Hi everyone,

I just joined the website today. I'm a senior in college and looking to loose about 18lbs. I'm at the highest weight I've ever been. I wouldn't necessarily call myself "overweight" but I also know that I could be much healthier. I sometimes binge eat or emotionally eat in response to stress and depression. I've used it as a coping mechanism in college for several years now and it's lead to my slow, but stead creep up on the scale. I also had a very busy fall semester and let my exercise routine go almost completely. These days, I feel kind of uncomfortable in my own skin. I feel "fluffy" and soft. I want to feel sleek and trim. I'm looking to feel strong, healthy, and confident again.

Hello everyone....my story is the story of many other women in their forties. I was a skinny kid and teen..even thin through my twenties. After my first baby all that started to change. My weight has fluctuated over the years. I've been as small as a size four and as big as a size 14. I have a small frame and need to be at a certain weight to look and feel good. I'm not a big girl now by any means but I'm not at the standard that I keep for myself. So happy to have found a forum for others that don't have a ton of weight to lose but need and want to lose them nonetheless. I often feel that I'm judged by others when I talk about my weight issues.
I'm 43 and a busy mom of two kids. Here's the clincher: I am a fitness instructor, I teach Zumba and before that taught another dance fitness program. So yes, even someone that works out constantly can have issues getting the last ten lbs off. '

My goal is to lose ten lbs by March. In the past the only diet that really worked for me was Atkins so I may start doing a modified version of that (I need carbs in order to have enough e nergy for my worksouts).

I look forward to meeting others on here. Thank you for listening.

Hey FW gang.

I have, like the rest of you, a lifetime of weight-loss angst. As the general story goes, it started in puberty, and it contains a lot more anguish than actual weight-loss.

I have never been "fat" but certainly never been "skinny". I was a competitive athlete in high school, but I remember crying to my mother in high school about how I thought I was fat in comparison to my classmates. I found peace in college with my body, but gained a lot of weight working 2 jobs after college and trying to get into medical school.

My first encounter with weight loss was when I was 25 years old and I wanted to lose 17 pounds after finally taking my entrance exams. In a year, with many ups and downs, lots of working out, and counting calories as much as I could, I lost 12 and was 125lbs for 2 years after that. In the last 2 years of med school I gained 5 extra pounds, and without any weight loss started intern year. Now, 1.5 years into my sleep-deprived indentured servitude, I find myself at 140 pounds, stretching the seams of the jeans I own, wearing scrubs instead of clothes to hide my body, and feeling horrible.

I've lost the same 4-5 pounds twice in the past year in an attempt to start myself on a weight-loss journey, and am here again to find the strength to do it again!

I am on vacation now, with some time to do a lot of working out and activity. Although I am not having an easy time eating well with all the holiday food about (and going out to eat!), but my target is to lose that first 5 pounds again before the next rotation starts in mid jan!

Hi fellow featherweights. I have 30 lbs to lose and hope to be losing 6 lbs per month (1.5 per week) using healthy eating and consistent exercise. Hopeful that with the on line support of this great group of people I can stay focused and motivated. Good luck to all of us!

Hi featherweights!

I'm brand spanking new here even though I've been cruising the forums for a while. It took me a bit to stumble across the Featherweights forum, which is exactly where I am right now. I've always hovered around 125, though I've always played sports and have been physically active. I moved out of the US a few months ago, and have for several reasons shot up to 134! Some of the challenges I now face are not being able to walk to work (or to the grocery store, etc) due to the layout of the city, few exercise opportunities, and a highly fatty local cuisine combined with a culture that finds not taking second or thirds highly offensive.

I've finally managed to knock off 2 lbs in the past week so I'm at 132, but I really need to get back at least 125 where I used to be. 120 would be great, but I've always had an athletic build and... shall we say robust?.. boobs so I don't know if that is feasible or healthy. Anyone have a similar experiences with this body type?

