Hello! My name is Jill. This is my first post. My story is this: I am a mama to 2 little ones. My youngest is now 11 months old and I'm still hanging on to the last of the baby weight. I weigh 132 and want to get down to 120. Then all of my prepreg clothes will fit me again and I will feel like myself. Right now I am feeling frumpy and I want to feel like a hot mama again! I checked out the 3FC book from the library yesterday and that's what got me interested in the forum. I am planning to follow the weight watchers point system. I am also breastfeeding, so that is a factor. I am going to do it this time! My goal is to treat my self to a size 6 Diane VonFurstenburg dress when I reach my goal of 120! Thanks everyone!
Ok, my story... My name is Patty, and I'm 33 yrs old, mom of two great little ones and I have struggled with my weight forever, since I can remember anyway.. I remember being on a diet in the 7th grade.
About 5 years ago after just feeling completely unhealthy I lost over 90 lbs and got down to 121, which was wonderful! The last part of the weight loss I was going thru a divorce ( I swear my ex-husband wanted me to stay bigger) so I'm sure that helped those last extra pounds come off.
Anyway, I am now 33 and recently re-married to a wonderful man, but.. I am starting to gain back the weight and have started ever since I started dating the wonderful man.. Over the past two years I have gained back 11 pounds. Sometimes I feel almost silly, because "everyone" just gives me a hard time for even saying I want to lose weight. I know I am not fat, but remaining the same size is important to me, I feel my best at it.
Oh and my new husband I was telling you about, he is blessed! He can eat whatever he wants and not gain anything!! It is so hard to be around that, and not gain weight. Especially when he is always like "Oh Patty, you have to try this!" LOL, well 11 pounds of "you gotta try this" later, I found this forum.
It is wonderful that you have this Featherweights forum, so I won't feel like I'm crazy, or get "oh my gosh, whatever" for saying I want to lose weight. It is also very hard to talk about it to my husband, because the poor man has No idea, he doesn't have to deal with a weight problem at all. I almost feel bad venting to him because all he can do is sit and nod and say he is sorry. It will just be nice to read about and get advice from people that understand.
I have a skinny husband too ... But you know it catches up to them in different ways as they get older... DH is 50 very lean BUT his catch is that he has high cholesterol now, so he too has to watch what he eats and exercise ... So it all evens out in the end ....
I was a skinny kid, all throughout high school. College came, and I gained some weight, but I never got over 140.
Once I started working and living with my then bf/now dh, I "turned" vegetarian. Dh has always been one, and at the time I thought why bother cooking 2 different meals, so it sort of evolved into that. Who would have thought a person would GAIN weight after becoming a vegetarian? Well, I gained about 35# because I wasn't a vegetarian who really liked to eat lots of fruits and veggies - go figure... I found myself eating lots of pizza, pasta, and any other high carb or cheesy food I could find.
After topping out at 176#, I was feeling very unhappy with what I had become, and I tried Jenny Craig, but I only ended up losing a few lbs. I really didn't commit to losing the weight until I had the flu for a week and ate nothing but soup and popsicles. That somehow jump started me into eating less - I guess my stomach was jolted by not eating so much each day and no longer craved as much as it was used to consuming. Over the next few months, I ate less and started a new position at work that I felt I needed to prove myself in, so I basically lived on coffee and cigarettes for most of my days for a while there while I busted my butt at work. NOT healthy, I know, and I can't say I was doing it to try losing weight, but it DID work.
I then started working out on a regular basis and found myself down to 135# - happy as a clam. For a while, at least... Sometime around then, I developed a little eating disorder called bulimia. I don't know what exactly triggered it, but I remember feeling a sense of relief knowing that I could still eat as much as I wanted and maintain my weight. I didn't do it often at that point, and as time went by, things stayed pretty much the same.
Then, I got pregnant. I suppose I used that as license to eat whatever and whenever I wanted. I gained a whopping 75# with baby#1 - and when that dreaded 50# marker on the scale was moved up to the 200 point mark weeks before my due date, I was a bit ashamed of what I let happen to myself. But, once baby came, I actually found myself losing weight at a decent pace, without even trying hard. I got down to 140#, and life was good again.
