my name is lora, i'm new & i will turn 31 tomorrow. i'm an attorney & i live on the west virginia side of the mid-ohio valley here's a bit of my story. i spent most of my teenage & young adult years being overweight. the summer of 2001 i hit my highest weight (i had a job where i traveled the country all summer) it was around 220-225 pounds. in the fall of 2001 i started weight watchers & managed to get my weight to about 148 pounds. i managed to maintain my weight for several years, especially while living in nyc & walking everywhere.

then came the time i got a real job & had much less free time. my weight went up to around 165, but i was okay with that & i maintained that for approximately two years. i was still active & didn't feel bad about myself. then slowly over the last. in the last year or so things have changed dramatically. i was diagnosed with anxiety and prescribed zoloft & experienced weight gain. i got married, bought a house & some how the gym became less of a priority (after fitting into my wedding dress). so, here i am, slowly i have managed to gain 45 pounds & i need to lose it.

my main motivation when i first lost the weight was my law school roommate. we did weight watchers together, we exercised together, & we lost together. i no longer have that. my husband can eat whatever he wants, whenever & he stays the same size. he runs around our neighborhood for exercise, whereas i need the gym & group exercise classes.

i've been trying to get back on the horse for the last few months & i lacked the drive. but i am ready to do this again. i did it once, i can do it again. but i need the support i had before. so hopefully i can find some buddies here!

Hello Lora and welcome to 3FC.

I think you've identified what you need to do. All you need to do is face the fact that you need to. You HAVE to make time for exercise. You haven't said what your diet consist of, but if you are eating a bunch of stuff that you shouldn't you need to cut that stuff out too. I know it's hard because you have your husband in the house and he can like you said, "eat what he wants, whenever & stay the same size." You'll just have to resist the temptation. What do you like to do that's exercise? Do you like to swim? If so, join a class at the YMCA or your local health club. What about group classes? You said you've done them, but do you like them? If so, join some class. Yoga, Kickboxing, Spinning, etc... You seem to need that "obligation" at home. Ask around work, church, etc. You should be able to find someone. If not, if you can start going somewhere for a little while on your own, I'm sure you'll form at least a "workout friendship" with someone. If you want accountablilty outside of the real world I'll be more than happy to give you words of motivation, as I'm sure everyone will be. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Frank

Hi Lora! Isn't it amazing how many of our stories are similar? Weight is a sneaky little thing that climbs up when we are not paying attention! I feel like you, my husband eats what he wants, and never looks different. And if he decides that he wants to "tone up," he swims for a week or two and looks great! I hate it!

My turning point was just the reality that I was not fitting into my clothes any more, and that we do NOT have the money to replace them! Since the new year, I have been religiously counting my calories (www.thedailyplate.com). I cannot say enough about this website. It practically does the work for you! It is similar to WW, but different in that it is FREE, and you just type in what you ate, and it totals your calories for the day! I also love this forum, because I do find lots of people who offer support and encouragement, when you need it!

Keep your chin up, and if you would like my e-mail address, just PM me. I will message you back with it! It looks like we are fairly close (geographically) to each other!

Meredith