Hello, I'm Sarah. I'm from Southwestern Ontario Canada, 33 years old, divorced, in love with a wonderful man who unfortunately lives 12 hours (by car) away from me. I've been heavy since about grade 4, tried everything thing, but depression stopped any loss in its tracks within a few weeks.
I had a referral for the gastric bypass surgery, but decided not to go, that I'd rather do it on my own. This was in 2005. I'm not sure what my highest weight was, but I would wager at least 50 pounds from the top weight I have listed on here.
I've been on this site since July 2009.
Hi, I'm Mariella and I just joined the forum a few days ago. I was shocked to learn earlier this month that I weighed in at 241. That put me 101 pounds above my ideal "chart" weight of 140 and was a huge wake up call for me. I copied the rest of this from my original intro post in the main "intro" section, hope that's ok!
I'm a 50-ish female and I've always been reasonably fit although I've struggled with weight fluctuations of 25 to 30 lbs throughout adulthood.
Was never on the "obsese" side of the BMI chart.
Six years ago I started sliding downhill toward full fledged obesity.
Hormones, stress and major life changes triggered binge eating, depression and low motivation.
I gained 50 pounds that first year and hit the 200 mark for the first time in my life. I dieted a few times between 2005 and 2007 - WW and my own modification of the Scarsdale diet. I would take off a few pounds, very slowly, and then plateau for weeks on end, which leads me to just give up.
Since March of 2008, I have not "dieted" at all and I had not weighed myself.
I feel like crap, my blood pressure is in the "high normal" pre dangerous range, I retain water like a sponge and my jeans size keeps getting bigger. I have horrible digestive problems - I used to have a truly cast iron stomach and perfect "regularity" now I feel like I must have IBS. I have four different size clothes in my closets. This fall I graduated from a size 18 to a size 20 but still I would not weigh myself. I kept telling myself I don't really eat that much and I don't binge anymore so there's probably just nothing I can do.
Finally, the digestive issues the past two months have just been insane and so I decided to come out of denial and start keeping a food diary. After three days of journaling I realized I needed to track and limit calories and make better food choices. I looked up the number of calories needed to maintain my goal weight and decided to make that the goal for my daily caloric intake.
Eight days ago, after five days of "dieting" I got on the scale and discovered I had put on another 40 pounds since early 2008. I weighed in at 241.
Now I am more motivated than ever to continue what I've started. I have dropped 7 pounds (as of today, I weighed in at 232.5 so its 9.5 lbs now since the day I weighed myself and I feel soooo much better already!
I work at my computer most of the day so having the forum open so I can grab a tiny bit of inspiration anytime I want to is suuuuccchhhh a big help!
Hi! I'm Karen. I'll be turning 34 next month. No kids yet and have never been married, but I'm currently on my second engagement.
I've lost about 35 pounds since I've been here this summer, making for a grand total of over 110 altogether. I have about another hundred to lose, but I know I can do it. I'm really anxious to at least get down to 220 again, which was my lowest weight as an adult! That should get me out of plus sizes.
I was severely depressed around 2004 when I was at my highest weight of 360. I had a whole slew of health problems, most of which have since have been reduced to nearly nothing or have diminished entirely since I've lost the weight I have. I was also in a bad relationship at the time and was dealing with the death of my father, which was especially hard after already losing my mother shortly out of high school.
My ex and I both had a lot of issues with food, and when I tried to eat right and have an overall healthier lifestyle, he resisted every moment of it. I managed to lose about 75 pounds while I was with him though before settling at a plateau.
Anyway, I'm with a wonderful new guy now that I met online, who's been so very supportive. I moved from the midwest out to Vegas to be with him, and after some of what I've been through was very grateful for the chance to start over. This past summer I decided to break through my plateau and make even more progress to a healthier, happier me.
Aside from the weight issues, I was sexually abused as a child, been diagnosed as clinically depressed, and also have agoraphobia, which sometimes makes day-to-day living difficult. At my worst point I was unable to leave the house by myself. So I have issues, but I at least have my sense of humor to get me by most of the time. I recently began driving again now that I have an automatic (the BF has a stick; although I learned to drive one it gave me panic attacks). I've been doing better overall lately with my people skills, have gotten active at the local YMCA, am regaining my overall independence, and hope to feel "normal" soon, whatever that might be.
