Here I am. I type this as I stuff my face with a bag of candy because I'm pissed off at my son. Make sense? Not to me either! However, I've been meaning to jump in for awhile now, and this appears to be the perfect opportunity.

I currently weigh 264 pounds and I should weigh approximately 175 pounds. Need I say more? Here's my life - I have been blessed with six gorgeous children. Three girls, ages: 25, 9, and 6. Three boys: 22, 17, and 14. I have two gorgeous grandgirls, ages 6 and 11 months. Two, soon to be three, dogs who are really really spoiled and don't know that I'm not just a strange two legged furmommy. I'm also a single mom, I am primary caretaker for my 72 year old mom, with advanced alzheimers, and work full time.

How do you find the time to lose weight???? To eat properly? With the running around with the kids, work, and my mom...I wouldn't eat if it weren't for fast food! How do you do it?????

HELP!!!!!

Welcome, Neata!
I know that there will be some wonderful ladies dropping by to give you the official HI THERE! soon, but I could not pass up this chance to give 3FC a rave review. Look around at the fabulous forums- you'll find so many answers and perspective, as well as motivation. As for where to start, maybe taking a week or two to just log exactly what you are eating and how much exercise you are getting RIGHT NOW. A good first baby step- because how can you change anything if you do not know first what you are doing now? Then, small adjustments that you can live with long term with are the best way to live well and sanely. There are some great fast food options to give you a gentle start and let you research other ways to get healthy. Good luck!

Welcome Neata to the 40 somethings.

We have a good bunch of people on here. Stuffing your face with candy makes sense to me as I am a big culprit. When I get stressed, annoyed, upset, you name it, I head to the kitchen.

Sounds like you have a very busy life. If you have to eat junk food try and make good choices.

Pop in the chat thread and meet everyone.

Hi Neata and welcome!! I agree with everyone -- it IS hard to change, especially if you approach it like "I have to change ALL the bad things NOW at one time!" The only thing that worked for me was to start small --- analyzing what are all the things that made me fat, listing them, and seeing what I could change the most easily. One thing at a time. For me, it was to give up fast food cold turkey. After 3 months, I now feel comfortable to pick up the occasional fast food meal - but I have to choose chicken or salad, and forego the burgers and fries. Another thing that I had to do was add some exercise - where I had been doing NONE! Start out small, walking is fairly easy and cost effective, and if you set small goals (say 15 mins. a day), you'll soon find it easy to add more.

Time is precious, and with the busy household you have, maybe you could corral the kids (probably not the dogs tho) into helping you. Let them help you plan meals, cook, etc. Chances are they want their Mom to be healthier, and will be willing to look at it as a challenge (at least for a little while!)

Planning is soooo very important, and I agree with Circebee above - take a week or two to really analyze the situation now - how many calories you eat, when and where you eat, any exercise, etc. After you figure out the NOW, then plan SMALL changes that you can manage easily. Perhaps packing lunch instead of eating in the office cafeteria or picking up take out. The next week, work on changing snacks or breakfast. THe next week, work on dinner. Every day, try to add 1 minute extra of walking.

Keep reading and posting -- the folks here are SO supportive and motivational! Best of luck!!

Welcome Neata. I'll echo the ladies above and first, invite you over to the 40-something chat thread. It's a good one. Very supportive and lots of great ideas there. Then, I'll also agree with taking it one step at a time. Find time for 15 minutes of walking, then add 5 minutes each week and you'll at least get started. Your kids sound like they are old enough to help out, too, so have them join in to help you with your time. Some things just have to be put on the back burner (in my case, cleaning the house comes in way behind everything else!).

I know you have a lot on your plate with your Mom, too. Come join the chat. You need some support. You can do this!

Wow Neata - you're one busy lady, and then some! You deserve a just for that!

Two things I swear by: cooking and freezing meats, and keeping pre-chopped veggies (onions, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) in the fridge. For the cooked & frozen foods, I find casseroles don't work so great for us as they take too long to re-heat (after work/ school, we just have time to eat before going to soccer and errands, etc.) What does work better is pre-cooking loads of lean hamburger with onions and garlic, chicken, steak, etc. and then just using that to make quick things - add to jarred spaghetti sauce, tacos, salads, etc. I freeze some in family-size servings, and some in single size so I can even take it to work to eat with salads. The pre-chopped veggies (I try to chop them all right after I do groceries) are great for stir fries, salads, or quick soups. And my most favourite appliance is the slow cooker, especially in the winter when the stews and soups are so comforting.

I'm looking forward to seeing other tips as well, because despite all efforts, we too eat much too much take out!

It's funny that you mentioned you were eating candy at the time you were writing the post. I was eating a candy bar as I was reading it. It sounds like you have a very busy life with taking care of your kids and your mom. Who has time for anything else, right? My goal is to not eat when I'm using my computer. My daughter and I have decided to lose weight together. Her motivation is to be able to fit into a wedding dress that she's about 5 inches too big around the middle for. My goal is just to get back into shape. In the summer, I teach kayaking skills part time. When I tell people that, they look at me like "yeah, right". You don't have to be thin to paddle a boat. Some people think that, but there's more room for peoples backsides than they think. It's not like I'm telling people I'm a marathon runner!
Anyway, we ordered the Slim In Six program so we can do it from home. Hopefully we'll get some results in time for the wedding.