[traurigeslied]

I would like to note that I have changed my username from traurigeslied to LaFleur. LaFleur is the name that I will be using from now on.


Hey everyone!

My name is Fleur and I'm a college freshman. I just got onto campus recently and I want to make positive changes in my life. I have never been overweight by the normal standard, nor have I ever been extremely underweight. From that last statement, you may be wondering why I am on this site, but bear with me.

During high school, I developed ED-NOS, which turned into bulimia. While I was bulimic, I did not lose much weight at all; I actually gained some weight, which was extremely frustrating. Once I became afraid of what I was doing to my teeth by throwing up, I stopped, but I continued with the compulsive overeating that accompanied my bulimia because I was having a hard time at home and socially. As a result, I gained about 30 lbs on my small frame (I'm a little taller than average with a naturally slender frame, if that makes sense). At my highest, I was just under 150 lbs. To this day, my eating is out of control, and I guess I just need some support to normalize it and get healthy again. I would love to lose the weight that I gained during my two years of eating compulsively day after day. Eventually things got so bad that on some days I would eat enough to be nauseous, throw up, and continue eating. I also have a habit of overeating now, but that is really hard to break. How I never reached an overweight standard, I am not sure, but I really dislike how my body is proportioned right now.

Every time I look in the mirror, I get reminded of my eating disorder because of the way I look, and that is a depressing feeling I want to get rid of. I cannot fit into clothes that fit me before or even a few months ago. I would like to have my old body back, but more than that I would love to have a more toned body than what I had when my eating disorder started so that I can be proud of the way I look. I want to be able to go to the beach and not feel guilty because I feel like everyone knows about my eating disorder when they see me in a bathing suit. I want to look good naked. In more constructive terms, I would like to be between 115-120 lbs, which is in the lower healthy weight range for my height according to BMI.

I've never worked out regularly, so I would love to be active, toned, sexy, and at a point where weight doesn't control my life. I have grown a lot and I have seen a psychologist about my problems, but I feel that I need to do something about my weight and body to get over my issues and truly be happy.

I originally found this site through the Oprah magazine (she recommended it) so I joined. I have not made any posts yet and right now I feel inspired to make changes in my life because there have already been so many changes in the past few weeks. I want to live the life I have always wanted to live. I want to be the person I have always wanted to be. I'm young. I should be doing something productive instead of sitting on my *** and being depressed because of things that are in the past right now. I feel like being in a forum will give me more inspiration and motivation (which I really need).

To achieve my goal, I plan on trying to take things slowly. I'm really busy with college, but I want to start by making my eating habits healthier. I eat a lot of sweets and junk food, so I am going to try to minimize that and eventually cut it out altogether. I want to eat more vegetables and fruits and get my eating down to three meals per day (since I get out of control if I eat more than 3 times per day and the mini meals have never worked for me). I may start counting calories at a later date, but for now I just want to be aware of calories. I also want to get my study habits more developed so that I can't use the "I have no time" excuse for exercise. I'm planning to walk briskly/jog on the weekends at least. That's all for now.

I can't wait to get to know the rest of you and for us to make positive changes in our lives together!

P.S. Does anyone know how to change my weight loss ticker without making a completely new one?

[readyfreddy]

hi! you can just click on the ticker, enter your password, change the current weight, and recopy the link to your profile (as far as I know) there is no easy way!

i also have some problems with compulsive/over/emotional eating. like you i cant believe that i dont weigh way more with all the crap i eat. i think its because im either "really good" or "really bad." i just want to work on NORMAL eating and losing some of this weight. like you my weight loss is for what i call "vanity" weight (ie im not losing it for health reasons but for how i feel about it - hope you dont mind my term!). i am just over 5'5" and i am looking to get to aorund 120 with the agreement that if i look too think i will gain 5 lbs back. i just dont want to always have to think about my weight! ie can i wear this, do i look fat, does he think i look fat, does she think i look fat, should i not be eating this in public because people will think "oh yeah no wonder shes fat." etc. not the healthiest mental state let me tell you! ;-)b

anyways just wanted to say welcome and see you around!

[rakel]

traurigeslied,

3FC's tickers are based on the image name, but if you get a ticker from www.tickerfactory.com, you can log in and post your weight, and it will even keep track of your progress by way of a graph to see how you're doing, just make sure to change the date on the current weight data. You can see mine for example, just click on the tickerfactory one in my sig and you'll see how it works!

