I have been struggled with my weight for what feels like all of my life. I have tried most diets, fads, and attempted many "lifestyle changes." sep 2012 I even broke down and tried the medication route. A year ago I was at my lowest weight ever i had ever been as an adult and felt great. ( minus the heart palpitations and fast heart rate ). But then the weight started creeping up. I went off the meds and the pounds, slowly at first and then what seemed like a steady rise, have almost all returned to me. I don't know if my shame comes from the fact that I have gained this weight back, or that I let myself believe in the "magic pills" in the first place. It is likely both.

I am a registered nurse who works on a critical care cardiac unit. I council patients on making healthier lifestyle changes on a regular basis. I am continually baffled by the fact that I know better. That I can tell others what will work, support them along the way, and cannot seem to do the same for myself.

In addition to working full time, I am a wife, mother of 3, and student. To say life is stressful would be an understatement. But that excuse, is still an excuse. I need to make some changes. I am here making another go of committing to myself and making some changes for better health.

Thanks for listening to my story.

Hi and thanks for sharing your story with us It's fantastic that you carry all that knowledge and you should definitely put to good use on yourself, in addition to your patients. Although you may feel shame for gaining the weight back, you can feel so much more pride when you lose it again in a healthy, fit way

Good luck

Well, the good news is that you have all the information. What you need to figure out is how to tweak it and make it work with your busy life.

I have struggled with my weight for my entire adult life, fluctuating within the same 50-70 lbs. I also feel like I know what to do, but doing it is the part that baffles me because it's really easier said than done.

I'd like to throw out what is working for me right now, in case it helps you, but there are many paths to the same destination. I came to realize that there are certain foods that I cannot eat in moderation. I tried to limit them but now, I know that I simply cannot have sugar and flour in my diet.

I didn't think I could live without those ingredients but what I realize now is that my life is finally worth living. I have all the same struggles and difficulties as before, but now I've been able to handle them so much better because I'm not carrying this burden, which is just an addiction.

Weight gain/loss, in my humble opinion, has a lot to do with how our bodies respond to food physically and mentally...you can be a genius and still be very overweight and you can have incredible will power, but be powerless over certain foods. It's a matter of figuring out what is truly happening and I wasn't able to for years because my addiction was manipulating my thoughts...I lied to myself and thought I could find a way to have my cake and eat it too (sorry for that).

Thanks for the replies. Luckymommy some of what you said hits pretty close to home. I have continued to tell myself that moderation is key, and not to eliminate foods completely. But after a while, one sweet treat turns into something SO much more routine and excessive. I am not sure how I will do it, but sugar, or at least the sugary sweets/chocolate and I probably need to go our separate ways.

Perhaps you might consider making a list of foods you can't eat in moderation. I call these my "red light" foods. When I see them, I just know they are not for me. It is incredibly hard to kick at first, but as time goes on, it's really easy. I also have "yellow light" foods that I can eat but in moderation...meaning I decide in advance how much I can have per meal. "Green light" foods are of no risk at all...I've never had issues with broccoli. Also, I have decided that I will only eat 3 meals and one snack a day. Breakfast is always oatmeal which I do sweeten with Stevia and cinnamon. I have lunch and then a snack around 4pm which is usually a hardboiled egg or a string cheese. The reason? Snacking make me more obsessed with eating and just knowing that I've eaten and I"m done, it takes a lot of the guesswork out. Again, these are just things that work for me but if you can get anything out of it, then that's awesome. If not, you'll figure it out...just keep reading on here and find what you can live with.