Hey ya'll! I'm Leslie and I'm new here. I joined a few days ago after reading the 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet book. Last year I got down to 126, then I started nursing school and gained what I like to call "The Senior 6". So here I am at 132, and it is time to get back in control and shed these extra pounds. I want to be at 118 when I graduate in December, and I figured this would be a good place for support and advice.
Just leaving out the trigger foods, such as sugar and wheat, started not to be enough. Walking and Callanetics, gardening and other activities help, but am now working towards a continuing attentiveness to balance, so that the scales don't creep up and the joints don't creak. I was very surprised to find a couple of months ago that I had re-gained some weight. I did some research, started counting calories, and started exercising more.
I enjoy making my own food, not eating pre-packaged "stuff", as part of a healthy lifestyle. I make my own soap, cut my own hair, cut the grass with a reel mower, etc.
Am looking forward to this community, and to having the same consciousness about making wise, healthy choices to let go of the pounds that have kept me out of my favorite clothes and cost me feeling good about myself.
Thanks very much for being here. Wishing you all success!
Last edited by SilverLife; 07-12-2010 at 07:28 PM.
Reason: clarification
It's so interesting to read everyone's stories! Here's mine:
I was always somewhat overweight growing up, probably due to my family's extremely poor nutrition choices. To give you an idea...a typical brown bag lunch that my mom would pack for me included a snickers bar, a little debbie, a bag of chips or one of those cheese and cracker handisnacks, and a capri sun. All in the same lunch, that's it, seriously. I'm surprised my hair didn't fall out! It shouldn't be shocking that by the time I graduated from high school I weighed 185-190 even though I exercised 5 days a week. When I went to college, instead of gaining the freshman 15, I actually lost weight!
In college I probably weighed around 165, but then I gained weight after graduating because I was traveling every week for work, basically had a sedentary life style, and ate out 3 times a day while on the road...and the amounts of alcohol we drank, oh my. So I was up to 175 before I did the couch to 5k program and lost 40 lbs in 2 months!! I maintained my weight at around 135 for a year. I had a ton of muscle and was actually pretty fit even though I could have lost a bit more fat.
The weight started creeping back up again when I moved in with my boyfriend...into an apartment directly next to a pizza place. Seriously, the smell of mozzarella sticks would waft into my kitchen window. Absolute torture. I also started graduate school so the change in schedule threw me off. I think my boyfriend's eating habits changed too. He went from having a flat stomach to having a BMI in the obese range, so we both need a change!
I ended up at about 160 last winter and started to eat healthier this spring/summer and am down to 145ish. I started running again, although the summer heat is killing me, and I'm also trying to eat a lot more veggies and cut down on my dairy. I actually have a very healthy diet...lots of fruit, veggies, legumes, etc, but portion control and mindless snacking is always an issue.
To join the chorus of stories here. . .
I've always been technically a healthy weight (I'm 5' 7" and have stayed between 138-140) since junior year of high school. Then I went to college, and began to oscillate between periods of exercise and healthy eating and periods of inactivity and very little self-control over what I put in my mouth. Then this past May I went to Italy for a school trip for 17 days. While I had an amazing time, I was offered very little outside of carbs and meat (we had salads maybe two of the days and oranges with breakfast--no other fruits or veggies). When I got home, I realized my weight had shot up to 144. I realized that if I continues this patter of healthiness/unhealthiness, I would soon be a very unhealthy, single adult upon graduation. I also realized that my attitude towards exercise was all wrong. The rest of the people in my large family (I'm the third of twelve kids, hence my username) either ran or ran and lifted weights or played sports--none of which I was interested in.
So. . . I've cut out just about all sweets and junk (for now. . .I plan to incorporate occasional treats [once or twice a month] once I feel I've regained control in this area) and as much processed food as possible. We have a closed pantry system here (to save money), so I just have to make the healthiest choice I can within what's being offered for that meal/snack. My mom cooks relatively healthy (lean meats, lots of fruits and vegetables, etc.), but she keeps things like potato chips and cookies and ice cream in the house. And I walk for 45 minutes (3.4 miles) six times a week, including a few sprints at the end, and occasionally do some intense pilates routines.
