[AlleyTD]

Hi Gals,
I am in desperate need of help and support. I have been having a great deal of difficultly losing weight since I had my two sons. I am in late bloomer in the family department and had my children at 38 and 41. I did not have any fertility issues - I was just blessed and lucky enough to concieve naturally in my later years.

The bad part is I had to have both children via c-section which left my tummy in awful shape. Additionally, I put on 50 pounds with each child and never took it off. Now my boys are 9 and 4 and this extra weight has been on my body for 4 years too long. I simply must find a way to lose the extra pounds. I am unhappy and extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. I am at my highest weight ever …224 pounds.

I am writing this in an effort to gain some control and insight into my inner demons, boredom and lack of motivation. I just returned from a week long business trip in California where I put back on 4 pounds I had lost before my trip.

Today I start a new chapter – even though it has already not begun well.
I regularly post of other socail networks, but have had trouble fitting in here.
I posted for a couple of weeks two years ago ...but then I just stopped coming back ... which means I didn't lose a thing and just avoided the whole situation.

OK, I've rambled long enough ... my goal is to get to about 155 ... so I need to lose about 70 pounds

Do any of you wonderful women, have a favorite web journal - calorie counting site ... like fit day? Pros, cons?

i look forward to getting to know some of you via this medium.
It sure is harder to lose weigh in my 40's than it was in my 30's.

Cheers,

[Onmyway]

Alley, This is a great place. We have an active 40's chat thread going. Be sure to check it out!

I had my first child at 28 and my 2nd at 37. I understand the challenges of being an older parent. Losing weigh is not easy but it can be done if you are motivated to stick with it. I have never looked at it as a diet, I have made a change to my life that I plan to follow for the rest of my life. I am eating healthier and getting more exercise and I have lost weight in the process.

You CAN do this!

[newleaf123]

Congratulations on your 2 children! I was 34 and 36 when my boys were born. I took off the baby weight, finally, 4 years ago, and now I'm taking it off again

I'm glad you've decided to come out of avoidance mode (ie, posting for a couple of weeks, then disappearing). From your post it sounds like you've decided to count calories? That's what I'm doing. Have you figured out how to set a target range for you yet? And have you decided to do some exercise to help your calorie deficit grow more quickly?

There's also a Calorie Counters section on the 3FC boards that I also frequent. There's lots of great advice and support to help you down that path (if it is, indeed, what you have chosen).

Best of luck, stick with it, and keep posting! I think it does make you more accountable...

[AlleyTD]

thanks for the welcome.
I'm looking forward to getting know everyone.

[p7eggyc]

Hi Alley,
Welcome! I hope you'll keep coming. It can be difficult to find a groove on social networks but once you do, they can be super powerful. I lost 30+ lbs in 2004-05 using a similar community and I'm back to try and get my healthy lifestyle fully back on track these days.

I wanted to suggest what I have had a lot of success with when starting out (or starting over). I got started on my weight loss with a 5 point per day plan that I'll share with you here and maybe you could give it a try. Give yourself one point per day if:
1. Accountability: record your food somewhere...food journal, on one of the boards, where ever it will hold you accountable to write it down. Don't worry for now what the food is so much as getting it written down, good bad and otherwise.
2. Exercise: Any exercise...walk around the block, march in place during commercials, anything. You are trying to establish the thought process that you need to get it in at some point. Again, don't worry about how much, etc., just do something.
3. Water: Increase your water consumption. If you aren't drinking any, add a glass before each meal. If you are drinking it already, cool, easy point.
4. Me time: Take 15 min to do something just for you. Read, journal, whatever is a 'treat' for you.
5. Good/Better/Best Choice: Make one good/better/best choice per day. Skip a treat, count out the chips instead of eating from the bag, leave a bite or 2 behind. Only need one per day.

You can set a reward for days in a row with 5 points or I use a weekly total of 30+ points a week for a reward threshold. Find a meaningful non-food reward and give it to yourself when you get the job done. You'll likely get to a point where one or more of these is too easy and then you can start raising the bar for yourself gradually. Make the exercise goal a certain number of minutes...got the water? Change it out to fruit/veggie servings.

HTH!

Peg

[the final countdown]

I'm glad you've decided to come out of avoidance mode (ie, posting for a couple of weeks, then disappearing). From your post it sounds like you've decided to count calories? That's what I'm doing. Have you figured out how to set a target range for you yet? And have you decided to do some exercise to help your calorie deficit grow more quickly?

I'm glad you put it that way. It's an easy mode to enter if you are not seeing any results. I'm feeling alot better about things today just because I can get on this site. Don't have a computer at home just using the one at work. I'm hoping to get something at home before too long i know it will help me on my days off to stay on plan and avoid the late evening hungeries.