Ok, think of it this way: The scale is like an honest friend who will tell you the truth for your own good. The scale doesn't mean to hurt my feelings. It keeps me from lying to myself and going around in a fog thinking everything is OK...when it is not.

Example: I felt guilty this AM (party last night) and so pretended I had no scale (ha ha...very funny.) I went to the kitchen, drank coffee, ate breakfast, had a glass of water... probably a pound or so taken on board.

Then, I sat and felt guilty. Ugh, I thought: "Can't weigh now, I'll be up from eating breakfast." Then I got on 3 FC and started reading other people's stories. I felt worse... At that point, I stripped off my clothes and ran to the scale. "How bad is it?" 148! Huh? Barely up 1 pound.

I think I was carrying 10 pounds of guilt til I weighed. Now, I'm OK!

Hi Everyone,

I joined this site this evening. I'm at 180 lbs, 5'6" on a medium frame. My goal weight is 150 lbs., when I get there I'll decide if I want to lose more.

I've always struggled with my weight and I haven't been able to commit to a diet/exercise for very long. I'm currently at my highest weight ever and I feel awful. It's time for me to do something about it and this community seems to be so inspiring!

I truly belong here now.

What's my story? Well, my story is a long and hard-fought battle with self image more than anything else. I have weighed between 110-160 pounds since 7th grade (I'm now 25). I have never been happy with how I looked.

But that has changed. I've come to peace with my build and my frame. Now I am in the process of losing the rest of my weight until I get to the point where I look the best I can look.

I know that I have a larger frame for someone who is short; heck, my head is even super big for my body. I have a long torso and short little legs (even though my calves and thighs are sculpted and awesome looking, tummy flab aside). I know that my shoulders are broad and my chest is large, which helps (melons, DISTRACT!) and hurts (why does this dress zip up until my chest and my button-ups always pop out? why? why? why?)

Knowing this I am committed to a new sense of life. When I look good, I will be satisfied. I will stop trying to be something I am not (a skinny little minnie) and flaunt what I got (rockin hips, bust, legs and butt) and de-stress about the rest.

I thought i was here for pure vanity, i really want to be the 'it' girl this summer. i feel that i have really let myself go at 128, its too close to 130 for me.ive always been told i have a beautiful face but never the body to truly match it. my back and joints have been bothering me lately and sometimes i feel like i move like an 80 year old!not cool because i am only 23, i'm slowly starting to realize that this whole fitness thing isn't just to be vain (tho i do want to look bomb in my 2 piece!) but for health reasons too. i worked out last week for the first time in too long and it has been the only thing that has worked to relieve my back pain. i want to work out to live longer and give my body the Much needed attention it deserves!

I'm a Junior in college, and finally decided I needed a change. I've struggled with weight from an early age, and dieted frequently when I was younger and uninformed. In 9th grade, my eating habits turned unhealthy. Luckily, I stopped before it turned harmful, but after that, I started packing on the pounds. I had on/off moments of being chubby/healthy in high school, fluctuating around 115-130 pounds. I would lose weight and gain it back.

It happened again after freshman year of college. I was in great shape (a new look for the new school year), but moving to college and being independent really took a toll on my body. I always went out, didn't make time to work out, and often had seconds. The weight piled on an on. I finally decided to consistently do something about it this summer. After realizing that my favorite pair of EXPENSIVE jeans could no longer be pulled up my thighs, I saw a problem and I'm here to fix it. I'm still sociable, but I am a bit shyer towards guys now, when I used to be confident. I want that back.

I'm started at my heaviest weight ever, and I'm looking to get back into shape and feel better about myself.

I'm 25 going on 26 this month, and I finally decided the way I handle food is not good. That if I keep it up, I'm gonna be an obese 30-something. I was a very skinny kid. And then when I hit puberty I gained about 10lbs in a short time. I right away ended up with stretch marks and ever since I've been gaining and loosing between 10 and 30lbs. Haven't been happy about my weight the past 10 years except for once in 2007. After a break up I went from 154 to 130 in a few months. Ofcourse, it was the unhealthy way. But I remember how great I felt. I've gone up to 154 again (it is my limit, and I seem to be able to not go over it so far). The last few years I just never was able to go to the gym because of health issues (nothing major) and I ended up convinced that it's never going to happen. BUT! Here I am.

I know that I can do it now, after reading all the stories on here, but also after going to the gym this past month and learning that I'm not the worst ever at it, I feel motivated. I also know that telling myself to watch what I eat and meantime not going to the gym doesnt work. I need the combination - knowing that I pained myself in the gym just to burn 300cal will keep me from eating that 450cal bag of chips.

AND - I'm the kind of person that always sees a reason to not do something 'right' just yet, because first this and that has to be in the right place, and I need money to buy more fruits, I need time to go hike for a day, I need bladiebla to be able to do right by myself. Well, that's done with too. I need to just do it. Nike style.

