[jkittyesb]

Hey All! I'm new to this area of 3fc, but not to the site or the forums. Several years back, I was part of Chicks up for a challenge, and I did manage to lose about 40 lbs thanks to the support and general awesomeness of the other ladies. =)

Since then, I've been through a lot. My life got turned completely upside-down and sideways. I left my abusive marriage, divorced, met a wonderful man, fell in love, got married. And during that time, I found out why I always hurt (fibromyalgia) and went on and off several medications. Thanks to those medications and extreme levels of stress, I dropped down to an awesome size 12 (for about 3 months, hah!), then jumped up to an 18, which is where I'm at now.

I'm 5'2", about 200 lbs, and like I just said, in about an 18, but it varies. Jeans are a 16 (woohoo!) and I'm finally off of the Depo shot for birth control, which I know does lead to weight gain. I'm back on low-dose pills, which are great.

So... why am I on this specific board? Because I have problems with food, simple as that. I'm in counseling to deal with depression/self-image problems, which I need to do for myself.

I used to eat 1 meal a day or so, and about 1,000 calories maximum (including beverages). My now-husband is wonderful and said no no no no, you're going to be HEALTHY! After a few months, I was up to 3 meals a day, plus a snack or two, and about 1,500-2,000 calories per day, which was fine. And I lost a ton of weight! Woohoo!!

Then the meds, and then I went up to a whopping 220 again, ugh. And I'm down to about 195-200 depending on the week. My goal is about 150, realistically. I'm a muscular woman with wide hips and I'm curvy - I love that! =)

But the food issues now abound. I'm dealing with a lot of awful stress in my life right now (unavoidable stuff like layoffs, my dad is dying, etc.), and I've noticed that while my food choices are still typically healthy, they're too big. I eat too much, simple as that. So then I try not to eat for 4 hours and by the time that's over, I eat twice as much as I probably would've done if I'd just had a snack. Drives me nutty!

So, I'm going to join this forum because this is where I belong for right now. I need to learn better methods to deal with my food issues, I need to keep it to healthy portions and keep it realistic. And I need to continue my counseling to ensure I'm dealing with the problems that are behind my issues with food.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and I'm glad to be back on 3fc! =)