I love cartoons and animation in general, and am a *huge* Disney fan. I also love to draw and digitally color. I make all the avatars I use here (that's me in my current one!) and designed my Dory weight-loss ticker (although I had to have someone else code it for me since I couldn't even begin to do that part on my own, lol).
Other than that? I like to keep tabs and read what everyone's been up to for inspiration. I don't feel I have a lot of advice to offer but like to chime in every so often with my own experiences. I'm what I'd call a part-time vegetarian, but I'm probably more of a borderline carnaphobe (a term I didn't even know until recently).
Anyway, I thought I'd stop and join in in the roll-call. I wish everyone luck as we continue to cheer each other on.
Last edited by Elladorine; 01-28-2010 at 07:49 PM.
I'm Scarlett, 25 years old, happily married for almost 4 years. I've been here on 3fc for a long time, I remember posting about my upcoming wedding, lol. We have two gorgeous boys now, ages almost 2 and almost 2 months. I am currently working towards a 2nd bachelors degree, with hope for a masters to follow. I work full time (still on maternity leave) at a job in the field of my first bachelors and will probably be quitting soon to focus on my babies and school. I've been overweight since I was about 14. Obviously, I've tried to lose weight off and on but have not made it under 200. I reached 300 right around my wedding (nice, right?) and have been over it ever since. I'm very close to getting back under that hateful number and I am VERY excited about it!
I'm Heidi...I'm 29 years old (30 in March) and I'm from Indiana. I have a wonderful husband of 9 years, a 7 year old DD, and 2 cats.
I've been slightly overweight since puberty, got up to 190 when I was 15, down to 160 at 17 and it pretty much been up, up, up since then. A LOT of my weight gain is due to laziness (we ate out 99% of the time), and I'm just sick of it.
DH (he needs to lose about 60lbs) and I started trying to lose weight in April of last year and did really well until the end of July. We continued to start and stop until Jan. when we got back to it full force. I had lost about 40 lbs, and I gained all but 2.5 back.
I'm so happy to be here, ya'll give me SUCH inspiration, and I love to see that success really is possible!
Hi, I'm Carrie (and I just loved reading this thread). I've been on this website for about a year and a half. I read the posts all the time but I don't post a whole lot myself. I guess you can classify me as a semi-"lurker".
I've always been in the "a few extra lbs" category, until a couple of years ago. I left an unhealthy relationship and was dealing with other personal issues which left me giving up on myself in a lot of ways. I put on 60 lbs in just the last couple of years.
This time feels different than the rest of the times I have tried to lose weight. It feels like I've actually adopted a new lifestyle. I'm really proud of myself.
I am 32 yrs old, divorced for several years, 2 great children at home. I live in SW Ontario Canada and a professional career I really love. I like running. It's starting to become my new obsession.
I'm Tori from Kansas. I'm 26 and have been married for almost 3 years. My husband and I have 2 kids, an almost 3 year old girl and a boy who will be one in February. I'm a nursing student. I'm here at 3FC after complications with blood pressure during my last pregnancy. Took me a little time to get serious, but its time to get all the baby weight off, plus that extra I gained after high school. Baby number 2 is off, now its time to get rid of the rest!
I'm Jo! I'm 25, lesbian(ish), atheist, very much a geek. I live in Dawsonville, GA with my two cats and, soon, two roommates. I just spent the day helping one of them paint a Starry Night mural in their to-be bedroom.
In 2007, watching my weight skyrocket from terrible eating habits, I decided to get a lap band surgery. Unfortunately, my eating habits didn't change, and I soon gained back the little weight I'd lost. But thankfully this taught me that I couldn't rely on anything except my own strength. In March 09, at 280 lbs, I started a new weightloss plan. I learned about food and struggled to control my eating.
I lost over 50 lbs by that September. Unfortunately I then let myself relax, and stalled out for six months. Now I'm back in the saddle and fighting the pounds, and so far it looks good.
