I had always kept track of my weight when I was younger--and went to Jazzercise and really exercised a lot. I never had any problems with my weight and stayed in the 130 to 140 lb. at 5'7" for a couple of decades.

Someone once told me that once you start exercising--you need to do it for the rest of your life. Well I didn't and over a few years of not exercising at all--along with doing too much of the second helping routine I managed to pack on 25 unwanted pounds.

A little over a year ago I went back to my Jazzercise class and started working out hard. I also became mindful of exactly how much was going into my mouth. I took off 15 pounds in about 7 months--and then stayed in a plateau for several months. The scale wouldn't move no matter what I was doing. Finally--I broke through to the last 10 pounds--and now have 7 pounds to go!

It's been a real journey--but at least my BMI is where it needs to be now. My doctor is real happy with me. I am fortunate to come from an entire family that exercises--so I am not at odds with anyone in my family life--and they are my motivation along with all my new friends--YOU.

The most important thing I have "really" learned is it is a lot easier to put on those pounds than it is to take them off. I will never stop exercising again and I will be mindful of how much I am eating. "Eat less--Move more"

Funny I was reading through these post and ran into mine from 3 years ago!!!! Well since then I had slowed way down on exercising,moved gained 30 lbs.......Move on to 2013 I have been running for almost 2 yrs now and mainly do cardio weights and stretching. I have lost the 30 lbs and am below the weight I was when originally posting that. I use to complain about losing weight..I was not tracking and I was not eating enough...duh!!! That what everyone was telling me!Anyway I am in Maitenence which lets face it is a couple hundred more calories than losing. I am now 61.:carrot:

not sure if I qualify as a featherweight...I feel like the pillsbury doughboy
 

(If that makes sense)
Anyway, I'll try to make this short, but it'll probably be long & drawn out. I was mainly pudgy growing up thru my teens. 135 when became pregnant with DD#1 in 1994; 170-176 w/ DD#2 in 1998; 226? w/ DD#3 in 2002. My highest non preg weight was 240. In 2006 I had RNY gastric bypass starting weight 227. A year later I was down to 133. Stayed there for a while. June 2008 I was 140 when I had a miscarriage. I gave birth to #4 @ 167#. Weight leveled off after birth (probably a few wks or mnths) to about 145. I followed Weight Watchers for a month while my teen was doing it & got to 135. Slowly after a yr or so started creeping up. Long story short, I'm struggling now @ 154.4. Yesterday (my start to eating healthier & trying to add exercise) I weighed 157.8. I think that was water too. Anyway, I really suck at exercising, but ordered a fitness hoop & did the dvd yesterday & today. I can only hoop in one direction at the moment. I'm hoping to learn to hoop to my left & then I can do 2 workouts in both directions lol. I also enjoyed Leslie sansone WATP in the past so I may start that too. Although I've had GB, you eventually are able to eat more. my problem is what I consider a 'food addiction' and I graze alot on junk. I've posted on 3FC at different times only to fail in no time. But I feel so pudgy it's driving me crazy. I got down to some 4's & 6's when 133 but mainly 8's felt right. Now I'm a 12. I just don't feel comfortable in my own skin. I am grateful that I'm no larger than 150's, but I've got to get myself under control. Sorry so long & boring.

Hi there!

I hope I'm in the right place...I currently weigh 170lbs and think I have about 30 to lose. Honestly I feel like I've been dieting on and off since I was a teenager and I'm now 24. This is easily the heaviest I've been and I've realised that each time I aim to lose weight the amount I have to lose increases! I used to want to lose half a stone, then a stone and now over 2 stone!

I've done WW in the past - although not attending meetings, just using the materials and it did work well, but I feel having been such a yo-yo dieter I need to just stick to sensible principles of eating healthily and not tracking everything if I want to make a permanent lifestyle change!

It's been really interesting to hear some of your stories and I hope to be on my way to goal soon :)

yes, it does get harder after you hit 40. way harder after you hit 45
 

i joined this forum to get some support and find new friends who are in the same situation. i have been a normal weight all my life, but i have an eating disorder. who hasn't, these days? anyways, i realized that in the last few years my body is changing and it is harder to keep the weight off and eat a healthy diet. apparently women need less calories, the older they get. sigh.

i workout 5-6 times a week, 3 of which are 1 h les mills body pump classes, the rest is cardio.

i tried a lot of stuff already, the last thing was intermittent fasting but i realized that i need breakfast, cannot go without it, it's my fave meal of the day. i am a vegetarian (ovo lacto).

my goal is to live and eat clean and healthy and not gain weight.

