When I went to college, I was afraid of gaining weight and began restricting my food intake. This restriction led to bingeing and I have struggled with this habit ever since (I am now 27). I gained about 15 pounds from bingeing, overeating, and long periods without exercise and since then, I have been carrying too much weight for my height and very tiny bone structure. This past fall, I tried "intuitive eating" in an effort to stop the binges. While this improved my relationship with food and allowed me to maintain for a while, I have recently gained 5 more pounds. I feel lethargic and withdrawn from certain social situations because I am embarrassed about my size. I am headed to graduate school in the fall and would really like to use the next 2 months or so to focus on dropping those extra 20 pounds so that I will feel good about myself and have one less thing to worry about!

When people ask, I usually start by saying I was a chubby kid, but I recently realized that's a lie. i wasn't an athletic kid, but I certainly wasn't overweight in the slightest. One kid called me fat in the 2nd grade one time... funny how those things stick with you.

I got consistently larger from age 11 into high school, with my highest weight being 170 in my junior year of high school, edging into medically overweight and a size 12/14 (US) pants.

My senior year, I started watching my eating a bit and lost 10 lbs, then when I started college I quit sugary drinks and started watching what I ate, making healthy choices and walking more. I quickly lost 30 lbs more and went to 130 and a size 6 pants.

I've never had an eating disorder, but my mother has some seriously weird preoccupations with weight and body image, so ultimately my biggest weight loss goal is never to turn into her.

Between 2005 and 2012, I fluctuated but maintained around 130-145. In 2012, I underwent some hormone treatments that made me gain weight, winding up at 155 before I took things back in hand.

I've never managed to weigh under 130 or maintain at 130, so I don't think I'll ever be able to. My goal right now is to get back to 135-140 and then focus on getting good muscle tone and improving and maintaining my flexibility.

Your story is really inspirational to me...I have a question. Did the 1200 calories per day help you? Thanks for proving this can be done! its funny bc i always thought the same thing..like there is something wrong with me that will keep me from losing weight but there isn't.

Years ago, I was 159.9 lbs. I was 19 and that scared me. That was the biggest I'd ever been. I very slowly gained that weight over my teen years. Every 10 pounds, I'd say the same thing to myself...I won't let myself get to the 30's....won't let myself get to the 40's.....the 50's...and there I was, staring 160 point blank in the face. On top of that, I had just come home from a party where some jerk of a guy called me a fat-you-know-what in front of tons of people. That was my tipping point. I had to do something. I really was NOT going to let myself go any further.

It's been a slow process, but I had lost over 30 lbs. As of January, I was 128lbs. Unfortunately, these last few months I've gained 7 lbs and am up to 135 again.

My goal is to lose these 7 lbs by September and then try to lose the final 8 lbs so I'll be 120 lbs by the start of 2015.

Just registered today, as I am embarking on my latest weight loss journey.

I was skinny my whole life. My nickname (from my parents) was Bones... now it's more like Buns.

I never had an issue with weight gain until I hit the dreaded 4-0. Ever since then it has been a struggle with the pounds slowly creeping on. A couple of years ago I went on Topomax for migraines and dropped 20 pounds rapidly. I was down to 127 and a size 4. The weight loss was great, and I got tons of compliments... but the other side effects were terrible. My hair was falling out, I couldn't remember the words for things, etc. So, this year I weaned myself off of it. As soon as it was out of my system, most of the 20 pounds came back quickly. Now I am at 144 and my size 8 clothes are tight, but I refuse to buy anything bigger. Most weekends I wear workout clothes, even though I'm not working out, because they are all that fits. (Lycra you are a wonder-fabric)

In February my husband and I are going on our dream island vacation, and I absolutely can't look like this. Today I started the 17 Day Diet with my husband, who wants to lose about 25 pounds. I want to get down to 130. That was my happy weight.

I hope to find inspiration, encouragement and accountability here!

Hi everyone! I suppose I belong here, since my goal was "only" 25 pounds and I'm fairly sure (although the scale tomorrow will tell all) that I've kicked 10 of those pounds, leaving with 15 to go (although I guess if I wanted to be a "hot chick" for the first time in my life I could stand to go further).

