Hi all! I've been lurking here for about a week, and it's far past the time I should have introduced myself. How rude of me!
I've been overweight for a couple years now. It's not a shock, really, since my parents and my older siblings (half-siblings, from my father's first marriage, who apparently learned the same eating habits I did!) have had weight problems also. In fact, my older sister and my father have Type II diabetes, which --besides scaring the daylights out of me that I'll have too--is always a motivating factor to get in shape and eat right and to
stay in shape and to
keep eating right.
In my last job, I had a triple whammy: it was my first "inactive" job, in which I just sat at a desk all day; I had a long commute and a long work day, so it was hard to squeeze in time to exercise; and I hated my job--HATED--so I ate to distract myself from my crappy work environment.
So in my current job, I started biking to work the second day I worked there. At my lowest weight since working there, I had lost 15 pounds.
Shortly after hitting my low, I took up running, after being inspired by a friend. But slowly my weight crept up again, so I gained almost 10 back. First, I was exercising less (my bike got stoled!), and I was eating more, and eating more junk, which apparently is what I do when I'm stressed. In January, bad weather and lack of motivation meant I was hardly exercising at all, and a bout of the flu in February was no help at all.
So I went on vacation in February, visiting the friend who inspired me to take up running. We exercised several times while I was there--yay! But I came back home from vacation and weighed myself--and I had gained another 3 pounds. Yikes!
So I call this hitting 'bottom'--because my butt is bigger than it has been for a while.
But it's good because it made me determined to lose, to get in shape, and to keep it off.
I came back from vacation 3 weeks ago and tried to run--in the frigid winter air. I had two pathetic short runs, which ended with my lungs hurting. So I checked out my condo's fitness centre, and it's great! The treadmill is better than running in the cold air, and I have really improved! My outdoor runs were only four intervals of 2-minute runs...and in my run today (4th run since Sunday, all on the treadmill) I ran for five 5-minute intervals. Woohoo!
I have also been tracking my calories on FitDay, since I read about it on 3FC last weekend. It's really helping my accountability, and it's helping me realize that losing weight is possible. It also helps that I'm at my pre-vacation weight now.
So I now have a goal: lose 25 pounds by October 1, when I go on vacation to France. That goal is reasonable, I think, less than a pound a week, and would put me around my waitressing weight, which is okay given my frame and height.
Whew! Sorry for the novella. But I've been lurking here and am really inspired by the support, advice and encouragement I have found here. So I wanted to post and and say thank-you for having such a wonderful forum available to all of us who need this kind of resource. It's been great for me so far, and I know 3FC will continue to inspire me. Thanks!
--Mango
Mango's intro post; and hitting 'bottom'...
I run, and often feel I need to apologize for preferring to run on the treadmill. 
But it makes for a much easier run for me. I wear my ipod, and there are no distractions. I know how far and how fast I'm running, and for how long. I feel that I'm in control of my environment. heh heh. 
