on this forum about taking transition very seriously, accepting that I am going to ALWAYS have to watch what I eat to protect against putting it back on. And go from there.
So that's it. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I'm guessing I'm not the first! I look forward to chatting with you and getting to know this forum!
Last edited by LoriBee62; 06-23-2015 at 11:39 PM.
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And welcome. Here's a thread I like: 
This is a wonderful community, and you won't find ANY fat shaming going on here. 
I'm so glad you've joined us! You are so right that the same weight loss plan does not work for everyone. You always get people who can't see past their own experience or who believe everything they read by diet "experts," but the truth is we are individuals. I know that for me, I will not stick to counting calories or points or counting or weighing anything! I've tried! I know that I can't do a liquid diet. I know that I love sweets too and if I can never have them again, I'm going to be fat because I can't live like that. I am just so lucky to have found a plan that works for me as exactly who I am! It sounds like you have found a plan that you like too, so I wish you the best! You can do this! 