But it's strange. I know a lot of you will know what I mean when I say that those extra 25-30 pounds have been a part of me for a significant chunk of my life at this point. On "fat days" I would move throughout the entire day with my arms crossed over my stomach, binge-eating and HATING the girls who seemed to stay thin so effortlessly, but on "skinny days" I would look in the mirror and wonder what I really had to lose.

It's by the grace of genetics and youth, I suppose, that I wasn't even bigger. I've had shite eating habits and a completely sedentary lifestyle for years now. More than my weight, that's what scared me, especially with my family history of diabetes and cancer. My health is what motivated me more than anything to reign in my BMI to below "overweight", lower my body fat percentage, kick my salt'n'fat'n'sugar addiction, and introduce exercise into my life. The numbers on the scale are serving as a good guideline for my journey.

So, yes, that's why I'm here. Thanks for sharing your stories everyone. This forum has helped me more than I ever would have believed.

Hi! My name's Hanna. I'm new here. I have been reading the forums for quite some time now - specially since I started the South Beach diet around a month and half back. I lost almost 8-9 pounds in the first 4 weeks but with Labor day weekend and my birthday last weekend, I ended up gaining almost 5 pounds back and thats gotten me really down. I thought I could use the support and hence here I am! My goal is to reach the weight I've been all my life (54kgs/120 lbs). I have a mini goal to reach 135 lbs(which would ideally be 140lbs, but I know its too much for the time period!) by December. I could use any advice or support anyone has to offer. I'm thinking of restarting with my South Beach Phase 1 for 2 weeks and carry on Phase 2 from then on till I reach my goal. I'm so upset with the weight gain from last week , I could really use a push to get started. Thanks guys!

I am a 20yo Canadian girl from Toronto
I have been insecure and uncomfortable with my body probably since the 6th grade. I hold all my fat in my stomach, so my legs arent large neither is my bum, but I have quite a tummy (which is depressing cause it's not 'curvy' its just unattractive)
I dont wear 2 piece bathing suits or tight clothes and I am always sucking in. All my friends are thinner than I am and I have a terrible self-image
My boyfriend loves me, but he is also a health nut, so he knows I'm unhappy with myself and always try to help me by going for runs or telling me to snack less or eat better
I eat EVERYTHING, i love food, and I eat often
I have a problem with portion control and how quickly I eat, I know I have to get better at both of them
I dont want to get bigger, I've decided.
I've started going to the gym at school, I like it but I need an outlet to keep me motivated and somewhere where I can post questions and get answers
Thank you! Here's to the start of it- I want to drop another 13 pounds and get to my goal of 120llbs

LOL but not really.. My life is school, work and repeat. I gained 20lbs very quickly within the first 3 months of grad school as I was using food as a way to take a break from doing school work, or stress eating.

Now it is a year later and I've been stuck with this weight this entire time. I've never had to worry about my weight before, but now it's stuck. So I joined to find some place to keep me accountable. I have other places but no one actually sends a message to say "hey, how's it going?" and "have you met your goals today/this week" etc. So I am hoping this place is better.

I would be happy to get below 130 to start, because if I do lose it, I end up bingeing or stress eating and gain it back. It also doesn't help that I skip the gym to do school work, work or just because I'm too tired.

Goal 1 is to get below 130 and to reduce the number of treats I have, and get to the gym 3x a week.

I need to confess I ate literally 20 treat items this weekend when I was away and eating at the buffet. I have a sweet tooth and a compulsion to have the things I cannot have (even the things I am allergic to, because I feel deprived or just want them). Even now I'm craving them. I want to be able to eat whatever I want as long as I make it (and thus it doesn't hurt me), but I keep giving in.

Well thanks for listening.

aj

PS ShellCottage I can very much relate

Been fighting overweight my whole adult life, I guess. One thing that repeatedly tripped me up was that, when hunger set in, mainly at the end of the day, I'd give in to excessive sweets. It seemed like sweets were something I needed to have after dinner (or any savory meal), to feel satisfied. Then I would wake up the next morning thinking "Why did I do that...again?"

Another problem was that I like to feel full after I eat. I know people advise to just eat a certain amount and "back away from the table!" But that seemed a rather unappetizing way to go through life. What would be the point of eating if you weren't going to be full?

