[zuhal]

Hello all! (Love the dancing carrot.)

My name is Charlotte, I'm from Florida, and seem to have been battling my weight my whole life! At age 14, I went down from 180 to 125 through "exercise bulimia". Through over exertion, I ended up blowing out my right knee, broke my patella into two pieces, and ended up gaining all of my weight back due to inactivity.

I'm 18 now, and through many ups and downs, I'm at 165. I have difficulty due to the unhealthy eating habits of my family, but really want to get my weight down.

I am a Middle-Eastern, or "belly" dancer and I feel very uncomfortable in performance due to my extra weight. My knee is a painful reminder about pushing myself too hard, and I'd really like to lose the weight with moderate exercise (which I already get through dancing) and healthy diet. DIET is the big problem with me.

I loooove junk food! All things in moderation, but I'm an all-or-nothing person. Any tips?

Anyway, I'm happy to be here.
-Charlotte

[seranab]

Hey there,
I'm a belly dancer too although we're not middle eastern but rather North African. It's something I've always seen and just always did. Every now and then I just dance alone in my room. I'm 19 now and occasionally dance at parties but because I'm fully clothed I don't care (lol no belly dancing outfits for me). It's just such a fantastic way to tone up and actually enjoy what you're doing.

[seranab]

Just do it on your own in your room... you'll build strength in your legs as well as making sure you're moving.

[rockinrobin]

Hi there. I'm an all or nothing person too. So for me, I chose the nothing route. Meaning I had to completely elminate all the foods I overate. The ones I had no control with. I figured if I really want to take the weight off that I was just better off without the foods that I had no discipline with. Surprisingly so, after a few weeks I no longer really wanted them anymore. Now that months have passed I can have a small bite every now and then without going overboard. But I won't purchase it or have it in my home. I have those bites at a party or something like that.

Dancing is one of my main forms of exercise as well, though not belly dancing. I pump up the music and dance away - by myself. The time really goes fast. Just a couple of weeks ago I went dancing with some friends and actually danced in front of people. It was lots of fun.

Good luck to you.