So, that's where I'm at. Sorry it's so long!
Last edited by oneoftwelve; 07-15-2010 at 11:42 AM.
Hi, I'm ainsleymom a 31 yo SAHM to a one year old!
I guess I'm a featherweight, but I'm also a 30 something, and technically I'm still nursing my daughter, but we're only nursing 3 times a day. But I think I resonate most with the people here so here I am!
I'm also not sure what my starting weight is. I've always been watching my weight, and the highest it's ever been was the day I delivered my daughter. I guess that's cheating though. The highest non-pregnant (not counting when I was post partum) was in college when I was eating out and drinking a lot. It was around 150 and it looked terrible on my small frame. Senior year of college I realized how gross I looked and got down to a svelte 125. After I got married (6 years ago!) I put on some "love" pounds and have been bouncing around the upper 130's ever since. The day I got my BFP I was 135, and now that DD is a year old I'm back there again. Yes, I gained 57 pounds with my pregnancy, but I've lost it all! Of course I'm flabby and have the raisin tummy, but still!
In high school and early college I was more like 115, but I don't think I'll ever see that again without some serious measures. So 125 is my current goal. I haven't seen the 120's in over 5 years so it will be interesting to see how hard it is to reach that. This morning I am 134.
Right now I'm not counting calories, but am eating healthy smaller portions and trying to exercise. This will be a journey. I'm curious to see how total weaning will affect my weightloss. For some people they lose 5 pounds and some gain as their metabolism readjusts.
I'm new to the weight loss forums and I am here because last year was rough from every perspective you can think of for me (work, relationship, financial), and I've been using food to comfort me, shooting up to a 140 pounds. I've always been a little bit on the heavy side and I've never felt good in a swimsuit, but this is pushing it too far.
So I am here to try and get myself to stop using food to wash away my feelings and start having the body I've always wanted to have (but never quite did). I've lost a little weight so far by reducing my binge eating, but there is a lot of progress to go.
Goal: 126 by my 30th birthday (2 months away), and ultimately 120 pounds! Id like to get to 120 by christmas, but it may take longer than that.
I use to post on 3 fc ALOT.BUT because of a couple of things I stopped. I noticed this section which might be a little more my niche. I as I think she calls herslf same 7pounds. Am battleing the same few pounds AGAIN! I need support and as many of you no one thinks I need to lose weight. I exercise ALOT!!! Several hours aday it is my passion I adore it.I do weight training prorams as well as HIIT training and get a ton of cardio a little trail running with the dog thrown in. So getting it moving is not my problem. I eat well ect ect. I am 58 SOOOOO you can not eat many calories which is where the problem comes in.
My problem with 3fc other some of the other places where just people who don't have as much time on there hands to have the freedom to work out ect ect or have alot to lose just thing you are petty if you are crying about your size 5 jrs not fitting and sometimes I just saw some MEAN GIRL stuff!
I have been reading here for a few days everyone seems real nice!
Hi everybody, I'm new to this whole forum and ready to get back to normal after about 3 years of moping.
I was always skinny when I was a kid, and graduated high school at about 110 lbs. I was never unhappy with my weight. I weighed about 120 lbs. and looked great until around age 21, when my relationship with my boyfriend (who I'm still with now) got more serious. We moved in together, we got too comfortable, we stopped getting exercise, and we gained a lot of weight together. This pathetic time of hiding in my apartment and accomplishing nothing ate up my early twenties in the blink of an eye.
I've come down slowly over the last year or so from my highest point at 163 lbs. to 154, and although my whole life has changed since then - different workplace, different (better) city, new friends, new goals - I'm still stuck here, where my face doesn't look like me at all and none of my clothes fit this flabby body. I live in a beach city where lots of great events take place - triathlons, for one - and I can't really participate because I'm just too ashamed of what I've done to my body. I have so many stretch marks. I want to join in the fun things my friends are doing but I don't want any of them to see me in a bathing suit or workout clothes.