Hi everyone, newbie here. I guess I've never been really overweight (quite sure I've never exceeded 140lbs in my 24 years of living) but being petite at 5'2", I certainly am chubby. I hate the way I look, hence the on-and-off dieting over the years. However, it's been mostly talk and no action, and the two times I did lose a good amount of weight, I gained them all back eventually. In the past couple of years, I've been thinking a lot more about my weight and how it's affecting my life in terms of my self-esteem and confidence. Last month, I finally took the first step in changing my life. Since 1st July, I have lost a total of 16lbs so far. Well, hope third time's the charm and I'll finally reach my goal weight and stay that way!

Hello Featherweights!

My story is a complicated one. I have had bulimia for 12 years. I started out weighing 100 pounds for my 5'2"-3" height, but I felt I was too fat and started dieting. I lost weight initially, but with my binges becoming bigger, and probably also as a side effect of taking anti-depressants, I quickly put on weight, going up to 145 (which is quite a bit for my height and my tiny frame). I managed to lose some of that weight after quitting the meds and getting a bit better, but my weight kept fluctuating between 125 and 145. Finally at the age of 24 I have recovered from bulimia: I have not (really) binged and purged for three years now (I had some minor relapses, but overall I am doing fine).

After my recovery I did not care much about my weight. As a matter of fact, I had to become someone who would eat anything they like, and someone who does not care about their weight, in order to become healthy.I weighed around 123-30 pounds, at that point, which is a bit chubby on my frame. However, this year I have decided to get back in shape in a healthy way. I started by taking up exercising again, and then by paying attention to my diet as well. I managed to lose 6 pounds, weighing 119. Now I am back to 121 after a relatively lazy (and boozy) August, but I am ready to get back on track and lose 11 pounds in a healthy way. :)

Hello. I'm brand new to the site. My story isn't that interesting. I've always been between 120 - 140 until now....up to 145 at 56 years old. I just started the IP diet 6 days ago and have lost 4 pounds as of this morning. I know I can get to 130 which is where I'm happy but want to know about the Maintenance Phase for IP. Can anyone tell me if I can go back to eating normally, but healthy, without still using the IP packets/meals and still keep the weight off? I've looked ahead and it looks like you are always dieting in that phase for the rest of your life? That's discouraging!

Hello from a newbie!
 

Hello everyone!

I'm new and thought I might likely be in the Feathers category. I'm 27 and in the last 10 years I've fluctuated between 142 (lowest, about 2-3 years ago) and over 190 (highest in college). Now I'm at 180 pounds. I feel generally comfortable in my body but would like to get healthier, stronger, and slim down a bit. My overall goal is 155. I need some motivation and this forum seems like a fun place to do it!

I'm a vegetarian (I do eat eggs and fish but try to avoid dairy). For awhile I was on a practically no-carbs diet (that was at my lowest weight), but I couldn't sustain that. I never did calorie-counting (that sounds hard!)--I just ate moderate amounts of good foods--green leafy vegetables, avocado, almonds, hummus, and olive oil were my staples.

Unfortunately, as my life has gotten more hectic, I've moved away from that whole foods diet that was working really well for me. I live in NYC--I have a pretty stressful job and am taking a part-time certification course as well. It can be difficult to find time to feed myself healthily, and even more tricky to get exercise in, but that's where the motivation comes in!

Hi Alphagirl, and :welcome:

I've always thought NYC would be a hard place to eat healthfully, because it seems difficult to go grocery shopping! Unless you have a green grocer close to your apartment, it seems that convenience foods and take-out would be much easier. Luckily, New Yorkers also walk more than anyone else -- so that's in your favor!

Greetings Featherweights :) I'm the definition of skinny fat and need to lose about 30 lbs. I'm 43 y.o. 5'8" tall and weigh 170. I've never really dieted before or learned to eat properly. I''m extremely small framed and genetically very lucky to be well proportioned so my excess weight hasn't caused me much problem in the body image department. However, perhaps because of the over 40 thing, I'm starting to lose energy and notice achiness and paines in my knees and ankles. I'm not able to keep up like I used to and it's probably due to my sedentary life style. I've never dieted or researched much about nutrition, but I'm willing to learn and work hard.

So nice to meet you all :) I hope we can connect and help each other reach our goals!

