Hey everyone basically I've on and off dieted over the years... I was obese when I was a kid and then lost some weight and was fine. Not overweight, not skinny, not toned; unhappy with my body.

This time I want to be serious about weight loss and stick with it! I am in the low 140s right now (it ranges from 140.8 - 142 lately). My highest was 152 I think last summer, and I was 150 when I came back from college this past June. I lost 10 pounds over the summer because I didn't drink as much/ate way healthier (home cooked food vs take out).

I want to be around the 115-120 mark (i am 5'6 I believe) so that's healthy enough I just want to be toned! Looking at pics from last year when I was at my heaviest inspires me

Best of luck everyone!

It's great that there is this forum, thanks everyone for sharing your stories,

I've been overweight since I was 10, not very overweight but chubby. It started with a few long courses of cortisone for asthma, coupled with some new freedom and pocket money for sweets. I was the fat child in the family, with four children and many relatives visiting all the time. My weight was often the topic of conversation or the reason for mocking "hey thunderthighs!" or "you'd be pretty if you lost weight" or "it's just puppy fat" I was very ashamed but reacted by not really wanting to be a girl. I became a tomboy and would act like I didn't care that I wasn't as pretty as my sisters. I think this was when I started to build a self esteem completely separate from my appearance, which has served me quite well. I started playing soccer when I was 14 which is an unusual choice of sport for girls in South Africa and that saved me from my poor body image. My body felt powerful and capable. I also got a lot of attention from men from this point on and met my husband after finishing high school so I guess I found my sexy girly side along the way too.

This feeling carried me through university where my weight swung between 150 and 160 pounds but aside from the occasional fat day, or shaming from team mates or relatives, I didn't much mind. I also had no concept of dieting during this time, and would just train more and lose weight without even checking the scale. When I started work I had money for the first time and it actually helped me to eat healthier food. I was still playing soccer and exercising regularly so felt good.

Then in 2007 I started to get back pain, which was eventually diagnosed as Ankylosing Spondilitis an inflammatory arthritic condition. It took 4 years for this diagnosis though. In the meantime I just had crippling pain and didn't know why. My body went from feeling strong and tackling people on the field, to barely being able to walk. I no longer had my strength to bolster my body image and started to feel bad about myself. During this time I got married and moved with my husband to a foreign country. In pain and lonely I became depressed and medicated with chocolate. Having gone from 12 hours of soccer a week to about 5 hours cycling, walking and swimming must have had an impact too and I reached my heaviest weight at 165.

It was in 2009 that I realised my diet needed to change so I started calorie counting, we moved back to South Africa and I started at a gym too doing more resistance training. I quickly got down to 147 then hovered around there until a holiday put me up to 152 (probably my average adult weight) and then lots of work trips coupled with a cancer scare for my mom, then my husband4 months later put me back up to 160.
Despite the setbacks, I have learned to love my body again with arthritis, it's far from perfect but I've come to terms with it. I'm on this journey to eat better and get stronger as an act of kindness to myself to see if it will relieve some of my pain, and to find a way of eating that will keep me at a healthy weight for a lifetime and reduce my inflammation. My first goal is to get used to clean eating (for me this means mostly plants) then to get below 25% body fat and build some more muscle to support these feeble joints of mine. It's going well so far but I do expect some challenges along the way. Which is where I hope being in this community will help.

Hi!

I, for one, never thought I'd ever be in the category of being considered a "Featherweight". But life has its way of dishing out those surprises!

My weight loss journey began in my early teens, as I was always struggling with keeping my weight down. But it wasn't until I became pregnant, in 1985, at the age of 23, that my weight REALLY took a turn UPWARDS.

From that time, until I was 45yrs old, I would just yo-yo, constantly. Luckily, I've always been able to take weight off pretty darn quickly, so 50lbs would be gone in about 5 months time. But, at the age of 48, I began to show tiny signs of Peri-Menopause, so I decided it was time to get off the yo-yo ride...for good, and to quit *testing* my metabolism. Other than a few *tiny* stumbles, I've done pretty darn well!

My highest weight was 185lbs. At only 5'3"..that's a LOT of weight to lug around! My *original* weight goal was 130lbs, as I thought this was the lowest my body would ever allow me to drop to..and to keep it off.

Boy..was I wrong!!

In 2011, I turned my thoughts off of losing *weight* and just focused on losing *fat*. In August, 2011, I had surgery for a fallen bladder, and this was when my real weight/fat loss began to happen. My doctor told me excess weight can be a contributing factor for pelvic floor issues, so I took his advice to heart!

I was 125lbs on Aug 26th, 2011 (surgery morning) and since that time, I've been able to drop an additional 18lbs!! It wasn't a rapid loss, by any means, as its taken 14 months. But I couldn't be more pleased.