Lately, I've been dreaming a lot about what I want to look like and what I want my life to be like. I want a few simple things: to save money so I can have a house someday, to make my own everything (preserves, bread, herb garden, etc.), to be outside and active all the time, and to get down to my goal weight of 120 lbs. with more muscle tone than I've ever had before.
I ride my bike to and from work as much as possible, and it hasn't been doing much for me weight-wise (it's only a 3-mile trip one way) so I've been talking with the boyfriend about running in the mornings. We're going tomorrow for the first time. I know it's gonna be pretty sad, but I'm in it to win it this time, and I have more friends now who can help me keep up with running than I've ever had before.
I'm joining here because I need as much support as I can get to keep myself motivated and keep my goals in sight. Once I hit 150, I'm getting my hair cut and dyed and a nice mani-pedi (which I never get!) so...here's to setting my first mini-goal!
I'm new here, stumbled over this place doing a search for weight loss support groups on google.
I am a 22 year old student, working on a degree in clinical nutrition. I'm interested in eating right and being a healthy person, but I have terrible eating habits from my childhood, and struggle with a figure that has hung onto pounds I gained in middle school.
At my highest weight, I was probably near 170-180 pounds in middle school. I never even noticed gaining it, and I never even realized I was heavier than most of my friends until I was weighed in a PE class in eighth grade. I realized that MY number was way higher than everyone else's, and then I started noticing other things. I noticed that my ankles didn't look like the other girls', that my stomach was softer, my hips far wider, and my chin sloped more gently to my neck.
I was always a healthy kid, with a healthy weight, but at puberty, when my parents broke up, I gained weight like crazy. I am an emotional eater just like my parents, who are both obese.
In high school I was somewhat obsessed with my weight. I would write out how many calories I would be allowed to eat per day in order to lose 1, 2, 5 pounds a week to reach a weight like 135 or 145 in a month or two. I would write down everything I ate and berate myself for eating like a slob. And I was totally sedentary. I would go to school, come home, and play the computer all evening.
Despite the struggle, I slowly lost some weight throughout high school, and left at a weight around 155 pounds. Still too much for my very small 5'5" frame. I have small bone structure, tiny wrists, a small neck, and narrow ribs. Though some people would be very healthy and strong at that weight, I was all bones and pillowy flesh. (Or at least that is how I felt at the time)
During school, I was the girl that LOST weight freshman year. I was simply busier, with less time to eat boredom snacks, and there was more activity in my day-to-day life. I was working and moving around more.
My weight dropped to around 145 pounds, and I was so happy with that. I still felt "overweight", but I felt good about it. I wasn't so obsessed with losing weight anymore.
About two and a half years ago, I was able to begin fixing my crooked teeth. I was fit with a horrible orthodontic appliance that made it very difficult to eat.
I just hated eating. And I lost some weight. After I was done with the appliance, I got braces. Again, it was difficult to eat. I was very conscious of what I ate, since everything would get stuck. I didn't eat very much socially, because I was afraid of getting food in my braces.
I moved out of my parents house and started working part time and going to school full time. I started exercising at school, in a boot camp class, and I took a dance class. I was getting exited about nutrition and I was bringing healthy meals to school when I could (or I was too poor to buy much to overeat). I wanted to look good, and since eating was a pain, it was easy to monitor what I ate.
I fell in love with my boyfriend during that time, and I was a svelte 133 pounds. I was still no sort of hardbody, but I was the thinnest I think I've ever been since I was ten or eleven years old. I was healthy, and had lots of energy. But my hectic schedule caught up with me.
After working 25 hours a week, taking 12 units, performing in two plays, and living on my own for the first time, I broke. I hated my job, I was depressed, and I was starting to cry spontaneously during the day.
I quit my job and moved back home. I think after that I started slowly gaining the weight back. Eating my mom's food, then moving in with my boyfriend and eating all the pizza and drinking all the beer that he likes, I just forgot that I was only thin because I was eating right an exercising. It felt like I had just been constantly losing weight for so long, I must just lose weight naturally.
