[Silvana]

Hi from a newbie!

So here is my story. I am 23, recent university grad. I have always been a big girl and never had a big problem with it. I grew up in a strictly health foodie household and while I was always the softest in the family, we were all very healthy.

I have held onto my healthy habits up until two years ago. I met a wonderful man, a wonderful man with a love of Ihop and frozen pizza. Since we have been together I have gained around 60lbs in a relatively short time [1.5 years or so]

For the first time in my life I feel unwell. I wake up tired, I get indigestion, My asthma is acting up. On a whole I am just not healthy anymore and I hate it!

I also hate being a size 20. Even though I have always been plus sized, I had a wonderful shapely body and always felt very attractive. Now I feel... well rotund.

The most unfortunate part of this is that I don't hate it all ENOUGH. I want very much to be healthy again, but I have a hard time motivating myself [which isn't helped by the fact that my oh so wonderful man likes me in my most spherical current shape].

I have been reading these forums for a few months now and I really want to be part of this community. I spend a lot of time online at work and I want to devote some of that time to focusing on my goals, getting and giving encouragement, and learning how to tackle this phase of my life.

I got my gym membership renewed this week. YAY!

[meowee]

. . . so glad you've found us . . . hopefully you will it here just as much as the rest of us do -- lots and lots of support and encouragement.

[Silvana]

I love the little trackers too! its so amazing to see how everyone is moving along their goals.
Do the trackers only do weight? or can you get them for other goals.
I have a goal to up my running ability and would love to track it.

[meowee]

You can also use them to track pounds lost rather than actual weight or exercise minutes.

Bad news is that (because of spammers) you have to be a member for at least 30 days and have at least 30 posts before you can set up a signature and that's where the trackers reside. But, just stick around and post often and the time will fly right by.

[bethbeth]

I think I understand what you mean when you say you don't hate it ENOUGH. But you need to think about where you want to be a year from now. You said you have gained 60 pounds in the last 1.5 years. So that means that if you continue what you're doing now, a year from now you could weigh 40 pounds more than you do now. Or you can make some changes and lose 40+ pounds in the next year.
For me, the motivation to change came at Thanksgiving last year. I read online that the average American gains 8-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. Now, I knew that I had already gained AT LEAST 8-10 pounds that year since getting married. And I knew that if I continued what I was doing I would keep gaining. I could not stand the thought of gaining another 10 pounds before the year was out, so I made a goal to lose 10 pounds before the year was out. And I did! I lost 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas! And then I kept going and have now lost 34.
So, if your current weight is not enough to motivate you, think about what your weight will be a year from now, or 6 months from now. Do you want to be + or - 40 pounds this time next year?
You can do it! And stick around here at 3FC! Keep posting to let us know how you're doing!