I recently found out that my real dad has lost both his legs and is now blind from diabetes. It's on both sides of my family. I'm too terrified NOT to succeed!!!

Every year I start on New years....however this year i was sneekky I started on thanksgiving....and almost at 40 pounds less.....I think i will be on this site for a long time....

Reading the replies to this post almost felt like I was reading my own journal! We all find a strength, information, support, help, inspiration, laughter, and even a tug on heart strings on 3FC. But, do all those things REALLY make us keep coming back? Or, is it the fact that we have really made up our minds to make our lives different and we so we come here to surround ourselves with people who are just like us - doing SOMETHING about it. There really is strength in numbers, there really is help here, there really is inspiration, encouragement, and help here....but I think for me, it is the fact that all these things culminate into a community where I know I fit, belong, and can contribute to...without criticism or slanted views....because birds of the same feather flock together.

As for why am I still trying weight loss...I cannot really put my finger on what made me say "it's now or never," but I definitely know 2007 is my year. There just isn't another option for me this time. :smug:

Thanks to you all for making this a place of hope for so many of us!

I am here because something clicked. I knew that I had to change not because I was ill or because I was going to get ill (although that is still a reason), but I knew I had to try losing weight because I just couldn't keep on living and keep gaining it. Almost like each day that I binged or gained weight felt like someone was cutting off my emotional oxygen and if I wanted to breathe, I had to stop. I had to start losing. I guess being at my weight and height was just too much for me and the thought of gaining was so suffocating... I couldn't live that way. Somewhere within me I realized and made the decision that I would never give up, I would spend every single day of my life trying to lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle until I took my last breaths. I hoped that in that process I would lose weight, and whether it would take me 1, 2, 5, 10 years or longer, I would do it. There was no alternative. I just couldn't do it anymore.

So something clicked and it's a wonder. Now my weight loss is slowing down so I keep monitoring myself to make sure I don't silently let my goals slip away. Deep down, I just can't see myself being obese into my future. It's easier for me to lose weight than it is to live my life being so overweight. I just want to be able to breathe. Emotionally, it's like all this fat on my body was squeezing my airways and the more weight I lose, the more free I feel, less constrained, less choked. Less and less trapped in my body. Sometimes I felt like I was wearing a fat suit.

And I love 3FC. the positive attitude, the wonderful camarderie (sp?), the encouragement and support, the focus on health and well-being, the wealth of information, the pictures - oohh the pictures are absolutely amazing motivators. It's great to read about people's successes and I feel good knowing that I'm part of a site where people can come to for support and will be supported. Being around people who understand and relate truly makes a difference for me. I don't think I would have come this far without all of you and our special community. I am so grateful for all the things I have received from coming here. I hope that I've also been able to help others along as much as I've been helped.

Reddalice - I found this so fitting to how I feel :)

I'm still here. I fell off the wagon the past couple weeks, what with funerals and cross-country road trips, and gained back half of what I'd lost. But even if I went two steps forward and one step back, I'm still one step ahead of where I started and will still make progress.

i'm sorry to hear that, MaWhit. We're here for you!! :grouphug:

MaWhit, Its so good to see you back. We missed you!

MaWhit - glad to see you are back, and sorry to hear of your losses.

Ritzy - there you are!!! Glad to see you too!!!

I'm still here because I've made a commitment to lose weight. I think, if I was sitting here eating a punch of pizza while surfing 3FC I might feel a bit guilty, lol.

"There is not a day that goes by that you all don't simply amaze me."
I say with tears in my eyes.

Thanks, Mrs. Quadcrew!!! I so appreciate everyone being so kind and caring!

I'm still here because of some wonderful friends that I adore. There are several that have helped me through some very down times with my mom's passing this past October, and just every day encouragement. I have also found out so much info from different posts, and I'm so thankful for 3FC!!!:^:

I am still here because this place works. After lurking for information off and on, literally for years - even before I had a weight problem. I realized I had to join.

Once I hit rock bottom, this is the first place I headed - I have learned so much more - once I started interacting with the wonderful people on this site. When I want to have a pity-party - I get reminded they are not allowed, when I want to give up - I just read some more, when I am at a loss - I just search for the thread I need. When I am pretty much convinced that I am the only person in the world with my very own special problem - I get reminded that I am not THAT special - people have battled and won this war - I just need to join the ranks.

I am actually trying to get my brother to join the site - it was funny - I told him - there is this great site I joined - it's called 3FC - he had heard about us!!!! His one concern was whether or not guys joined. I hope he does - his health is horrible - I mean truly horrible, enlarged heart, mulitple strokes, cellulitis, just for starters.

Okay - so in a nut-shell - this site is my stronghold - and I am so thankful for everyday that I can get on here and be a part of it.

I started back in December of 2005 with the thought of being totally done with my weight loss by now and having a new life ahead of me. Well obviously it isn’t happening for me yet and I my desire to lose does not out weigh (no pun intended) temptations. I fall off the wagon incredibly easily and plug along thinking about all the tomorrows I have passed through and not changed. I don’t want to die young. I don’t want to live in pain every morning. I don’t want to be an embarrassment to myself when I go out.

I want to be thinner and healthier. I want to eat clean. I want to feel the energy I used to have 20 years ago. I want to feel comfortable with myself every moment of every DAY. I want to roar into my retirement 20 years from now looking forward to the next 20 or 30 after that! I want to marry Sang Min and carve out a great relationship between us. I want to know the different between bad and good and always choose the good for me.

I guess the wants are really outweighing the bads now and the reason I am still here on and off is I always know someone here will give encouragement and keep me thinking about doing the right thing. I can say this I have kept off the 10 pounds I lost from Dec 2005 to Dec 2006….and that is something GOOD!