Not the case.
As of today I weigh 147 pounds, and I can't fit into most of my clothes very comfortably.
I recently began counting calories using livestrong.com, and I got a gym membership at 24 Hour Fitness.
I have a problem I carry over from high school, of creating unreasonable goals for myself and beating myself up over every indulgence. Frankly I can't maintain eating only 1300 calories a day in order to lose two pounds per week, and furthermore I know that I SHOULDN'T.
I know how to eat a variety of foods to get the nutrients I need on a very low-cal diet, but I simply SHOULD NOT go there.
I need to keep sane here, and just eat better and exercise regularly.
I made a goal to reach 135 by Halloween, which I can achieve by losing two pounds a week. This morning, (after indulging in potato chips and margaritas last night, consuming nearly 3000 calories for the day) I realized that that is simply an unreasonable, and possibly unhealthy goal.
I WILL lose weight.
I just can't base my happiness on a number on a scale, or even on how I fit into my jeans. I have to make losing weight something fun and positive, and not something fueled by bad self image and shame.
Sooo, maybe I need to change my goal. Calorie counting should NOT dictate my happiness or satisfaction with my life. It is a learning tool, a health awareness tool, not a torture device.
Oh, man. I'm glad to "write" that out loud. I just wish I could hear it from someone else!
I am 31, a vegetarian and getting married next summer - so desperately need to lose some weight for my wedding!!!
I gained about 15 lbs last fall due to a number of things, one being starting graduate school and another being going off of a medicine which was extremely difficult to stop. I gained a lot of weight while withdrawing.
I was about 112 - 118 throughout college and feel I was too thin at this weight. For many years post college I stayed about 125 and I was pretty happy there - although I didn't excercise regularly, so perhaps lacked muscle. I was very happy a year ago at 135, very toned (walking several miles a day and iyengar yoga twice a week) and a comfortable size 4, but I think if I actually try to diet I could be thinner.
At one point, post college, I went up to 160, and a few other times I went up to 150. I have always gotten back down by excercising and cutting back a bit - however this time around, I am cutting back a LOT and I started running 5 miles 3 times a week and have not lost a single lb.
Not sure why it is so hard this time around, other than my metabolism is a lot faster then in the past as I already walk and excerise a lot.
Anyway, plan to keep with the cutting back and excercise the best I can (hard to fit in as I work full time and go to grad school).
Hi, I'm Tara, 33, and mom of 2 kids. I was always insanely thin as a child- quite underweight actually. I was a very picky eater- still am. I don't think I hit 100 pounds til I was pg with my daughter at age 19. After I had her, my weight crept up to 152 over a few years due to poor eating and increasingly sedentary lifestyle. I lost about 15 pounds before getting pg with my son, and then after he was born, I dropped down to about 114 and was very happy at that weight.
I went through a rough divorce, and found love again. Well, my bf and I both managed to gain weight after we got together. We're now engaged and trying to lose a few pounds before the wedding- and hopefully keep it off! I am now around 128 and would like to get to 120 or a little less.
Hi everyone....it's been a while since anyone has posted a story so I'm not sure anyone will read this but it's always therapeutic to write it anyway
I was a competitive figure skater and gymnast from the time I was about 5 til about 15. I was never skinny, definitely not one of the thinner girls where I skated but I had a lot of muscle tone so I looked ok. I had developed some pretty bad eating habits but I never really had to think about it because I was a) growing and b) getting so much exercise. But for example I remember as a child (like, 10 years old) figuring out how to open the freezer where our lunch treats (brownies, flakies and the like) were stored with a safety pin so I could sneak in and get them. I'd binge on two or three of these at a time. And another time, I think in grade seven, I was selling chocolate almonds for a school fundraiser....I remember opening up each box and taking two or three almonds out - I just couldn't stand having them n my room, I couldn't help it. My parents found out, and rightfully scolded me (and bought the entire case) - I felt humiliated but I really just couldn't help it.