I've *finally* learned the art of keeping the weight off, as I'm getting pretty darn close to 3yrs into maintenance, and its been 100% struggle free. I continue to do strength training (modified to be safe, as I'm on a lifetime weight lifting restriction) 3 days a week. No cardio...unless the mood hits me.

Today my weight is holding steady at 107lbs.

I'm toying with the notion of shooting for 105lbs, but it's no biggie if it doesn't happen, as I don't really have much more fat left on my body to lose, so we'll see what happens. Anyway, that's my story....

Shelly

Hello! My first post!
As a kid, I was always the "chubby" girl. Never huge, but a size 13 jeans. But by the time I graduated high school I weighed nearly 180 lbs. At this point, I despised the size I was and had nearly accepted the fact that I would always be fat. But right after high school my aunt, who was always a mentor to me, lost 50 lbs through Weight Watchers, and I remember thinking how great she looked and how happy she was after losing the weight. And plus I was envious of all the compliments she was receiving! So I was really motivated by her, and decided to go on my own weight loss journey. Over a year I stuck to 1200 calories a day, and worked out at the gym. The lowest weight I got down to was 124 lbs. However I received some backlash from family saying that I looked emaciated, so I gained some back until I was 130. However over the last year I have put on weight, and now I am 149 lbs. So I am on a mission to get back to 130 lbs. RIght now I am in nursing school, so my life is a little crazy and it is so easy to eat all the wrong things. So heres to losing 20 lbs the old fashion way...diet and exercise!
Good luck to everyone!

I have a history of anorexia and still struggle to let go of the binge/restrict cycle. At one point, I was 94lbs and eating 500-700 calories a day. I would weigh out spinach down to the ounce and things like almond butter down to the gram. I'm /really/ trying to let go of those crazy habits and be more flexible and eat with moderation. I'm much healthier now (even at a heavier weight). I'd like to get back to a weight of 100-105 through moderation and normal exercise. Not any starving or binge eating. I still struggle big time with binge eating (old habits die hard, right?) But I want to kick the habit for good.

Hello! I, too, was an overweight child growing up. I topped at out my max right after college at 205lbs. Soon after college I got married to my wonderful husband (who doesn't have a weight issue). We got pregnant 4 months after we were married. It hit me then that I didn't want to be an overweight Mom. I wanted to be able to run around with my kids. So I went on a diabetic diet when I was pregnant and ended up losing 10 pounds during my pregnancy. We wanted to have more children, so through having four more children (yep! We have 5 kids!) I worked to lose weight by exercise and eating healthy. I got to my lowest weight of 130 after #3. After #5 I have struggled to get back down to that weight.
I have an extremely supportive husband who loved me and thought I was beautiful at my heaviest and who gives me great encouragement to keep working towards my goal. I also believe God gives me strength to get through the hard times (ie, exercise, hunger pains, mental battles, etc.) and that the Bible gives me help to get through them, too.
I am glad to be healthy now ( I was borderline diabetic when I was at 205) and be able to set a good example for my children.

@Aidangm- It is great that you are healthier now. Food doesn't have to control us- either by overeating, purging, or anorexia. I hope we all pursue weights that are healthy and fit our own bodies. I'm glad you joined 3FC!

I guess I have always been a featherweight, always 5 to 20 pounds overweight. Whenever I get near my goal I get lazy and start to eat whatever I want again. I just figure I can lose it later.
Since summer I have been eating horribly and have gained 10+ lbs.
Well this time I am going to reach my goal and break that 125 lb mark!!!

I did weight watchers after my two daughters were born and lost both times but this time I am just counting calories, logging everything I eat and keeping under 1300/day. MY excercise goal is to walk at least 4x/week for at least 40 minutes (lots of hills in my neighborhood).
My reason for weight loss is vanity, I admit it. I want my clothes to look good on me and I want to feel confident in a bathing suit. I'm going on a cruise in Feb with hubby and would like to be near 130 by then...

Hi ladies, I was a very thin girl as a child and all threw high school. I never had weight issues until I got married at 22. It used to be so easy, if I put on few pounds ..I just would diet for a few days and it would melt away. With each passing year I would gain a few more and find it harder and harder to work it off. I then reached the age of 40 and wow I started packing it on, something I had never seen on my body before. I tried to tell myself it wasn't that bad and I'm just getting older and that just made it worse.
Then before christmas I finally got on the scale and was shocked at 157, no more excuses. I started before christmas and count every single calorie going in and try for under 1200 daily. I am doing the walk off the pounds dvds and workout 5 days a week both mornings and afternoon workouts. I feel great and weighed in at 138 this morning

I've been loitering around here for awhile, but I'm a natural introvert that prefers to not draw attention to myself so I've always stayed pretty quiet. But at this time I could really use a community of people who are encouraging and understanding...so here goes.