My story started 4 years ago after my mom died of cancer. I was always "skinny fat". Thin but with a high percentage of body fat, not toned and kind of frumpy. It got worse after my second son was born. I was a so-so eater and sporadic exerciser at best, lol. Once my mom passed away, I made myself a vow that I would get fit and healthy - once and for all. I didn't want what happened to her to happen to me. She was thin but very unfit. Plus, the number 40 was looming so I wanted to turn 40 and be in the very best shape of my life too.

I started with Pilates then weight training and finally added running to the mix - (a few months ago) all over the course of the past four years. I cleaned up my diet and really got serious about it like six months ago. I never thought at my age (39) that I'd have a body fat that was considered athletic and a more fit and toned body than I had before kids. I guess all that stuff I went through seeing my mom waste away from terminal cancer wasn't in vain after all.

My journey has been long and arduous at times, fraught with starts and stops. I did it all on my own without a gym or personal trainer. Basically in my basement in the winter and the outdoors in the summer, lol. I've always struggled with a poor body image because of my lack of muscle tone and boyish figure. Yet the more the weight fell off, the more toned I became, I actually liked what I saw in the mirror - for the first time ever! I couldn't always say that. Quite a revelation for someone my age.

I still have a little ways to go but when I turn 40 this November, I'll be better than before, hopefully. I want to be 40, fit and FABULOUS.

I've just turned 20 and I'm going into my final year at university in September. Every exam period at university I have piled on the pounds, due to a combination of sitting down revising all day and eating lots of chocolate and takeaway foods. NOT GOOD. I used to love to go out clubbing in my first year, but I've barely gone out this year mainly because I just don't feel confident enough. It's not that I'm ashamed of myself but I just feel chubby. Half of what most girls like about going out is buying new clothes and doing my hair and make up nice... but it all seemed a bit pointless when I started to feel fat.

I want to go out and feel confident about how I look. I'm only 20, tbh the idea of being 20 and opting to stay in so I don't have to have photos taken with my thin lovely friends is ridiculous. So I have this summer to sort myself out. I want to go back to uni a new me and wear all these fashionable clothes that I spend hours online looking at but never buying.

And I'm GOING to do it. And I can't wait for the shocked faces at uni when I go back at least a stone lighter. That is my motivation.

I was skinny as a kid, and "skinny fat" as a young woman. I probably was between 102-107 pounds until about 1999. I've NEVER been athletic or active, always preferring a sedentary lifestyle.

When I was in college, I used to drive four blocks to the local Mexican restaurant and eat a huge burrito with a side of cheese fries. That pretty much sums up my entire philosophy toward food and physical activity for most of my life.

Then DH and I started dating, and a steady diet of "man portions" plus dining out plus inactivity led to slow and steady weight gain. I was about 115 pounds when I got pregnant with my first kid. I fluctuated with my weight a bit for the next couple of years. Got pregnant again. A few months after my second kid was born, I was at an all time high of 129.

I realize 129 may not sound like much to some people, but I am very short--just 5'0". So that extra weight is VERY noticeable on me.

I've started working at trying to get back down to a slimmer size, but I am also trying to discover a love for physical activity. It doesn't come easily to me, but I'm working on it.

I'm so glad this thread is still going on from 2008! That was my first year of college and I just graduated. Shows that life is a marathon and not a sprint. We have every day to make our lives better.

I'm trying to be more active on this site. I read a lot of posts but rarley say anything so here I am and here is my story.

The first time I ever thought about weight really was in middle school. I was so so skinny and all muscle. I worked out about fifteen hours a week, did martial arts and even taught tae kwon do. I was (and maybe somewhere still am) about as tough and active as they come. But I wanted to be prettier, as I was not a cool kid and every one of the really pretty popular girls seemed to be on a diet and very concerned with what they ate and it just seemed to cool adult thing to do. When you're cool and grown up, you worry about your weight. or at least it seemed that way. So I struggled with my body perception for a while, living on candy and crap food ( I rarely eat sugar now but was a complete sugar addict-for years and years it seriously made up about 75 percent of my diet).

In high school I fell 'in love' with a cool kid that seemed to really dig me too. It was the first time ever someone liked me back. But it fizzled out very quickly and I put on about 15-30 pounds. Food was my only comfort. I'd come home from school and eat and eat anything I could get my hands on. Or there were the days I was so disgusted with myself I would eat an apple all day while still being a fitness freak. I almost passed out in a class once and my martial arts instructor took me out of the class and made me eat something. After a while I discovered vomiting up my food after a binge as some of my friends were doing it too. This took me through high school and the beginnings of college.

In college my eating was out of control. I would eat healthy foods but enormous portions of it until I was about to bust. In the dining hall I would eat sometimes five portions of food and huge amounts of waffles, cookies, and frozen yogurt. I would count calories but the numbers would be so out of control I couldn't look at them. I would eat good for half a day and then when night rolled around I would eat gobs of sugar until I felt sick. On the other hand I did recover from Bulimia. I stopped throwing up resolving that gainging weight and bingeing was at least better than bingeing and making myself throw up. I decided the only way I would get better was to stop throwing up, so that I would actually have to deal with my own nutrition.

