[DoinItForSkyler]

Good Morning, ladies! I am new here and am in need of some advice.

A little background on me and why I am here!

I am 22 years old and have been overweight my entire life. My entire immediate family is overweight and I developed very bad habits throughout my childhood. I was almost 200 pounds when I graduated from high school, but I was an athlete and "healthy", so I "hid it" well. When I went to college I gained the freshman 15...and the sophomore 20.

I just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy right after Thanksgiving. I really didn't gain much weight during my pregnancy and quickly lost all of that. However, in the 3 months since my son was born, I have gained almost 20 pounds.

Alas, here I am! Open arms! Ready to be REALLY healthy and not have anything to HIDE!

I called my mom and asked her if she would do weight watchers with me. She has had the year from **** (diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in May 06 and has since undergone chemo and radiation), so I thought now would be a good time for us both to take control of our weight. Weight is one thing about your health you can control, cancer is not. She said she would love to, etc.

Since then...I have been gung ho. I have called her a few times and she has been like "I forgot to track my points today." "I had a cookie for breastfast". Last night we went to visit and there were donuts on the fridge. My little sister and dad are just no help at all. I mentioned that we should do this as a family and my dads reply was "I don't do things like that" and my little sister laughed. You would think she would want to look great because she is going off to college in the fall, but she just doesn't care.

I'm just discouraged because I want to help my mom. She has tried so many times and I just feel that if she gave it a shot this time, with my support, she could succeed!

What do I say to her? How do I help her?

[Redeemed]

I think that you should just continue with your plan alone. Once they see the results you have, they may be inspired to do the same thing.

They may be thinking that nothing will work and don't want to waste their time. You can be the pioneer in your family!! So, go ahead and show them how it's done

[Crescendo]

lead by example -- they will catch on

[Bek]

I agree, the best thing you can do to help them, is to succeed yourself.

[boaterswife]

Me, too, I agree! Lead them by example. You also need to remember that if she's not at the point in her life where she's ready to do something, it's just not going to happen. It sounds like you've had weight issues for years, yet until you had your "moment", it wasn't the right time for you to address the issues. She'll have her moment, and then you'll be there to offer support and help her to succeed!!