When I was 14 my parents got divorced, my grandmother (who was the glue in our family) died, I started highschool and within a year I stopped skating. I found myself very isolated early in HS (I was never the "cool" type and most of my friends went to a different school) and I had a terrible relationship with both of my parents. My mom, granted she was having a difficult time, was what I'd call emotionally abusive, really digging into the flesh of my psyche and making sure I knew I was and never would be good enough, and that this is what everybody thought. I would come home from school hungry and eat - 2 cookies turned into 4, a coke, a few handfuls of potato chips, a brownie and then I could relax. I did this every day. I remember my aunt telling me, mid bite into a cookie, that I was getting fat. I wore baggy clothes and had never really thought about it. Then I remember being referred to as the "chubby girl", my friends telling me my arms looked like 'sausage links' and that was it. I had to lose weight. At my heaviest I weighed 148lbs (though probly higher since I avoided the scale) at 5'2.
I tried dieting, weight watchers, calorie counting, the Atkins diet - every diet known to man. I just could never stick to anything. I remember searching for some kind of weight loss support online and coming upon what is known as "Pro Ana". I had dabbled with the idea of severe calorie restriction before, but could never stick to it. This was the first time I had seen a weight loss support group and wow did it promise results. These girls were all thin and were all motivating each other to get thinner. Tricks on how not to eat, how to hide it from your parents, how to get boys to like you, how to be perfect, essentially. I felt comfortable, like these girls understood what I wanted. I began fasting, eating 500 calories a day, surviving on coffee and cigarettes, walking to and from school 40 mins each day, purging when I overate, and I lost weight - fast. It was noticed. Everyone told me how good I looked, I became more popular, I got better grades, boys started to notice me, I switched out of the baggy clothes and started wearing makeup, and I got the attention of my mother. This was something she couldn't control. The satisfaction I got when she was doing laundry and picked up one of my shirts - "Since when do you wear an XS" angrily.... I got everything I'd hoped for. I weighed about 128lbs but it was a big difference from the 148 on my small frame and in such a short time.
And getting "everything I'd hoped for" was a blessing in disguise. This deeply engrained in my head that being thin and beautiful results in friends, boys, attention, success - all things good. I didn't have those things before, I lost weight and suddenly EVERYTHING changed. I have learned to place all my self worth on perfection, with the idea that the closer I got to it the happier I'd be.
It has taken many years but I know now that this isn't true. I still have moments where I want to be perfect but I know it's a shield from reality. When my mother tries to dig under my skin I want to flash her my perfect white smile with my hair done perfectly, makeup done to a tee with my 26 inch waist and gorgeous clothes and handbag to match. I want to show her that I am THE BEST so that she can't poke any holes in me. But that's not me. It is even hard for me to write that. It has been really really hard to remove that perfectionism shield after all it has done for me. The reality is I HAVE been really successful and a lot of great things have happened in my life, but I attribute it all to this perfectionistic facade that I put on. I'm trying really hard to break out of it.
I have been through some therapy though I've never really been in one place long enough to stick with anything long term but I have done a lot of self help. I'm getting there and I am in a much better place than I have been in a really long time. I tend to obsessively count calories (I went to a nutritionist once and when I showed her my food logs she *jokingly* said she wasn't sure if she should help me or send me to a psychiatrist - I agreed with her) and get crazy with the scale but I no longer try to starve myself or purge. I exercise 3 - 4 times a week and try to maintain around 1500 cals/day but I still really want to lose weight. It is more important to me than almost anything. I felt comfortable at around 125 but would really like to draw the red line at 120. I'm short so this is reasonable.
Anyway that's my story....all the chaos happened a long time ago and I'm now a much more mentally stable person, and I want to lose weight the right way.
This is actually the heaviest I've ever been, and I'm not sure how to deal with it either mentally or physically. I honestly just thought I was getting older and gaining weight was inevitable (I'm only 24 actually lol) but when I started getting fatigued and clinically depressed also I knew something strange was going on. In the last few months I've gained about 20 pounds without any diet or exercise changes, and after a series of really fun doctors appointments I was diagnosed hypothyroid, which I suspect has actually been going on for years with only minor symptoms. So, I guess I'm here to get back to where I feel most comfortable and where my body is healthiest, around the 130 mark. I'm also trying to get more exercise (last year I moved to a far less pedestrian-friendly city) which certainly can't hurt any of my health metrics! I'm here to make some friends and share experiences hopefully. Thanks for having me!