My hobbies include everything geekdom. Anime, steampunk, sci-fi, comics, video games, cosplay, anything and everything. I suppose I'm what you would call "eclectic". My X-men statue sits next to a unicorn plushie, my fursuit mask, some Japanese calligraphy, and a nerf pistol. My interests also span into animals and nature, science, history, the arts, and home decor. I went through a horse phase AND a dinosaur phase as a child. Most recent hobby : roleplaying breedable pets on GaiaOnline.
In personality, I'm friendly but anxious. I watch conversations more than I participate, and I try to get along with everyone. I'm a bit of a doormat, but I'm working on that... I kicked out my previous passive-aggressive roommate, for instance. Losing his friendship meant I lost almost all my friends as well, and I'm still struggling with the loneliness it's bought me, and what it did to my self esteem. But it helps terribly to have one solid, true friend, and thankfully I do. With her help, I'm slowly building up my confidence again.
I've become amazed at how much I've learned about myself this last year. I never thought I'd be a person who could give up soda altogether, who would willingly get on a treadmill because I enjoy it. And yet, I am. It's easier to stay on plan now, and I understand what I did wrong when things go south. And most important, I've learned enough patience to last Six Bloody Months of no progress whatsoever, without going mad and binging. Considering the longest I ever dieted before was one month, I'm darn proud of myself.
Howdy, I'm Jan - a displaced Texan struggling to adjust to small(er) town life in southern Arizona where I live with my partner of 20 years and our 4-pack of delightful dogs and cats.
I'm a classic yo-yo'er who wasn't fat until early 20's. In fact I was a college athlete in the dark and distant past. This time my partner is being a real help in making our entire way of life a change - from eating healthy to being more active as a couple. I'm getting too old to do this again...
Hi, my name is April and I'm a 43 yr old single mom from Eden, N.C. My sons are grown now (20 & 22), so I decided that now it's time to take better care of ME! My short-term goal is to get into a size 14, which will be about 51 lbs from now, and my long-term goal is to get back into a size 12, which is about 98 lbs from now. It was 103 til today at Weight Watcher weigh-in, where I discovered I've lost another 5 lbs, bringing my total weight loss to 30 lbs...I am totally excited! If anyone's interested, my food intake journal and my workout plan are linked into my blog, which is linked to the left of my post. Good luck to all of you!!!
Hi I'm Michelle. 42, single mom of two (19 year old daughter and 9 year old son) dating a really great guy, thinking of moving in together soon. I have two cats and a shih-tzu. I work in Social Services managing Supported Living facilities.
I have been overweight since I discovered alcohol in college. I gained the Freshman 10 X 2, gaining about 20 lbs in a few months. I never took that weight off and when I got pregnant with my daughter I gained 100lbs with pregnancy. Over the course of 10 years I lost a lot of that, weighing 190 something when I got pregant with my son. I gained 40lbs with that pregnancy and never got below 215 since he was born.
Funny thing was as beautiful 150lbs 5 ft 9 teenager my dad would tell me I was getting fat. "Better not get too fat. Boys don't like fat girls". "Are you suurrrre you want to eat that?" Even though I wasn't truly fat I was convinced that I was hugely grotesque. I must be, Daddy said so.
I've struggled with my weight for years being serious about losing about 3 times. The first time I got down to 175 using Phen fen in the 90's, 215 in my twenties by working out, and got down to 230 last year with WW and 3FC's.
In the last year, I gained up to 270 and was getting too big for the 3x at Walmart and my size 24 jeans "shrank in the dryer" and I had to lay down to zip them up, I decided enough was enough and came back here. I have since lost 6 lbs, by portion control, tracking what I eat on Daily Plate and increasing my activity.
I really really want to get to 175-180 again. I want to look good and feel even better. I love this place and really feel loved and supported here!! I love all the inspirational stories of people who've lost 100+ lbs. (CFMama and Rockin Robin are my inspiration!) If they can do it...I can too!
Last edited by Michelle98272; 01-28-2010 at 09:00 PM.
Hi everyone! My name is Ariel, I'm 22, and I've been happily married to my noble-hearted husband for over two years - and together for over six! I'm a communist, atheist, tabletop role-playing, natural living bohemian with a penchant for the occult and the victorian era. My house is decorated in catholic saints and dinosaurs.
