Hi, all! I just joined this site because I have recently figured out that if I want the weight to come off and stay off, I can't do it by myself. It pains me to admit that I need support, because I usually am fiercely independent, but here I am!

I'm a 24 year old married woman with no kids yet, looking for people to PM with, chat with on AIM, Yahoo or MSN, and generally lean on for when I'm feeling week. I'm just starting up my diet (again... after dismally failing so many times) so I'm sure I'll be around a lot.

I'm a generally cheerful, outgoing person, so don't hesitate to PM/IM/Mail me!

I'm 31, married with 3 kids. I lost 20lbs, went to a funeral then quit (that was in march). Less than a week ago I decided I was ready to get back on the wagon again. I work at an elementry school. I would love to walk in even 10lbs lighter (aiming for 15).

I personally take it one day at a time. That's all I can do. Have you tried www.fitday.com or another similiar online journaling? That has SERIOUSLY helped me. If I know I have to enter it, it is hard for me just to totally mess up. Also I suprise myself when I do things in moderation and I think it will bring me waaayyyy over and it doesn't because I at least thought about a limitation. LIfe is not about depriving. I love my diet, but it takes thought becuase I am an emotional/Impulsive eater. I also go "whatever" and eat 3 candy bars instead of a small one. Yeah, that makes sense.

You can do this! It IS hard to do it alone. You will be your own best advocate though. Celebrate your NSV (non scale victories) and grab others for support. When you get knocked down (you will) remember tomorrow is a brand new day. Try to figure out why you got knocked down but have a good self image with it. As a teenager my dad made me feel REALLY bad about my self image (and initially I was at goal weight). I vowed that I can get fed up and annoyed but I will never allow my weight to be the sum of who I am again. With that in mind, if I get knocked down (even for a long period) I tell myself, I know how to lose weight and when I'm ready, I know I can. THEN I'm happy when I am losing weight because it really is more about gaining control. Who doesn't like to be in control?!

One last bit: Teach yourself to think of this as a chance to be HEALTHY as opposed to needing numbers on a scale. I generally aim to keep going down (although I can stay at the same weight for a week or two) in the long run. I don't look at numbers (although I do celebrate them..what can I say). Did you make better choices than you normally would have? Did you get fruits/veggies, etc? Did you drink lots of water? What are your personal daily goals? Are you progressing? Nobody is perfect. Don't aim for perfection. Aim for progress.

Lindsay,

I know it's hard to lose the weight, I have tried and failed more times than I can count, but this is a new beginning. I would be interested in buddying up with you and am a yahoo messenger user. If you want to add me to your buddy list that would be great, my screen name is in my profile....Congratulations on your decision to make this life style change!!!

Cathy

Thank you for such a strong, motivational welcome. 'Don't Aim For Perfection' should become my new mantra. I really appreciate your candid advice, especially the advice for fitday.com. I had heard of the site but had never really considered using it before now. Thanks!

I will add you when I get home from work! Your positive outlook has certainly rubbed off on me. I'm excited about this journey. I'm not going to let the past get me down. This is a brand new day! Can't wait to get to know you better. Thanks for the friendly welcome!

Okay, I made 2 soups today (for the week lunches). One is a ckn/veggie soup (it's okay). The other is a broccoli/wheat conscous soup. Can we say BLECH! Who wants to eat a brocolli smoothie? One that taste bad at that and I LOVE brocolli. Good thing I made a small batch of that one. I did eat a cup of it just to give it a chance. (snuck in 3-4 chips while I was cooking cuz my kids had them out). When I started doing that, I stopped and grabbed the grapes. Whoo Hoo! Definately an NSV for today. I will probably eat the ckn veggie soup for supper (cuz I don't feel like cooking anymore today). So today I ate cereal, snacked on carrots, took a can of small lima beans to the pool, the brocolli/conscous soup, 1/2 cup of grapes, 3-4 chips and 1/3 of a ckn breast. I've done G R E A T! Probably the best I've done all week. I had to share. I still haven't gotten much water in. What can I say, Id rather have a diet coke. Kick me in the pants....Okay, that felt better. I think I'm gonna treat myself with a slice of angel food cake, blue berries, and lite whipped topping after supper. I can't promise that will be all. I tend to need to munch every few hours and it is still early. That's why the small meals at one time. How was your day? REMEMBER: Count and celebrate the successes, reflect on the failures, but don't dwell there.

I got a helpful peice of advice someone on this forum said: Write down all your obstacles and see if you can find strategies to overcome them. At the very least know what your weaknesses are. I will post what I wrote when I find it.

Hey Ladies!! just thought i'd interject here... Deafinlysmart... i totally envy your eating small amounts more frequently throughout the day. call me old school.. but for some reason im still stuck ont he "less is more" philosophy for eating. I know thats not cool> i know i need to eat MORE and less amounts. Im a typical 3 meal a day kinda girl... but i work alot of evenings so i end up sleeping in and missing breakfast.. that gives me only 2 meals a day and they are usually really healthy.. but i know for a fact that i need to eat more to quicken my metabolism. HOWEVER... a large NSV for me is the fact that i have totally kept up withm y drinking 2litres of water everyday! I found a pretty fool-proof way. I used to dread drinking "6-8glasses" every day-- that seems so impossible. But now i have a nalgene bottle thats exactly 1 litre. I just sip on it throughout the day. I try to get 1 litre in in the first half of the day, and then i take a break and get the second litre in during supper, and during the evening. Its really NOT as hard as i thought. My water drinking is now probably the EASIEST PART. The hardest part.. is being patient and waiting for the weight to come off.

This site certainly is helping em tho!! THANKS LADIES!!
check out my weight loss blog about my journey to "becoming bootylicious"
www.in-all-honesty.blogspot.com

Keep going ladies!!

Hi Backporchpoet, I understand how you feel i'm usually good about doing everything on my own and now that i'm ready to loose weight and can't, I feel like a failure. I have yahoo messenger and if you would like to add me it's gschavez1

I work at a residential school. I supervise during breakfast (so I bring breakfast so I can eat rather than go overboard and eat once at home then decide I want to eat there too), we have snacks at 10am (elementry), then lunch, then I come home and my kids want a snack. My small meals got built in. Now I feel aggitated if I don't eat something every so often. Just an orange, or yogurt, carrots, whatever.

Hi back I know how you feel about not being able to do this one big thing on your own I normaly see something I want and get it yet some how this has failed me when it comes to dieting. I just started my diet again too I have lost two pounds already this week and that has lite a fire under my butt to keep pushing. I am 23 married with two young boys if you want to ever talk feel free to im me on yahoo or email me here. we would probably do each other some good lol! anyways good luck to you talk to you soon!

I'm about to turn 50.... and want to stop this rollercoaster of dieting!lifestyle needs a change,yes,it's a constant struggle.Doing ww online,1st week 3 lbs lost!
lets support each other.i'm always up late...2:00 or so Am
Reggie

I'm finished having kids so I want this to be my change too. You know what I like and what I want to keep? Today I totally ate junk food out to eat. I still thought about what I ate. I chose the lesser of two evils. When I was losing weight earlier this year, I felt good knowing I didn't never have to not have a quarter pounder (although I wouldn't recommend it initially till you get used to it all..the first month is the hardest). It's a matter of chosing my battles and thinking about what I want and what I will put in my mouth and the overall input/output rather than all or nothing with a single food. That's the kind of lifestyle change I want. Obviously life happened and it showed me under tremendous stress I haven't conquered my need to emotional eat. Eh...a work in progress...I came back.