Okay, hi my name is Virginia and I am FAT! There I said it, I am fat and I don't wanna be anymore. So why oh why do I not stick with a diet for more than a week lately. I weigh 258 lbs. Uhhhgg! I remeber when I got married 21 years ago I weighed 160 lbs and thought I was huge. Oh if I could only turn back time. Somone quick throw me some plutonium, everyone into the time machine. Damn no plutonium!! Okay well I guess I have to do this on my own. NO wait a minute I have friends in my life and on this forum who can help me do this, all I have to do is ask. Well I am asking.
Okay so a little about me. I am 45 years old, already said weigh 258 lbs, light smoker but still smoker none the less and I am just recovering from a knee injury. Did a 10 km race in July and pulled one of the tendons in my hamstring. SO have new orthodics still receiving theraphy and have been given the okay to walk/not run again. Will be getting a pair of Nordic walking poles on Wednesday which are supposed to help ease some tension on the knees and other joints plus gives you a 50 % better wokout than just walking. Will see about that. I have two beautiful teenage children whom I love more than life itself, 19 year old girl Rebecca snd 17 year old boy Ryan.
Going to do a 5k race in October just want to finish no big expectations for time, hopefully near or under one hour. I race against myself only, just me!
Well guess that is all I can think of for now. Look forward to getting to know you all. Have a great day and I would love any and ll info thrown out to me.
Longing to be fit
Virginia

I am with you girl! This is not my first time here either. I, like you, am having a tough time losing weight. I also like to run, but now that I am 225 lbs., it is tough to be motivated. I am 44 years old, and recently started back to a healthy lifestyle. I started on Monday, and weighed in at 231 lbs., and have since lost 6 lbs. this week. I just got tired of being fat, and decided to finally do something about it. My husband had open heart surgery last year (November, 2010) to replace a leaky aorta he has had since birth but was only recently discovered (thanks to the good Lord!). Since then, I have taken care of him and not myself. I gained a lot of weight since last year. My mom just died in August and I am struggling with grief. I had to fly back east to my homestate of Illinois for the funeral and to take care of things there. I am now back in Arizona where I currently reside. Now that it's fall, the weather is bearable for walking/running which is what I started doing again this week. I always seem to come back here for support and motivation to keep going. Maybe we can help each other to reach our goals? Good luck to you and your weight loss journey. I hope for the best for you and hang in there girl! It will be summer again before you know it and we both want to fit into a bathing suit, don't we! Let's get this weight off for good!!!!

Lavon it does sound like we have a lot of similarities and unfortunately not in a good way. I too just lost my mom on June 7th and my father in law on July 29th so it has not been a very good summer. Greiving takes a lot out of you both mentally and physically. We tend to turn to what we know and for me that is food. I did the race I was talking about earlier in Rememberance of my mom as she has always been very concerned for me and my weight, so the closer i got to the finish the more excited i became and really over did it. Fortunately we can learn from our mistakes sometimes the hard way, but no the less I am feeling well enough again to start training a little bit, but training alone is not good enough without the proper diet. So it is time to kick it into gear and lose my rear.
If you ever need anyone to talk to about your mom or what you are feeling i am here. God Bless you!

It is a life long struggle with weight. We have to get it right this time by learning that this is a life style change (eating/exercise).

For me, on the scale. I said I would never be over 200 and once I was nearing that number I would always start cutting back and dieting again and losing the weight.

I am really tired of the up/down game. I want to get my eating under control and I want to finally do it right this time.

You have to be committed, change your life style, know your stress points and be able to control yourself and be willing to put in the time. And...stay accountable!

I think we're taught to think there's something wrong with us, when there isn't.

I think we're taught to believe that weight loss should be easy and just a matter of willpower (especially if we've ever done it before)

I think our physiology and our culture fights us every step of the way. We're taught to diet by methods that don't work (because the binges are built into the lessons we've learned).

We've learned by watching, reading, and hearing about how weight loss is done to binge when we make a small mistake. We're taught that the appropriate thing to do when we overeat, is to feel discouraged, and since we've already "blown it" we might as well stuff ourselves until the next appropriate "starting over" point (tomorrow unless it's midweek, then Monday unless it's past Halloween, then New Years...)

Imagine if we were taught to mountain climb, the way we're taught to diet. No one would survive the sport, because whenever we stumbled, we'd have to throw ourselves off the cliff, so we could "start fresh" from the bottom.

Change is difficult. For everyone. That news isn't as discouraging as it seems. I think our expectations get in the way. We don't quit because we're stupid, we quit when we believe that not only are we failing, but that ultimate failure is inevitable.

And the way we're taught to do weight loss, and the definitions of success that we're taught to use - it is. The 1-2 lbs per week weight loss is one of the pitfalls of weight loss. We're taught to see less than that (especially if we have more than a few pounds to lose) as being failure - so half the time we're seeing failure where there is actually success (because most people who want to lose weight are not losing 1-2 lbs per week. Oh, some weeks they are - but usually not every week).

I highly recommend a TOPS group (taking pounds off sensibly for meetings near you check out the website tops.org).

In TOPS, every week the weight losses and gains for the week are read out loud (if you divide the net loss or gain by the number of members, you see what the "real" average weight loss is for people trying to lose weight, and it's not even one pound per week).