A couple of years go by and the bulimia kicks in again. Dh and I were having problems, which only added to that. Went through therapy for it for a year. Things started to get better in marriage and through therapy. Realized that the eating disorder had more to do with control issues than weight issues, and I worked on that. Maintained weight of 140# at this time, and got pregnant again.
Was happy to have only gained 40# with baby#2. Had a harder time losing weight after baby#2. I've basically fluctuated between 145 and 160. Spent the last year closer to the 160 mark and not too happy about it. Not happy because of the lack of willpower I had all year and the bad habits I formed. I haven't reverted back to my bulimic ways, but I found myself binge eating like no one's business. I let myself become a couch potato and didn't exercise at all, and I would spend entire afternoons just lurking around the pantry eating whatever I could get my hands on. Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't gain more weight than I actually have.
I now have the biggest belly I've had outside of pregnancy, and I'm ready to get rid of it. That is what is proving to be difficult for me. After 2 c-sections and a recent outpatient surgery to have an incisional endometrioma removed (as a result of one of those c-sections), my tummy feels like mush. Doing crunches is really hard because I can barely feel the muscles working. But, for the last couple of weeks I've been sticking to it, and even though the bulge is still there, I can now feel the burn when I work on my abs.
Over the summer, I just made a conscious effort to become more physically active. I've been outside every day walking, playing with the kids, or swimming. I read someone's post about doing Dance Dance Revolution on PS2, and I giggled to myself because I do that too. It's really a great way to play with the kids and work up a sweat at the same time. I've just tried to incorporate physical activity into every day.
I'm also trying the tried and true method of low-cal, low-fat eating and the basic principle of consuming less than I burn. We'll see how it goes. All I know is that I am tired of looking preggers when I'm not, and I'm sick of the double chin I have. Perhaps my goal of 135 will be changed as time goes on - right now I'd be happy to get down to 145. I figure this is probably the best way for me because although I did lose 13# on South Beach, I lost it back and then some. It didn't prove to be something I could live with, so I think for now just cutting back and eating healthy is a good place to start.
I'm looking forward to reading all your posts. Most of them are very inspirational, and I am looking towards them to help keep me motivated. Thanks for all your support!!!
to 3FC. You'll get a lot of support here. I can relate to some parts of your story but not others - I'm sure many will be the same. Join the daily chat thread.
I've been lurking here for a while, but thought I would delurk to say "howdy."
I'm 39, female, a shade under 5'9, currently around 137-140 pounds. (The furnished house I'm renting this month has a lame Ikea scale whose reading fluctuates, as far as I can tell, with the prevailing winds in Mongolia.)
My story in a nutshell: Nerdy kid, never particularly athletic. Struggled with weight and body issues post-puberty. Did the semi-starvation + obsessive exercise thing in freshman year college. Got down to <120 (at 5'9"). Roommate, who I adored, told me in tears that she couldn't live with someone who was dieting herself to death. (I lost track of the roommate over the years, but I still appreciate what she did for me: I was well on my way to anorexia before she gave me an emotional whack upside the head.)
Anywho, I stopped dieting and exercising obsessively, made more friends, but also "discovered" late-night parties and study sessions with beer, pizza, and wine coolers (what can I say, it was the 80s?). Enter weight gain. Graduated at about 185, but lost 25 of that in the year after graduation simply by eating adult food.
Fast forward to 1995 or so. I discovered weight lifting -- heavy weight lifting, not "toning" -- and loved it. Loved feeling strong, loved seeing progress in how much I could lift and how my body adapted, and loved finding a sport that didn't require speed, agility, or really much in the way of hand-eye coordination. "Lift heavy things, put them back down" I can do.