Hello everyone. I would like to introduce myself. I'm 27 years old and a year and a half ago I was a slim 138-142 lbs and felt great. I completed various 5ks and one (my first) half-marathon in pretty good times. In addition to running, I was an avid spinning and pilates fan and was even going about becoming certified to teach these classes. In short, I didn't follow any special diet or anything to maintain my weight. I pretty much ate sensible portions of whatever I wanted and tried to eat as many fresh fruits and veggies as possible.

Fast forward to the present and I'm now lugging an extra 25lbs and am nowhere near as physically fit as I was before. I recently ran a 5k and it took me 3.5 minutes longer to finish than a year before. It was also much more of a struggle to get through. I ran a 10 mile race in the same time it took me to run the half-marathon and where I used to be able to complete hour-and-a-half spin classes, I'm now pooped after 15 minutes on a spin bike.

What happened between then and now? Two things: working two jobs (one sedentary)and getting into a new relationship helped pack on the pounds over the last year.

All of a sudden I was eating more and larger portions and had less time to devote to physical exercise. I hardly ate out when I was single. Now my boyfriend and I eat out pretty regularly and/or cook decadent meals at home. He loves food. Of course he's 6'1" tall with a high metabolism so he can eat like that. Unfortunately, I can't.

I feel that these extra pounds are taking a toll on my well-being. I'm breaking out more. I've pretty much stopped wearing make-up or doing my hair (what's the point when you feel ugly?). Even though my boyfriend says he thinks my body's fine and that I'm beautiful, I haven't felt pretty in a long time. When I don't feel pretty I don't want to be intimate, which isn't fair to him. When we are I'm so self-concious I can't fully enjoy it. I rotate the same four or five boring pieces in my wardrobe because they're the only ones I have that fit. I have two closets full of really cute clothes I used to rock with confidence that I either can't fit into at all anymore or look horrible in because they're too tight.

I'm sick of this. I want to go back to the old me. I want to feel beautiful again.

So I'm joining this site to give and receive support and to hold myself accountable.

My name is KittyCarlisle and I'm on a mission to lose 25lbs healthfully

I never was medically overweight: the highest weight I had during my adult years was 57 kgs. (I'm 167 cm tall), which gave me a BMI of a bit above 20. But I saw myself as morbidly obese at that weight, and couldn't accept it.

My big weight loss started on summer 2012. I broke up with my boyfriend (it was a difficult relationship: I live in Israel, he was Dutch, we often visited each other, but long-distance relationships are often a trouble, so he decided to end it.) I was devastated, lost my appetite... and some kilos as well. Losing the weight made me feel a bit better with myself, and I felt like I'm such a strong person because I can go on for days without eating at all. And the rest is history.

Today I have a BMI of 14 and plan to lose a little bit more weight. Although I'm afraid that won't be anough for me anyway, and as soon as I'll reach my goal weight, my next goal is going to be lower.

I'm new here, and new to forums in general . . . so I'm looking for some friends, some support, and a little bit of guidance on how this stuff works.

The last year has been exciting and joyous (yay for getting married!!) but also stressful (boo to not living in the same place as my s.o.). The stress has lead to depression and weight gain (about 20 pounds). I'm getting the depression under control with medication and meditation, and I'm looking to get my weight down before I gain any more.

I'm pretty active--I do hot yoga three times a week, run a few miles a week, and hike on the weekends (yay Utah!!). I would go crazy without being active and getting sunshine. I'd love to do challenges with y'all.

I'm all about being healthy and loving my body no matter my size. I just want to be healthy and feel good about myself.

Anything else I should share?

Thanks for reading,

Andrea

My weight has been steadily rising ever since I hit 13. I have PCOS and a thyroid that is basically at 0 and tells my body to store everything as fat. Not to mention I had a lot of emotional stress and mental health issues when I was younger, so eating healthy was not a priority. I was always a thin child, but when puberty hit I got chubby. I was never someone who looked that unhealthy because I still managed to be semi-athletic.

Well, anyways, here I am at 19 years old and 185 lbs. I'd like to convince myself that most of it is muscle, but that's probably not true.
I'd like to get down to 175 in the next couple of months. I've been going to the gym at least 4 or 5 times a week since the last week of December. I've also been taking supplements to help with my PCOS and thyroid situation. I also discovered a great supplement called betaine hcl which helps me digest food without getting bloated (no joke, one meal and I am suddenly puffed up for the rest of the day. my body works against me at every turn) and GERD-y.
I'm placing fitness as my goal above all else. Once I lose ten pounds and get into a position where my weight isn't "unhealthy" anymore, I'll be happy. And then I'll focus on increasing my strength training.