I grew up as a very normal sized Asian child eating healhy homemade food (didnt have my first fast food meal until high school). I was also naturally very active so I ate when I had to and quickly ran off to play outside with my friends. Then in middle school - the kids started to get mean. So did my relatives. The rude comments about "OMG, is your mom even feeding you - you're sooo skinny" "What's wrong with your body...do you have some kind of leech in your stomach?" "Are you not eating? Are you trying to be anorexic?" I realize now that those comments were more of a reflection of the commentor. But back then, to my young 7th grade mind, it meant there must be something wrong with me. I also didn't want people to think my mom was mistreating me so I ate more to prove to them that I was fine. Around this time, I also developed my sweet tooth.

I went from low 110s to 130s in high school. Looking back now, I see that I wasn't fat even then, but my young self-esteem made me feel gi-normouse, especially among my twig-sized Asian peers.

Fast forward to 2nd year of college, I got myself together...started backing off on the sweets and exercising. Went down from 136 to 122 and felt great.

But I graduated right at the start of the economic recession...finding a job was hard and stressful. I rediscovered my sweet tooth and developed stress-eating. The weight came back. When I finally got a job...it was very sedentary compared to my college days of being forced to walk all around campus. The lbs came back and brought a lot more of its friends too. All this happened in 2009.

For the past 3 years I've been yo-yoing....going up and down between 135 and 150lbs...depending on life and circumstances. Its been very physically and mentally exhausting. Two of my close friends are getting married this year and I will be a bridesmaid for both of their weddings. I would really like to be able to enjoy myself and be there for my friends on their special days instead of being constantly self conscious and wondering if I'm "showing my fat" anywhere...or hiding from cameras.

Here's to buckling down and getting rid of this weight for good. Thank you for reading and looking forward to getting to know everyone.

ps. please ignore my ticker. I created it when I first joined. I'll have to update with my current stats later.

I've always been slim. I remember that, all through high school, I weighed about 113 to 117 lbs. In college, I gained weight, and then weighed around 120-125 lbs. My highest ever was 125 lbs. At my height, to be honest, it starts to look ever slightly chubby. Then I got cancer in 2nd year of college, and I looked horrible, I think, because not only was I no longer at a lower weight, I was also bald. I think that's why, when I survived it, I started eating really really well and also started losing weight so that I can look my absolute, utter best, because I wanted to come out of cancer better than I had been even before it happened. It matters SO much to me that this happens, because it would mean that not only did I beat cancer, but I buried it so deep into the ground that I came out not just victorious but got even better...

Hi everyone!

I'm 27, 5'7'', and around 140 lbs at the moment. I've struggled with my weight since middle school, when I was the fattest ballerina in my ballet class (not that I was actually fat, but ballet has a way of causing eating disorders...) I gained a bit of weight in HS and the start of college, but began struggling again with my weight and probably a less severe case of anorexia when I dated an emotionally abusive man for 3 years. My lowest weight in college was around 120, my highest was approximately 154. In law school, I averaged around 135, but was not eating consistently healthy food by any stretch of the imagination. Now I'm getting married in June and want to look toned and fabulous for the wedding! I'm counting calories and would love to be around 135 for the wedding but am more concerned about what my arms look like (strapless dress!).

Hi everyone,
Another Newbie here. For the first time in a very long time I feel motivated to lose some of the pounds that have been creeping on slowly but surely! I wanted to be 50 & Fabulous...whoops, missed that goal , so I have a new one...51 & Fabulous
Needing support as I have a fit husband who doesn't quite understand how hard it is to get started and to keep going!
Thanks for listening

I never had to worry about my weight..always "tall and skinny"..at least that's what I was told. Then along came 30 and "helloooo muffin top". Instead of adjusting my habits I just bought bigger clothes. I did join WW a few years ago and lost 12lbs which was perfect for me. I felt great and fit into those skinny jeans! However, it's all crept back on and then some.
I don't own a scale, but just know that from the clothes that hang in my closet that I can't wear that it's time to do something again.
I am turning 40 later this year and want to be fit and fabulous at 40 LOL.
I have increased my activity and now just need the motivation to eat healthier and more often. I would like to lose about 10-15lbs total.
I'm all ears for suggestions and feedback

joined last week and already lost 3. seems silly, but im looking forward to getting my tracker!

Hello! I'm new to this site. I'm currently trying to lose the last 10# of pregnancy weight (I have an 8 mo old daughter). My current weight is 142# (5'5.5")and I'm having a hard time being motivated enough to stay consistent enough with dieting to lose it. I'm hoping that this site will help me!
Thanks!