Started eating "clean" to go along with the training. Eliminated junk food and most refined carbs, ate a lot of lean protein and veggies, kept fat intake at reasonable levels. Did cardio work on non-lifting days, sometimes in two-a-days. Felt my best at 135, but with a lot of lean muscle mass. (My lowest measured BF% was 13% at <130, but I don't think I could sustain this for long.)
Then what? Dissertation happened. Stoopid injury happened. Job happened. New job happened. Kid happened. Excuses happened. Weight lifting dwindled to about 2x per week, cardio all but disappeared. "Clean" food gave way to clean+cheat foods, and too much of it. Weight's been vacillating between 145 and 154 for the five years post-partum. I'm still pretty active, thanks to a love for the outdoors, a 5-year old, and occasional bouts of weight lifting, but my body fat is higher than I'd like it to be.
I've been eating "clean" and exercising for 11 days, now. My first goal is to get to 130 with minimal loss of muscle. To this end I've been eating around 1200 calories per day, with 100g protein (around .8 per pound of LBM), no empty carbs (and only between 30-50% CFC), and adequate "good" fats such as from fish, avocados, nuts, etc. I'm hitting the weights 4x per week again, too, with an emphasis on rebuilding functional strength with compound movements (e.g., squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups, dips). Cardio on 2 off days, "active rest" -- usually involves hiking, biking, or playing baseball with my baseball-obsessed kid -- on the seventh.
Second goal is to then pack on some muscle mass. This will probably involve gaining some weight back, but if I can get to 16%-17% BF again, I'll be ecstatic no matter what the scale says.
I know *what* to do to get there, at least for my body. And I know it takes time, patience, and dedication. I know that every once in a while, it also takes a kick in the pants. And that's where y'all come in!
Thanks for making it through this lengthy intro, and thanks in advance for being here. I'll probably post to the lifting group, too, so I may "see" some of you there.
I am 43 and married 11 years to a great guy. We have a 9 year old son we adore!
I grew up believing I had a fat belly and was self-conscious about it from the age of 12 (Grade 7). I look back at pictures from when I was 12 to 15 and I wonder what made me think I was fat. I was definitely not fat, nor did I have a fat belly.
Now, by the time I was 16, I did have some extra weight on me. I weighed 150 lbs., probably about 10 pounds from a healthy weight for me. (I have some very bodacious ta-tas!)
I come from a family of 5 girls and 1 boy. My Mom only seemed to notice us when she was commenting on our bodies. What she programmed into me was that she couldn't figure out why I was fat because I always ate like such a bird. I don't know when she started talking about me as fat, but if I had a daughter who was 150 lbs (with newly developed bodacious ta-tas) at the age of 16, I wouldn't have been commenting about her weight problem. I would have kept my comments to myself and if she brought it up I would reassure her that it's very normal to have some extra weight as a teenager. I would point out to her that she was beautiful and that if she really wanted to shed a few pounds that all she had to do was eat healthier and exercise more. No great mystery, but not the easiest choice when you're a teenager. Unfortunately, my Mom's way of viewing and commenting on my 150 lbs. locked me into the sense that I had been overweight all my life and that I had no control over this great mystery.
When I was in College I dated a body builder and I asked him to help me lose this weight that I so hated. He was reluctant. He liked me just the way I was. But he could see how important it was to me, so he put me on a very healthy eating plan and weight training and cardio program. I lost 10 pounds in one month!! I couldn't remember ever feeling this skinny before! I was 140 lbs. I felt great! I kept it off for a good year and even lost 5 more pounds. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about maintaining and my old eating habits caught up with me. I was back to 150 lbs by the age of 22.
I am now 43 years old and in the past 3 - 5 years, I have crept up to 160 lbs. That is a new higher number for me and I don't like the gaining trend. So, I decided it is time to turn things around in the other direction and to maintain this turn around for life. Clearly, I can't get away with being complacent. I have decided that 140 lbs felt great at 22, so that is the weight I am shooting for.
I guess for a number of years, I just decided that 150 lbs was my natural resting weight. I can't say that anymore, because the scale has crept up.
