3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Hi everyone, I just signed up. Let's see, a little about myself. My name is Melanie, I'm from Central Illinois. I'm 39 yrs old, 5'4" and 190 pounds.

I was fit and active (and skinny!) for most of my life. A few things happened that changed it all. I got out of the army and was so happy not to be forced to work-out that I stopped all excercise. I hit that mid 30's age range and I stopped smoking. The combination meant I gained about 50 pounds in a few short years. I didn't sweat it for awhile, I'd try to do something now and than but knew it would take a real committment to lose the weight and was never at that point.

Last year I had my gall bladder out and the recovery was slow. I knew it was because I was overweight and out of shape. This past spring I came down with that killer flu that swept the nation. It knocked me out for a full week and I could hardly manage to take care of myself. Again I knew it was because of my weight/health. I've developed asthma, hypoglcemia and my knees started hurting when I squatted. Knowing full well I had no-one to blame but myself, I was finally ready to do something.

In late april I started going for walks. It started out slow, 1/2 hour or 45 minutes around town. I started feeling great immediately and it made a huge difference with my stress level. Than I upped it to an hour, still sort of rambling about town. Eventually I mapped out a set route in the country. 4 miles to start with and they were the longest 4 miles ever!

I'm now up to five miles a day 3-4 days a week with an hour workout at Curves about once a week. I can't believe how much better I feel. I try not to weigh in on a regular basis since my goal has been more about health than numbers. I do get weighed/measured at Curves once a month.

The frustrating thing is the weight hasn't budged. I dropped a few inches and 1% of my body mass, but for the amount of excercise I've been doing I don't feel like I've made much progress. I did two things because of this.

I made an appointment with my doctor. My mom and my aunt both have thyroid problems so I want to rule this out for myself. I also started keeping a food diary. I love writing down what I eat every day. At first I only wrote down what I ate without counting the calories. I was amazed at how healthy I was eating, so I started keeping track of calories also. I was doubly amazed to see I was only eating between 1,500-2,000 calories a day. (It's what motivated me to call my doctor). I also like writing everything down because when I want to binge or 'cheat' or whatever, I think about writing down whatever it is I want to eat and I tend to change my mind.

I do have 'treats' but they are big time in moderation. I started looking for information on how many calories I should be taking in, how much I'm burning with excercise, etc. And I started getting frustrated that I haven't lost any weight. Which is why I went in search of some boards to find a community of people who are working towards the same goal I am.

Sorry for the novel. This is a big part of my life right now and I think I've already bored family and friends talking about it! ;)