Taking back my life
 

Good morning to all. This is my first run at belonging to a weight loss community and my first run at a forum in general. This last year has brought about a major upset in my family and my weight has just gone up and up and up. I'm so completely embarrassed at my current weight. I'm heavier than I've ever been, including pregnancies. I always told myself I'd NEVER be 200 lbs, yet now I'm topping the scales at almost 218. I'm disgusted with myself and almost cry when I see pictures of myself. My husband and I just returned from a week in Cancun, which was great, but add shorts and tank tops to all the pictures.... Ew. The few times we've gone on a "real" vacation, we've gone with only a few months pre-planning. Now, though, we're thinking to take our kids back to Cancun in a year, so it's finally time. I'M in charge, and I WILL look better on our next trip. I always do weight loss...well, I always ATTEMPT weight loss on my own, so this time, I thought I'd share my struggle with others and hopefully gain insight through the journey of others.

I had the same fear of 200 - I always told myself that was the jump off a bridge number...now its 210 *which is shockingly close to my current 207ish weight*. Forums and communities are fantastic sources and I wish you all the best

If you're looking for a weight loss buddy feel free to hit me up

Thank you! I must admit, I'm WAY overwhelmed with this forum. There is soooooooooooo much to read! I'm definitely a techie nerd, but trying to make your way through a forum is like trying to find a needle in a haystack! You haven't been on here long, either, right?

Hello and welcome to the site, BellaZ! :wel3fc:

No I haven't - I was here years ago, wrote one post, and peaced out. Now I'm in a totally different, even heavier place. Still finding the forum outline a bit overwhelming tbh but I'm sure we'll figure it out along the way :)

What do you do in the way of diet and exercise? I'm just curious what works or doesn't work for others. I'm doing a...I don't even know...natural? diet??? I believe that if we'd all eat the foods and plants that are God-made (aka grown naturally) we'd all be fit and healthy. Now, just because I believe that, doesn't mean I follow it. :) I try! Fruits, veggies, legumes, brown rice, some chicken and fish...as an example. Exercise...ugh. Dislike! I try to walk every day and do a short workout video. I'll use any excuse NOT to exercise, though, so I don't go as hard as I could. Working on that, too! :)

I am new to the site (like totally fresh!) but I wanted to say hello :)

Hi, again, BellaZ!
I totally get what you mean about this forum being overwhelming. There is a ton of content and active conversation threads going all at once... My advice is to just start with a couple of threads to follow and/or participate in, to start.

:)

Diet is my real struggle...though I tend to eat more "naturally" than most I still indulge. I do not eat fast food or anything, and I make almost everything I eat (homemade salad dressing, pasta, breads, juice. I grew up with a very foodie gourmand father so everything was homemade), but that makes it very difficult to track things like calories as theres no real calorie count. I've tried and gotten overwhelmed so many times. Now I'm in med school and don't have nearly the time I should to cook at the level I would like and find myself struggling with grabbing food out at restaurants and all for a quick "eat while i study" meal.

I'm also the total opposite, I love exercise! I ride horses internationally and until school had been competing for over 20 years (I'm 28 so its been practically all my life). I have been boxing for the past 3 years but unfortunately there's nowhere around my school to do so so for now I'm not doing that. I do something activity wise 6 days a week - I lift weights 3 days a week for about an hour, and I've been trying to incorporate cardio into that which is my real struggle...i hate running, hate anything monotonous and repetitive, so I do 10m on the elliptical as warm up and then have been attempting to finish with a 15m bike ride but my gym is quite small and the last 2 times I've been unable to find a bike (stupid prime time). I have a pilates instructor once a week (has done wonders for my back which suffers from lots of injuries and sitting in a classroom 18 hours a day), and then i still ride here 2x a week, though not at the competition training level i have done for so long...
I've tried a few exercise videos but grew tired of them pretty quickly even if it was a good workout. Plus I feel silly jumping around my apartment - I prefer to separate my workout and living spaces (which I'm sure my downstairs neighbors appreciate)

I have always liked the gym but i never used to like going...now I bring my gym clothes to school and leave them in my car. This has been a huge help as I know if i go home to change i won't leave the house again. I also have it on my calendar so that if i miss a workout, everything else has to be moved around and thats a lot of work...

Good luck! Walking is a great place to start and is very versatile to switch up (add some weights, change where you walk, start a little jog, etc etc)

Oh! I forgot to add in what I do for diet and exercise.

Way to go, skinnybreech, with keeping up with your horse riding passion!

Uh, for me, I just started changing my life five weeks ago. I've done well, though. What works for me is interval cardio (I have a rowing machine - it is awesome), cardio dance, hiking and bodyweight/resistance band exercises. I'm going to move on to kettlebells and other free weights soon. It was tough, at first, but my stamina has improved swiftly. As for food, I only drink alcohol on the weekend, and only a couple of drinks. I don't drink any soda. I watch my sodium intake. I drink a lot of water (3-4 quarts per day). I make sure to start out the day with some protein (example: scrambled eggs with two whole eggs & two egg whites + one small piece of homemade toast). Unless we're eating outside of the house, I only eat bread or tortillas I've made, and in small amounts. I focus on lean proteins. I avoid refined sugars... Yup. That's about it. Oh, and lots of greens for me!

Hope that helps. ;)

Hi there! I'm Emma, new to the site also, good luck with your weight loss! <3

Welcome to all the other newbies that are (maybe) as lost as I am! :) I'm working on my exercise. I downloaded a new app called Sworkit that has 5 minute workouts. I'm much better at squeezing in several 5s throughout the day than one big one. I, too, have dropped soda, as of about 32 days ago. But who's counting? :) Actually, I dropped Diet Mountain Dew, which is my love, but I also readily acknowledge that it is THE worst drink out there. :( Sadness. I have had a bit of Diet Coke here and there, but generally doing ok. I LOVE LOVE LOVE grapefruit kombucha, but I haven't gotten to the store yet to buy a bottle of regular so I can start my scoby again. I got into kombucha big last year, then got tired of it cause I really only like the super fizzy kind and I never had enough bottles for that so I'd use other containers and it wouldn't fizz, so... I'm anxious to get back into it, especially since I've given up soda. I have a shake for breakfast every morning. Recently made my own protein powder. Ummmm...yeah, it's not terrible, but...yeah. It's fine. :) As of today, I have officially ended week 1 of taking back my life and it went great. Until yesterday. I KNOW KNOW KNOW I shouldn't step on that stupid evil thing in the bathroom EVERY day, but it's almost an addiction. Then a depression. Here's to another great week. Blessings to you all!