Look forward to being involved in this community

Yur stories are incredible and there is a part of mine in each of yours. I symphatize with all of you because I have been thee too and struggled with my weight all my life. This Latino gal has found comfort in the 3 F's (food/family/friends) all my life. Having played soccer for 30 years has left me with bad knees, back and neck and my 5 ft. 4 frame feels each of those extra pounds. All my life, the people around me have said that I look great but I have never felt it. At my heaviest, I was 148 and my goal is to loose the last 20 lbs. I feel and look better at around 128 or so. I am in my 135's right now and trying to motivate myself to reach my goal of 128. I eat healthy but find it hard to stay on any type of diet for longer than 2 weeks. I do much better at lower carbs and higher proteins. I am looking forward to meeting new friends with the same struggle and working together while motivating each other. I turned 60 this year and really want to succeed!

Hello all of you beautiful women,

I read through some of the previous posts and some of them really reminded me of myself, which is rather comforting.

Here's my story...I was a somewhat tall and skinny kid till I started junior high. I had moved to another state to live with my aunt and uncle and cousins. I discovered Milano cookies. I could eat an entire package by myself (kind of small cookies so it was easy to do) I guess it was emotional eating. I don't remember how, but I lost weight and gained a lot more friends, though I don't remember which happened first.

Then I moved back to live with my mom and grandparents. I started gaining weight again in 8th grade and went up to about 140 and I was kind of self conscious about my weight. In high school I didn't weight myself too often, but I think from 125 to 130.

I started losing weight in college (the opposite of most people) because I started working as a waitress and got more exercise than I used to. I got married and wasn't working or exercising much and we went out to eat a lot so I the pants kept getting tighter and tighter and I finally decided enough was enough. I started working out for the first time in my life and then started watching what I ate (not too hard core, but no more cheese enchiladas once a week!).

Fast forward a few years, got divorced, graduated from college, weighed about 117. Fast forward once again to 1 year ago, I had gotten to about 122. I was still exercising regularly, but I would sometimes binge eat (usually bread). For the first time I started counting calories and got a food scale. I lost the weight I wanted, but got a little too rigid and was working out and working at a somewhat physical job and lost too much weight! I was about 106 pounds. Before I realized it I was so thin that I was beginning to look sick. This is getting rather long so I'll try to wrap it up. I am currently about 117 or 118. I have slowly gained, which in itself is not a bad thing, but I've been binge eating. At first it was okay because I needed and wanted to gain weight and actually get some JOY out of eating instead of always restricting myself. Now I feel like its getting out of control. Sometimes I just feel this COMPULSION to eat bread, cereal, pbj sandwiches. I think I had deprived myself of sugar for so long and now I've over done it and maybe I'm addicted to sugar...?
I want to get back to 113 or 114. I just have to find some kind of balance and way to overcome this compulsive sugar/carb binging. It's just so embarrassing for me when my boyfriend (who has like 0 percent body fat and weighs 125 pounds of pure muscle) comes home and all the cereal and milk are gone and I have to explain where it went. I swear its insane, I feel ridiculous and like I'm some kind of crack addict.
I'm thinking of cutting out all sugar again (which sucks since I don't want to go back to being a calorie ****!), but I'm just soooo ready to be done with feeling powerless and out of control. I feel like I can't talk to anyone about it because they will just dismiss me and go "oh you are so skinny!" I know I'm not "overweight", but this binging needs to stop NOW. >_<
Hopefully at least one of you understands how I feel (well, not that I wish this on any one of you!)

I understand! I weigh a bit more than you but knowing that the few pounds I have gained have all been from sugar and carbs is really upsetting. It's not about the number so much as it is feeling like you are out of control and constantly craving sugar like an addict.

Where there's a will there's a way, but I find that my binging is much less severe if I just purge my house of all "bingeable" foods. If I had cereal at home I imagine it would last me like two days. If you're living with your boyfriend, can you negotiate some kind of "no bingeable junk" rule and see if he can keep it in his car or something?

I'm in the throes of the vicious cycle of carb craving/binging myself and it's awful. I definitely understand where you're at.