My husband and I have no pets and no kids, but we've been unsuccessfully trying to conceive for the past two and a half years. My husband has male factor infertility, and I was recently diagnosed with PCOS, so I hope losing all this excess weight will help me control my PCOS and up my chances of natural conception and a healthy pregnancy!
I've been overweight since the second grade. I managed to lose 135 pounds when I was fifteen-sixteen (in a very unhealthy way), dropping from my all time high weight of 280 to a much slimmer 145. I gained back about 40 pounds over the next two years slowly, and then when I was 18 I was in a car accident that seriously injured my neck, back, and hip. I got severely depressed from the pain and gained 80 pounds in three months. Since then I've been a little up and down (I got down to about 210 for my wedding) but I've mostly stayed in the 250-260 range. I weighed in at 241 pounds this morning which means I've lost NINE POUNDS since I started counting calories again! I plan to eventually weigh in at about 125.
Right now I'm a full time student on my way to becoming a certified nurse-midwife, and I work about 30 hours a week at my local organic co-op. I'm also an assistant for a local doula, so I'm on call virtually 24/7 to attend childbirth!
I orginally started here I think in 2005 and for six months was living the life and lost I'm thinking 25lbs but then found out I was pregnant for the 3rd time, we'd only been trying a month. I'm now the proud mother of 3 boys, ages 8, 5 and 3. They are all smart, handsome and healthy boys who come with their different challenges that we haven't quite figured out yet but it's mostly speech (this is a small thing and they are pretty much all caught up with early intervention) and sensory issues and I have a full spectrum here with them each having different issues, lucky me. I've been married to the same man for 8 years and have been happily married, but the last 6 months have been a work in progress. Let's just say I now have a step daughter who is younger than my youngest son. I won't get into it but I've made my choices in life and while they are stressful I'm more than willing to give it a go to be happy again.
Up until four months ago I had lost 40lbs after restarting this journey Dec 2008, almost 2 years after my youngest. It's been a struggle to get back here but after putting 30lbs of those pounds back on as of last week, I'm ready to get back on track again. I'm sick of what I let stress do to me and I'm determined to get control again.
I will never leave this board again, I'll get it right this time.
So, yeah, I'm Donna and I'm 34yo and I live in the Great White North..that's the Yukon!
Last edited by SnowboundChick; 01-29-2010 at 02:27 AM.
Hi. My name is Traci and I'm afraid compared to y'all I'm boring. I really, really want to be lesbian-ish or communist or something really unique but 3fc is all about honesty, so I guess I'll just be plain me. But I swear I'm going to tell someone somewhere very soon that I'm lesbian-ish just so I can use the word!
I really am 43 - 44 in February (jeez, when did I get so old???) and I've been married for 22 years. DH says at least 11 of those years have been bliss, so we keep going because we bat over .500. :-) We have two beautiful daughters - one a junior in college and one a senior in high school. And a rescue dog of undocumented type. Slightly psychotic if you want to know the truth, but I love him anyway.
Three years ago DH had a health scare and we both decided it was time to be less fat. I lost about 60 pounds, he lost 130+. Two years ago the manufacturing plant where we both worked in management closed and I went back to school to become a nurse. DH became a tri-athlete, I became a stressed college student. He looks great. I re-gained 38 pounds.
So... now I'm a mental health nurse and it's time to get the weight back off and finish the job. I WILL get this accomplished this year. I AM fully on-plan and happy to be there.
3fc helped me last time and it's helping me again. It was great to read all your stories - even if I did feel a little plain in the process. :-)
Hi everyone! My name is Jen and I am 22, California born and raised. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. My insecurities started as a young child, stopping me from going to many many activities that I felt I was not good enough for. I think it all started when someone called me "fatso" in kindergarten...
Anyway lol, my goal weight is 145, leaving me with 104 pounds that I'm getting off me once and for all. I want to find the love of my life and really start living life to the fullest. I wish I could be one of those people that are perfectly content accepting themselves the way they are. But, I just can't be happy with the way I look. Therefore, I need to change.
I am moving to Nashville this summer and I want to move being happy and healthy and ready to find me a Southern charmer!
I'll be turning 34 next month. No kids yet and have never been married, but I'm currently on my second engagement. 
I'm really anxious to at least get down to 220 again, which was my lowest weight as an adult! That should get me out of plus sizes. 