As far as your post : I'm fairly new here myself and so far everyone has been really supportive... and I did not even know that 3FC was mentioned in Oprah's magazine. Far out! I just surfed on from google. Anyhoo, there are some really amazing people here who have accomplished so much. It is completely inspiring! If you haven't, be sure to check the photo galleries for goals and mini-goals!

Also, I would recommend buying a little notebook and writing down your calories. You don't have to set a limit yet, but just the act of writing them down will keep you (sometimes painfully) aware of what you're eating. You can play around with different calorie levels until you find one that works for you. There are also various calculators out there that can help you figure out what to try, but the important thing to remember is that every calculator will give you a little different result. Some of them told me that I should eat like 2,300 calories a day to lose like 3lbs a week... UH RIGHT, and if I go over 1,800 I end up gaining weight, so obviously that wouldn't work, but you won't know unless you are writing things down and if you try out some different things.

And you may not be "by the book" overweight, but I don't always go by the book. I think you, ultimately, know your body best, and if you were healthier in the 115 - 120 range, then that's where you need to be! And it's best to get a handle on it when you only have 35lbs to lose rather than letting it get out of control and get to the point where you need to lose 50, 60, 70... or 130+ like me (though I have never really been thin).

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

[LaFleur]

So, Since I'm new here, I thought it would be okay for me to change my username to something more positive and more me. Therefore traurigeslied no longer exists and LaFleur is my new username. You can call me Fleur.

readyfreddy--Hey! It's so great to meet someone who seems to be going through something similar. We're even about the same height. Yeah, the main thing for me is to be able to control what goes into my body so that I'm not taking in all of this unnecessary junk that is only making me unhappy in the long run. I don't mind if you call it "vanity" weight--I usually don't think about it in that context, but that is what it is referred to sometimes. And I totally understand what you feel about people watching you all the time. I just don't want to feel that way any more and I'm not setting an unhealthy goal for myself, so I don't see a problem.



Rakel-Thank you so much for the advice on writing down what I eat. Counting calories would ultimately really be hard for me and I don't really want to set a limit as long as I'm eating healthy foods as of right now. I'm actually very happy that there are so many supportive people out here on this site. Thank you so very much! Thanks for the ticker advice as well. I am going to change that sometime soon because I am going to sleep now. I'm sure that we'll all get to know each other better in the coming months. I hope that things are going well with you.


It's so great to meet [well, kind of] both of you. See you around!

[rakel]

Gotcha!

Even if you don't count calories, I would recommend writing what you eat and approximate guesses on what you do (i.e. go by "a handful" or "2 cups" "1cup" etc). It really is a pain to do it, but I've been doing it since July 31st (AND writing down every calorie!) I also use it to log my weight and exercise. It helps to keep track of this information so you know what you're doing. BUT, this may be more helpful to me because I have so much to lose. Maybe if you don't want to write down everything you eat, start a "Diet blog" on 3FC where you can keep track of your goals and so on? A lot of people will suggest writing one, even if you don't expect others to read it (you can even make all of the entires private if you want)... or you can just keep a excell spreadsheet or word document with all of this info. If all you really need to track is your weight and exercise, then maybe just use tickerfactory to log your weight, and then get an exercise ticker to log all your exercise! There are so many different things you can do... but I recommend doing something because it really helps when you are feeling unmotivated to look back and see what you've already done. Like, when I am exercising I will say to myself, "I just need to do what I just did 3 more times" and it makes it so much easier for me to finish what I'm doing rather than giving up. I hope that makes sense!

[caseygail21]

Welcome LaFleur! I really think you're going into this with the right attitude. I think it's great that you want to take things slow. It takes awhile to get used to such a huge lifestyle change. It's great that you're being realistic about this and doing it the healthy way! You'll find great support and encouragement here. There is no way I could have got this far without this site. I know you said you are not wanting to track calories yet, and I completely understand. If you do eventually decide you want to start tracking your calories I recomend thedailyplate.com. It's a great site! It helps me a lot because I'm not good at keeping track of it in my head. Sometimes the numbers are a little suprising when you plug all of the foods in.

Welcome to the site and good luck!