Hi ! I'm almost 18 years old, 5"3.
I naturally got up to 110 lbs during my growth, and had this weight from 13 years old to 16 years old (I was 75 lbs at 12 years old, severely underweight). Then last winter, I hanged out with a fat friend and my weight goes up to 120. I felt disgusting, as I had absolutely no muscles, it was only fat. I hated my thighs and my stomach, and I felt so large. Since I was 110 I wanted to be 105. I had a big health issue, I got to the hospital 4 days in a row and lost 5 lbs (the food was disgusting). It pushed me to begin my weight loss program, I felt so much better 5 pounds lighter (its a lot on a 5"3 teen). I lost the weight slowly, 115 to 112, to 110, 108, 106... 105 ! I was happy and stopped my weight loss.
I ate normally during all summer, gaining no weight. But then I began got to a new school and gained a little bit (108,109 lbs). I remember how I wasnt satisfied with myself at 110 lbs, so I lost back to 105 and plan to go to 100 lbs. Its a round number and I like this. Now I'm 104 lbs, no muscle again I need to exercise, I look normally thin. I like myself right now
Measurements: 31 bust (34B), 25 waist, 34 hips (narrow hips I know), 19 thighs. Size 3 in pants.
Like many folks here, I have struggled with my weight much of my 49 years of being alive. As a child I was heavy and when I hit adolescence I thinned out a bit, but still thought I was heavy. (When I look back at myself, that view was crazy.) Anyway, I went on a diet when I was 16 or so and lost to about 107 pounds and lost my period. I stopped the diet and gained the weight plus some back and I am sure messed up my metabolism.
In young adulthood, I went up and down with my weight (from about 135 to 150). After my daughter was born I weighed about 180. At that time, it was a new high for me. I remember when my now ex-husband's parents visited, they felt they could comment negatively on my weight. My ex had the sense to tell them to shut up. My weight did go down, but not too much.
I have struggled with depression since I was about 12 years old which also effects my weight. A few years after my daughter was born, my husband and I broke up and I became severely depressed. This serious battle with depression has stayed with me for the past 14 years or so. In the process of trying to recover, I have taken boat loads of medication, as my depression is also "treatment resistant." One of them caused me to gain about 70 pounds over three months, and then I couldn't lose the weight, as the other medications kept it on. I weighed 225 at my heaviest. And at that time, I was so depressed I could do very little in the way of exercise.
Along the way, I got divorced and met a new guy who was an athlete and cyclist. I knew I would do more bike riding because of him, but I didn't realize that I would LOVE it. So, over the past four years, I became an athlete for the first time in my life. I rode 6000 miles the first year I rode and between getting a new doctor and riding I lost to 118 and felt physically good.
Since then, I have ridden about 4500 miles per year and do an AIDS charity ride which is 125 miles in one day. This summer I did some bicycle touring where I rode about 550 miles on a loaded touring bike (it probably weighed about 60 pounds with panniers and lots of gear.) So, I am pretty serious about being an athlete.
However, two winters ago I gained ten pounds, which was not great, but not a disaster either. I didn't do anything about it and it stayed with me. Then last summer, I moved to a new apartment and was stressed out to the max. At that time, I ate to relieve the stress. And I gained fourteen more pounds.
This brought me to 142, when I finally weighed myself. My clothes no longer fit. I feel heavy on the bike. I know my weight is not far from "normal" but I feel sluggish and uncomfortable.
At the same time. I have hit peri-menopause. This makes me feel like I have PMS all the time -- cravings and all. So I have been struggling with that as well.
I have come to a time when I KNOW I have to get into action and DO something productive about my weight and food choices. I need to work on not binging and dealing with my emotional eating. If I am going to continue to be an athlete, I need to figure out how to eat as one.