I discovered alternate day fasting a couple of years ago, and had some success on that. It's not really fasting, but eating a lot less every other day. After a while, though, that stopped working for weight loss, although there are other health benefits, like lowered inflammation, which is at the root of a lot of disease processes.

Starting last year, I had a lot of success with getting my 1200 x 7 calories a week, that I guess doctors recommend, but in kind of a lopsided way. When I was eating 1200 calories a day in the past (as with many here, I've tried a LOT of diets, lol), I was hungry ALL the time. With this new approach, which would probably go under the heading of "intermittent fasting," I'm just hungry MOST of the time. And I lost half a pound a week for ten straight months in 2014, until Christmas. As for my health, I'm an extremely healthy person, and I literally don't remember the last time I got sick.

Now that the holidays and my birthday are over, I'm ready to start fresh, and I hope that my new strategy, which is basically getting to a calorie deficit every week, still works. I've visited here before, and seen all the great support, so I thought this would be a good place to do this difficult part of the journey - the last part (God willing)!

P. S As for what I eat, it's mostly very clean eating, though I can cut loose on my two "Up Days" a week. Lots of fruits, veggies, good proteins, including nuts, chicken, beef, fish, pork, some dairy, and some whole grains once in a while. I try to stay away from processed foods, for the most part.

I tend to exercise when I'm trying to reach a specific goal, but I'm hoping to exercise more regularly this year. I run, walk on the treadmill, Dance Dance Revolution, yoga, and also a few ancient workout videos (the fact that they're videos says it all, lol). I'm a little skittish about buying more workout DVDs (have a couple of those), as they don't always "work out," and I'm not a big fan of wasting money (who is?)!

I think this is the best fit for me. I started at 180 lbs, currently plateaued 165 and would like to be 140-135 lbs, so I want to lose under 50 lbs.
I've fought with my weight for almost 15 years (I'm now 27 and it's been an issue since I started puberty) and realized recently that I would like to set a better example for my children, particularly since my husband also struggles with his weight. I would like to reach my goal by July 13th (my anniversary!) because we plan on starting to try for baby #2 around that time and I want to start from a healthier place than I did with my first pregnancy.
Currently, I would just like to lose 5 lbs, because that would be my pre-pregnancy weight and it's been 3 years!
I exercise (running, yoga, Zumba) about three times a week and I track my calories with My Fitness Pal but having not seen any change in the last six weeks is very frustrating. I'm changing my daily calorie goal in My Fitness Pal again, but I think I need to adjust my diet too and I'm not sure how, particularly because we live with my in-laws at the moment and the amount of junk food in the house is just unbelievable.

Welcome, and glad you're here! Love your nickname. Sounds like you have a lot of dedication, and extremely important reasons to change - that's half the battle!

Hi everyone! I'm going to be hanging around here for a while. Since August of last year I have gained 15 pounds due to a variety of life stressors, including the death of my mother. I just realized that I've just hit the "overweight" category according to BMI by hitting the 150 mark! :-( It's spring, and time to work it off. I'd like to lose 20 lbs. I'm in the high 140's now, and would like to be in the high 120's. Most commonly I hover around 140, but had worked down to 132 last year, before all the stress hit. I'm a calorie counter using MyFitnessPal, and I run (FitBit user) and lift weights.

Welcome Kilketay! I'm so sorry about your mother, that must be a terrble thing to go through and I can't imagine how you must feel. Good luck on losing those 20 pounds!!


I weighed 299 pounds 4 years ago, and through healthy eating (including calorie counting and portion control) as well as exercise, I was able to get down to 135. Right now I'm 138 after re-gaining (and losing) about 10 pounds last summer. Working hard to get back to goal, and to maybe even see the 120s. I was always the "bigger" kid in middle school, but not obese. I gained most my weight in late high school, getting up to my biggest size of 299 pounds in college. It wasn't until a road trip that I decided to lose weight, after seeing pictures of me. I couldn't believe that I had gotten so big and I knew I needed to change.

Welcome, Kilketay! I'm so sorry about the loss of your mother. That would be one of the most stressful events ever. You will find lots of support here.