You'd think that would be discouraging (after all, we want to get this weight off ASAP, so we don't want to be average), but for me it was eye-opening. I realized that I wasn't a failure, I was a raging success, even in the early days of this particular journey when I was losing on average, only one pound a month.

I know I went off on a bit of a rant, sorry. It's just so tragic that many of us give up because we're seeing failure, where there is success. It's like being in the middle of a marathon and thinking you're in last place because of the thousands of runners ahead of you, not realizing you're in the top 10% because of all the tens of thousands of people behind you (and on the sidelines).

Hi Everyone,
I am in the same boat as Ginny & LaVon - 44 years old and trying to become fit and think and hopefully gain some self confidence along the way. I've been on again and off again.
I have found really great support on MyFitnessPal and it's an excellent way to keep track of your exercise and your calories. Check it out!
I'd like to keep chatting with you guys and being supportive to each other.

@Ginny - Your injury sounds painful!! I am impressed you're getting right back on the horse and doing a 5K in October. Running is a goal of mine!

LaVon - My sympathies to you and your family. You're doing good things though to continue on with life. Don't make dieting the priority - make a healthy lifestyle the priority! I'm trying to do that!

Maybe we could start our own thread? What do you think? Fat 40s Going For Thin ha ha

Good luck to all of us! And I'd love to give and receive support!

My name is Shellie. I am 43, married with 4 children ages 6,8,13 and 16. I am starting a new job next monday and had to go shopping for new clothes the other day. I HATE TO SHOP!!! Nothing ever fits right or looks right and there are not many fat stores around here that think fat people should look normal. The neck is too big, the arms are too big and the length is too short. What I would do to shop in a normal size store again. I weighed in this morning at my top weight of 215. I normally run between 205 and 210. Not happy at all. Even my fat clothes are tight. I too have been here before years ago. I found out a few years ago that I have thyroid problems and that was part of the reason for the lack of weightloss. I even did the P90X system for 6 weeks and only lost 11lbs. I should have lost double that. The doctor keeps telling me that my levels are fine, but I stay tired all the time. I need some major motivation. I am not looking to be a size 4, just would like to get into a size 10 again. Can't remember what those look like. Let's do this girls. I know it is possible.

Shellie

putting your head in the right place is where i would start, i recently decided i need to lose two uk stones, but realised i had to jiggle my daily commitments a bit, then i had to eat a bit healthier to get the energy to exercise more, and also drink more water, dehydration is an absolute killer to energy. then i found this site, blogged my heart out and now i am inspired, hope this helps !

Its tough but totally doable! I started at 237 and have lost over 100 lbs. I am struggling recently but am back to get myself in the right direction before I do serious damage. Being obese most of my life I can see it happening and I am not going to let it.

My main thing is being accountable. Sometimes over the last few months I wouldnt record everything because I didnt want to show it over my calories. Big no no - you eat it you record it - you go over you have to find a way to correct it. Easy right? Not so much but its a good thing you are going at it again and not giving up!

Give yourself a pat on the back for that and get started

I feel like a failure. I have tried everything out there. I cant even be successful with weight watchers.. after 6 months I only lost 4 pounds. I tracked everything I ate. It's an uphill battle for me and very frustrating. I have 45 pounds to lose. I have started using my recumbent bike again for exercise. I am riding different programs for 45-60 min/day. I sweat like there is no tomorrow. I watch what I eat but nothing comes off. I get very discouraged and have no support at home. Its me against my fat and so far my fat is winning. If anyone has encouraging words, tips, how to just drop 5 pounds to get me motivated I would greatly appreciate it.. It's easier to go through this battle with someone so I am hoping I find some support and friends here...

We are all in the same boat, and here to share our success and our failures. None of us are failures .... we keep coming back .... we keep trying new things .... my biggest problem like many is consistancey... I am all gung ho for a couple months then I'm gone off the wagon and on the couch..!!! perhaps we could start a group were if someone doesn't check in we send PM's to let them know we miss them and want them to keep going... keep fighting the fight. I know something like this would be helpful to me, just a reminbder that I made a Commitment to myself.

Let me know your thoughts on such a group.

Hello everyone,
I can relate to many of your stories. I have been on so many diets and eating plans...I've now gotten to the point in which I can't stick to anything for more than a meal! I've stopped and started countless times. I've had my successes but now I'm at my heaviest weight (not including pregnancy).

I don't really know what it takes anymore. When I was successful, I had more time to plan meals and exercise (I was home w/ the kids for a few years). Now w/ my crazy schedule, I hardly ever cook and haven't exercised for weeks. I've gained 70 lbs in 4 1/2 years.

I'm starting over again!

I'm not really sure what it takes to be successful. But, I do know that I have to be conscious of what I eat. Yesterday it would have been so easy to eat that apple pie from McDonalds, but after I took one bite and looked at the calorie count, I stopped. I don't think there is a magic wand out there that we can just wave. I believe it just takes plain old determination and will power. I hate to exercise, but I am finding that I am feeling better after doing it also. So, just get into the habit of doing some type of moving. I walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day. I don't really like taking the time to do it, but I do it. This isn't easy or convenient, but I look at it as an investment in my future.

Sounds like a great idea. Count me in if you start doing this.