Hi Krampus,

Hey, you're Japanese? I'm a Japanese/Eng translator, small world! haha
We also have pretty much the same goal weight.
Anyway, after I made this post I was researching sugar addiction online a little bit.
I wish I could just not have those bingeable foods, but I feel like my boyfriend (who is Japanese and has never had a weight problem in his life other than maybe having too little body fat) would think "why can't you just control yourself?". When I bring up gaining weight he says "I can't tell, just eat what you want and don't worry about it". I really hate those kind of glib responses you get from someone that doesn't understand at all.
Anyway, instead of putting sugar in my oatmeal I put half a chopped up apple and nuked it. I'm not gonna lie...not as good as sugar by a long shot, LOL. But, at least for today I'm going sugar and sweetener free.
I'm sure you understand the pressure to be thin when you're around all these tiny Japanese women even more so than I do. It seems like they can eat like a bird and be totally satisfied. Not fair!
Well, if you think it might help send me a message when you want to binge. I know its hard to pause and do anything else besides shovel in the carbs when you feel that compulsion, but maybe it will help, and I'm willing to try it!
<3

Hello Featherweights! I am new here. I spent about two hours reading through the forum last night and decided to join. Everyone seems very supportive.

I am 28 years old, 5'4, female. I was a bit chubby throughout childhood, and then got heavier when puberty hit. I was 5'4 in sixth grade, and my heaviest weight of my life was at this time - 140 lbs. I felt like a beast compared to most of the girls in my class who hadn't developed yet. I've struggled with crash dieting ever since.

I was 120 pounds when I turned 18, and have fluctuated from 110-125 since then. I find that I'm most comfortable at 110, and hope to get back to that and stay there. Currently I'm at 118. I am swearing off crash dieting forever. I know how to eat healthy. I've been a healthy vegan since I was 16, but I do need to work on exercising consistently and having a stable eating pattern- for me it tends to be all or nothing with quantity and categories of food.

My struggle is not the types of food I like to eat. I enjoy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc, and avoid refined foods most of the time. I have a hard time with consistency and moderation, and this is what I'll be working on.

I look forward to getting to know all of you!

-mari

Hi everyone,

While I have struggled with eating disorder issues, mostly my weight stems from eating terrible in college. I became a plump 175 as opposed to where I should be. I want to lose weight not by "dieting" but by learning to eat healthy and exercising on a regular basis (I'm still struggling with that, I have trouble getting my butt moving. Once I'm going, I'm happy, but it takes a lot...) I'm also in musical theater where most girls are thin and I'm under a lot of pressure to lose weight. So yeah, I want to be healthy and I'm hoping my weight will naturally follow.

OMG! Italy! What could be more fun!

Yes, I imagine you will get down to business with the diet when you get back. Although, I have known people who lost weight while in Europe. They put things together differently there and everything is fresh. Not so much "junk food."
My story: I have lost the same 20 or so pounds over and over. So, I seem to be on a diet at least once a year to get rid of holiday fat. My danger season begins with "the Witches"s Tea" (an annual party with friends) and rages on through Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines Day.

Then, the brakes go on. Usually, by the end of May, I am looking and feeling OK again. But, the last 3 years, I have been working on a book and a very large art project. I found myself sitting all day at the computer. I forgot all about exercise. At the end of that time, I had lost a lot of muscle (used to be a ski instructor) and the muscle was replaced by FAT!!!

So, at this point, I am trying to rebuild muscle and lose wt. Big job. Perhaps that is why it seems to be taking so long.

Wow, You and me both! My story is identical. Except, I now get to add loss of muscle from sitting at the computer.

I know that eating healthy works. I know if I stick consistenty to a healthy diet, I will lose weight. I just want to see those numbers go down faster. When I don't see that... I get frustrated and hungry. That's a "bad news" combination. Good luck. Please keep us posted.

jojo- it looks like your close to your goal, congrats! it really is frustrating when the numbers only creep down slowly. what's been working for you so far?

i was doing well calorie counting.. and then i stopped. i don't want to weight myself. in a few days i'll brave the scale again.

Hmmm....What's working? Only one thing works for me. I am on the Diet Center Diet. I got a copy of it back in the 80's and lost 40+ pounds. These days, there are no Diet Centers in my area; so I have no one to check my progress and encourage me.
So that is why I am here. For the checking and accountability. It matters a lot to me!
I think the Diet Ctr. Diet is almost identical to a Diabetic Diet. There is a book calledhe Diet Center Program by Ferguson. It appeals to me, because she includes a lot of info. about how weight loss works.
I am so confident with this, that I simply relax and just DO it.
Parties and events still tend to run me off the road a little bit; but I get better every year. At this point, 155 has become completely unacceptable to me. (I used to think it was OK.) I now realize I function better around 145 or less.
Thanks for asking. Wishing you the best results.