I guess since I've been posting here the past few days I need to add my bio here.
I'm 38 (39 on August 10) and weigh 310 pounds, my highest ever. I am married to Hunter, 4 years my junior (Get 'em young and train 'em right!) and we have a beautiful daughter, Gem, who is 2 and a half and knows how to do everything herself (or so SHE thinks -- it's not so bad until she tries to squirm/push out of your arms in the pool). It took us YEARS to get pregnant -- I have PCOS. So Gem is our Blessing Baby (not that any child isn't, but she's rather special to us) and she was born on Easter Sunday, too!
I am a web coordinator for a federal agency in Washington DC. Not the main web people for the overall site, but one of the main people for one huge section of it. So I sit on the computer all day at work. THen I go home, and after dinner and Gem-time, I sit in front of the computer at home and play online computer games (Everquest, if you've heard of it). My total commute time is about three hours a day. /sigh So I'm on my Butt a lot of the time!
I've been overweight since puberty. A few pounds here, a few pounds there. And now here I am, breaking the scale at over 300. My problem, especially with the PCOS, is that I need to move. The doctor basically told me point blank that it wouldn't really matter how little I ate, that unless I exercised the weight wouldn't come off. I was exercising pretty frequently a few years ago, but when Gem was six months old I fell with her in my arms and hurt my ankle something fierce. Lack of exercise and the subsequent weight gain has aggravated the tendonitis in that foot and my ankle/knee problems in general. But every bit of movement helps. I'm determined to make some lifestyle changes -- move more and eat more healthily, to start.
Now, granted, I don't eat the most healthy diet in the world. What cheeses me off, though, is that I see those little skinny people eating as much or more than I do. Not fair! But what is fair. My body is my body. Theirs is different. Their lifestyle is different. No more self-pity.
My basic plan is to count calories. I'm using FitDay to track it. To maintain this weight, I need about 3000 calories a day. So I'm aiming for 2000 - 2500. If the math works out (and I know it's not really as simple as all that), I should lose 1-2 pounds a week. This board is my main "support" forum. I don't have the time to go to a meeting, or a gym or something like that. I get home with Gem at 6, and she gets ready for bed around 7:30. Some nights it's just me, 'cause Hunter works retail (he's an optician). So it gets hard sometimes to stay on plan.
I'm looking for permanent change, so I want slow and steady. Good habits take a while to establish themselves. Besides, we're hoping to get pregnant again, and I don't want to be doing drastic things to my body when I'm trying to prepare it for a new life.
Other hobbies:
- I sing in my church choir (hence "synger" -- I'm a lyric soprano)
- We play tabletop fantasy role-playing games with friends each weekend (like Dungeons and Dragons -- it's sort of like extemporaneous theater, except you sit around a table talking it all out rather than getting up and acting it out)
- We love history. I enjoy reading about it, Hunter and I love the History Channel, and we try to stay involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval reenactment/education/fun group that's really active in this area.
- As I mentioned, we're involved in computer gaming, too.
- I'm trying to do more gardening.
This is rather rambly, but I haven't had the requisite first cup of coffee yet. (I checked the boards first! /chuckle) Talk to you all later.