I have never been a really body positive person for myself, so even when I was thinner, I still wasn't comfortable in my own body. After some tragic events in my life including my brother's suicide, and the death of my father, I turned to food and didn't care how much I gained because it made me forget about things even for a little while I was baking or cooking.

Going to the doctor, all my vitals are fine, no high BP, cholesterol is okay too, so I am lucky I guess. I just really want to take care of myself. I have very large breasts size E and the doctor said if I could get to 30 BMI, that my insurance would cover a breast reduction as a medical not cosmetic procedure. I asked her if the weight loss would make my breasts smaller and she said thinks not by too much because they are mostly breast tissue. I'm not sure if I can even get to that BMI, which at my height is 180lbs. I haven't weighed that in 8 years or so.

I don't eat a whole lot of food most days. I have breakfast and a snack and then I eat a normal dinner, total consuming about 1800 calories a day. I drink at least 48 ounces of water a day. I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to stay on track or what they did to stay motivated. I've tried weight loss before but staring at the same numbers on the scale staring back at me day after day is tough.

Thanks for reading

Hello and welcome

Good Evening, Allons_y_Doctor;

It sounds as if you have had several curve balls thrown your way. You have half the battle already fought in the fact that you recognize you ate for comfort, emotional reasons, and due to stress. Now, as you ask, how do you live in the real world with all the stress and emotions and not eat... Great question.

There are a few things I have found helpful ... and 3FC's is definitely one of them. You will find encouragement here, community here, every diet known to man, challenges for exercise or pounds lost, empathy, education ... etc etc etc. There's even been conversations about breast reduction.

Once you find posts that catch your eye, click on the person's name and you can see what other places they post... thus, giving you an ability to peruse the sight. Many people just "lurk" and never post. If you are curious ... say about a topic like breast reduction, use the "search" section to look at threads and then posts.

Education is very key to proper weight loss ... so, do research online, if you have the time. There is a BMI - which you talked about, and a BMR which indicates how many calories you can eat in a day and stay the same. Or, google, how many calories do I need to eat to lose a pound a week.

Most importantly, figure out the reason ... your why ... to weight loss. Camp on this, let this be your impetus to move you forward to what you need to do to lose the weight. Regardless if you "see" yourself as you really are (so many of us are the same way) move forward. You CAN and WILL do this! The BIGGEST thing I have learned in the last 5 months ... losing weight and getting healthy is 98.9% mental. Prepare mentally, think ahead, don't REACT! You can do this... your really can!


I hope to see you around the site...

I'm sorry for your losses. That is a tough thing to work through, and I totally get the baking/cooking/eating for comfort.

A food tracker is the most important tool for me. Even though I have years of experience counting calories, I still have a tendency to underestimate what I'm eating.

Also, don't weigh all the time. Find the interval that will show you a change if you keep on track, and stick to that. Maybe once a week? If I know I'll be up for some reason (hello TOM) I just won't weigh at all because it seems less demotivating not to see that number.

Are you exercising? We all know that 90% of weight loss is about diet and only 10% about exercise, but just about 100% is about motivation or at least stick-to-itness. When I work my tail off in the gym for an hour and see that I've burned like 450 (not even a meal!) it makes it easier to stick to my food goals because I can feel the level of work I'd have to put in to counteract any cheating.

Thank you all for these really helpful tips. Today was day two of cardio and watching what I eat. I don't feel as totally exhausted after exercising as I did yesterday. I also increased my water intake to 120 ounces per day which is a push for me because I don't like water. Its not that I drink anything else though. If I don't drink water I don't drink anything. . I will definitely look into the BMR on Google. I just know the doctor said the BMI had to be at 30 for the surgery. I don't know. Maybe that's too high of a goal for me to get to.

I really appreciate the responses and support. I'm going to try to keep on the site because reading around on here keeps me motivated. I joined yesterday after my exercising and sat down here to read and drink more water after cardio again.

Here's to day 2.

Awesome! This is such a great support forum too. Glad you're here