Hello! I am new to this board. My name is Ashley and I am 28. I have an 18 month old daughter. I lost my pregnancy weight only to gain 10 lbs back after my mom died. I was about 5 lbs over what I should have been when I got pregnant.
I am starting weight watchers again because I am sick of my clothes being tight and I don't want to buy bigger clothes. I am tired of not being happy with myself. I am tired of thinking about how fat I am all of the time. I don't want to translate this negative self image to my daughter and I want to set a good example for her!
Here's my story...
My name is Jamie.
I'm almost 32. Mother of three. Jake is 10, Abby is 8 and Cooper is 4. My little guy is about to start preschool, so this will be the first time in 11 years I'll have NO kids at home. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. My hubby works for a restaurtant chain and he's always working.
Okay...back to me, My weight has fluctuated between 120 and 160 in the past 10 years. 3 babies has not been easy on my body at all.
Last year I spent quite a while in the hospital. A normal outpatient surgery to remove some cysts from my right ovary turned into 3 surgeries and a Hysterectomy last September.
After my hysterectomy, I went through a very tough time. I went through depression, ny hormones went crazy and I gained about 30 pounds.
I decided in January that I was miserable with how I looked and needed to change.
I joined the gym and started exercising. I tried to change my eating habits, but that is still a daily battle.
I have lost 25-30 pounds, but it seems like I'm getting nowhere lately.
I work out at least 5 days a week.
About a month ago, I tried the Fat Smash Diet, and I actually lost 6 pounds in the detox phase, but it was so hard to keep up with it.
So now I've got those 6 pounds back.
I want to be a healthy weight. I'm not sure if 125 is right for me, but it is the number that is stuck in my head.
I'm sure that I''ll get motivated by all of you guys! I hope to get to know all of you well!
Good luck to us all and we try to get where we want to be!
My story is pretty simple. I'm a 44 yr. young SAHM and entertainer. Married late in life and have two beautiful children, ages 5 and 3. All of my life, I've been in the "normal" range up and down, (gained during college but then back down). It seems like I've been dieting all my life at one point or another. I have always been conscientious about my weight and never let it get too out of control. The largest size I ever wore was a 12. The lowest was a 6. But after having children and entering my 40s, my body decided not to be so kind and I've struggled with my weight ever since.
My highest weight was with my first child. I gained 60 lbs. and hit my all time high at 209. I worked out hard and got back to my pre-preg. weight, but just when I did, I got pregnant again and gained 40 with my second. After each child, I was determined to lose and I did with strong determination. I worked out 5-6 days a week and watched my diet. I was back down to a sz 6 last summer. I hadn't seen that number since I was in my 20s! I got too comfortable last fall, stopped exercising and drank my beloved vino more and more often in the evenings. Then the holidays came around.... and you know the story. I gained 15+ back. It could have been much worse but that 15 lbs. makes a huge difference in how I look and feel.
So here I am again, on that rollercoaster that I know all too well, hoping to get back to that size 6 or 8. That is where I feel most comfortable. Not to mention that I have a full wardrobe of vintage outfits that I wear in my band. Talk about a motivator! The more weight I lose, the more costumes I can wear again! I will reach that goal... I always do because when I want something badly enough, I work hard to get it! I'm sure there are many here who can identify about wanting something so badly and nothing will stop you.
Something I tell myself often was said by Turbo Jam's Chalene Johnson during one of her workouts, while doing crunches. I turned it into my motto. "How bad do you want it? That's how hard you've gotta work! It's worth it!!"
Jill 
..........Glad you found us through the book too, how cool is that!?
Over the past two years I have gained back 11 pounds. Sometimes I feel almost silly, because "everyone" just gives me a hard time for even saying I want to lose weight. I know I am not fat, but remaining the same size is important to me, I feel my best at it. 
... But you know it catches up to them in different ways as they get older... DH is 50 very lean BUT his catch is that he has high cholesterol now, so he too has to watch what he eats and exercise 
... So it all evens out in the end 
....
