hello everyone,
i'm really glad to have found this forum. I've never participated in anything like this but always thought it would be helpful. Sooo....my story: about 5 years ago, I weighed my high of 183. I began losing weight in a mostly unhealthy, obsessive way, but eventually reached about 145 lbs. I maintained that for a year or two, then proceeded to lose about 10-15 more lbs in a healthy way. I maintained that for another year or so. HOWEVER, since Sept of this year, I have started to gain and am currently at 152 lbs or so. I'm ready to take the control back, and i'm looking to lose about 15 lbs. I'd love to participate in this forum, as it seems you all offer great support to each other. Thanks for reading!!

Welcome ya'll! I just love this thread, and I hope you will too. It's hard when you don't have much to lose, because people tend to think you're crazy for wanting to lose more. Nice to meet ya!

Hi jessica lynnm55. brysons mommy, mcmack, midearthseeker ...

a buncha newbies

I am new here... and I am reading all these stories: everyone is so different!

And here is mine: I was an average child, with a raging sweet tooth. I am still an average woman, with a raging sweet tooth. It is rather embarrassing, really, but sometimes I would have a cookie, ice-cream and a candy bar and that's all I eat all day. Sometimes it is that, on the top of all kinds of other food.

My weight has varied between 110 and 132ish in the last ten years. Early twenties were all around 110, and in late twenties, closer to 132. I look the best at 120. I am at 126 now, and dance up and down depending on how disciplined I am about eating. I guess I work out all the time, and that has not been a problem since I discovered how much I enjoy moving my butt.

Sweets are the biggest problem, I don't really care about fries, cheese and all that other stuff. It's ALL about chocolate. And binging on it. I go without it for a week, and than go on all out binge for three days.

I don't really eat when I am stressed; I consume chocolate alone, it's almost a perverted pleasure. I think I have one of those addictive, no impulse-control personalities.

I am foreign, and all people from my lands consider me fat unless I am under 120lbs. But then again I stem from a crazy land. So technically, where I come from, I am fat. But the good thing is that plane ticks cost over $1,000, so I will not be visiting my homeland soon.

So that's the story. I just want to be a sane, controlled eater, one that does not have to indulge in anything and be happy.

That's funny, I'm your total opposite! I would gladly give up sweets, I hardly ever eat them. But salty stuff (including fries and cheese, haha) I just love!

Crazy world.

lalala123, if we could only swap obsessions! But keep what we like the same.

zEdit ....

Some days I crave sweets, some days it's salt .... We're all different which makes it very interesting to hear other people stories...

I lost the first 12 pounds over the last 6 months for health reasons (pain from arthritis). Did it by decreasing portion size, eating healthy food, and exercising (go figure!). Dropped two pants sizes. Have 11 more pounds to go to what I believe is my goal weight. In need of moral support to keep this up.

get fit in ky

Thanks! I'm debating between 60 minutes on the Nordic Tack and shoveling snow. Of course it will melt in two days, but it's a different type of workout than my body is used to and "they say" to keep changing it up!

"They" are absolutely right, it's good to change your workouts and your eating habits too... Snow in KY? REally? ... We had a whack of it in the last 2 days ... Some snow banks are like 8 feet tall ....

Throughout my childhood I was overweight, but after I left school my weight really shot up. I have spent the past year dieting, so much so it no longer really feels like a diet!I now have a 'healthy' bmi but i still feel quite bulky, i am just trying to slim down to feel more attractive (so shallow!)

Edit: P.S. I'm new here

Hi featherweights.

I'm actually pretty bummed at the moment after having eaten too much Easter candy. I was supposed to control myself!

Anyway, I'm a 36-year-old mom with two little ones. I'm a stay-at-home mom (so the kitchen is never far away )

In some ways, my story is a happy one, and in some ways..not so much.
I started getting chubby at about 6 years old. I remember taking ballet, tap, jazz lessons, and I remember feeling like I wasn't as cute as the other girls with their flat bellies and slim legs. I knew I was different. It's not hard to see how I got a little chubby. After I was too old for latch-key, I would go home after school and eat everything in the house until my mom got home from work late. My MO: watching Diff'rent Strokes and Facts of Life while going through box after box of Cheez-Its. My mom rarely cooked, and when she did, it was usually something like a thick, greasy, tater-tot hotdish. She would take me to McDonalds all the time, too, and order me TWO Big Macs, fries, and a Coke. It was her way of pampering me and showing me love when she couldn't really do it in the right way. It gets more complicated too, with some child molestation things that went down -- all just close calls, but too close for anything near comfort -- and I think subconscioulsly she was trying to bulk me up and de-cutify me. She cut all my long pretty hair off at the time, too. I mean, she cut it realllly short.

But, like a lot of girls, I was a lot heavier in my mind than in reality. I probably carried at most 5 pounds "too much" until about the age of 17 (also enter at that time dabblement in bulimia , which still rears it ugly head occasionally). Then 5 pounds too much turned into 15 pounds too much by the end of college. Lots of beer.

Then I went to grad school and stuffed my face. I studied constantly, was constantly stressed out, and never thought I had the time to exercise.

By my late twenties, I got up to about 170, a good 30 pounds more than I wanted to be, at least. Thing is, I was young, and everything was pretty darn firm. Big, but tight.

Then I had my little ones. Gained gargantuan amounts of weight with both pregnancies. Minor ups and downs, but the upshot was, I was shopping plus-sized, and that stretched-out post-pregnancy skin couldn't hold a thing in. I just couldn't look in the mirror. Nooks and crannies all over the place. No longer bootylicious. Celluliticious. No Beyonce song for that one.

A couple of times in the past I tried Jenny Craig, but I couldn't deal with the food for long.

Then, finally, about 3 years ago, I decided I had to do it myself. I started eating less, but the hugest change was that I started exercising like a fiend. I got an elliptical machine, set up my TV and tivo right in front of it, and I go to town on it, even if I don't get a chance until 11 o'clock at night. I only let myself watch tv when I'm exercising (the best, most motivational thing being The Biggest Loser!!!) I got down to my current 135. (okay, 137 this morning). I got a bodybugg, too, which when I pair it with calorie counting, is the right formula for me. Now I just have to stop cheating on bad Easter candy. Did I really eat one of those Peeps????? Argh! I'm a 100% emotional eater. Food=love. Food=comfort.

I love love love the featherweights forum!
I feel like with some support, I can finally lose these super super annoying last few pounds. For once in my life, I want to look gooooood. I would love to get my thighs in a pair of designer jeans and like the view of the back. And I want to look good naked, too, come on, for once! Or, perhaps more important to me, for once in my life, I want to be in control of my food and my body.

--Lizzard

First, I'd like to say how great it is to find this forum since I've never participated in anything like this

As for my story, for almost five years now I keep gaining & losing the dreaded 15 pounds and sometimes even more. I must admit, I have resorted to unhealthy ways but it always creeps back up. Last year, I gained it all again, was completely out of shape and was constantly tired. This year I decided to really keep my new years resolution and not only lose the weight, but maintain it and live a much healthier lifestyle. So far I've lost almost half but I'm also focusing on a healthier lifestyle (including switching for much healthier foods & getting more exercise in my daily activities). I hope I can achieve this!