As a side note: In late high school and college I discovered alcohol and I began to abuse it too. Alcohol made me puffy and balloon up another thirty or so pounds as well as putting me in awful circumstances, lost my friends, and most of my self esteem. Life was going down down down. Fortunately a year and a half ago I gave up alcohol through counselors and group support and got sober. And of course, I replaced alcohol with sleeves of cookies!!! It wasn't until this summer I decided it was time to take more of my life back and start eating right and exercising. I weaned myself off of white flour and sugar for thirty days after trying to give it up for years and stuck with it. I currently will have dark chocolate in moderation and sprouted bread but that's about it in the junk food arena. I try to keep my calories around 1600 a day but sometimes go a little lower or a few hundred higher than that. It's still lower than my other average of 2500-3000 calories a day! I also started running again as well as doing yoga to try to center my mind and get back into uber shape!!!

I've been on my fitness journey for about a month now and struggle hard core with motivating myself and not getting too obsessive about losing weight. For me, it's not about that anymore. It's about doing what makes me feel good and alive and making everyday better than the previous one. I am happier and happier everyday and while I still slip up, my new normal is healthier and healthier. Even a 'bad day' now is better than a good day then. I hope I will always have this resolve and I am inspired by the women and men on this forum every single day. I look forward to reading posts here every morning and night and I wish every one of you the best of luck. We can do this!!!!

This thread has been going on a long time!

I was always very athletic as a teenager, and ate whatever I wanted. I preferred real food to sweets, but oil, fried food and meat were all part of what I ate, and it didn't seem to affect me. I used to make fun of all the girls that went on diets. Then I had my first child. I was left with 10 pounds and it didn't bother me too much. Then I had my second child and although I lost most of the weight I gained, I was up 15 pounds from my younger years.
I have had four children altogether, and although I always drop most of the weight, I get stuck at 150 (my goal is 135 and I am 5"7). After my fourth I decided that I was going to lose it all. I joined WW when my baby was four months old and quickly lost 30 pounds and got stuck at... 150 - for 7 months. It wasn't because the diet wasn't working, but because I was being lazy. So two weeks ago I decided I was going to lose it. I joined this site for some extra support and started a blog which has helped me TREMENDOUSLY.
It's called thelastfifteen.com and since I began blogging I have lost almost three pounds! I'm at 147.5 and am looking forward to seeing the scale hit 135

Hi feathers!

I have been within 10 lbs of my goal weight every day for two weeks now so I figured I would come out of hiding on this forum.

I have always been on the stocky/overweight side but I never felt too bad about it or wanted to change until about 9 months ago. I got married in May 2010 and gained about 20 pounds of "love weight" over the next few months, going from the low 150s to 172.6 lbs. One day in November 2010 I just got fed up and decided to change.

I started out by just calorie counting, but I read a few nutrition/diet books and after winter break decided I would go low-carb. It has worked out SO WELL for me. I've been following The Belly Fat Cure, which is a low-sugar, moderate-carb (<120 g/day) diet. I'm now at a lower weight than I was for basically all of high school and college and I feel wonderful!

I have about 7 lbs to go until my stated goal weight of 125 lbs. I'll re-evaluate as I go along but I think I might switch to a fitness goal at that point instead of a weight goal. I have been concentrating more on working out (jogging, weight-lifting, and tennis) recently so I'm hoping to build a little muscle, too.

Hello fellow featherweights! I've been lurking on 3fatchicks for months now, reading your stories and getting eating and exercising tips where I can. I'm so glad I've finally decided to register; hopefully, this'll help me to blast through those last 20lbs I want to lose!

Some facts about me:

Age: Turning 21 in October!
Gender: Female
Current weight: 154lbs
Goal weight: 132lbs

My highest weight was somewhere around 237 lbs (107.5kg, since I live in Australia). For my height of 5'5.7" (167cm...hope my iPad converter is working properly ), that placed me firmly in the "obese" territory, BMI-wise. I've always been overweight, possibly obese, but up until March last year, I'd never felt the desire to lose weight. Maybe I was in denial, or merely defiant against being told to lose weight by people (even complete strangers!) my whole life.

How did I get so heavy? I guess it's because I've always been a major foodie. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, because I figured that since I was fat already, I might as well enjoy myself. I mean, it wasn't like an extra few slices of cheesecake were going to do much more to my ample frame, no? Thing was, at the tender age of 18 years my health was already starting to deteriorate - hypertension, sleep apnea, joint pain, acid reflux, heart palpitations etc. And these EXPLOSIVE nose bleeds that would happen frequently and go on forever

In March last year, an inflammatory remark regarding my weight saw me lose almost 90lbs through a strict, low-calorie diet (around 800 cals/day) and rigorous exercising (once I was light enough to move without pain). I'm quite lucky in that I lose weight quite easily...provided that I put in the work.

Once I got to around 146lbs, I kinda just...let myself go. I still watched what I ate, but allowed myself a lot of sweet treats, and eased up on the exercise front. Don't get me wrong; I haven't gone back to my former lifestyle. I'm still very fit (recently completed a 14km race). It's the EATING that I seem to have lost control over.

I've been gaining and losing the same 10lbs since January this year. This morning, when I went to get dressed for work, I discovered that NONE of my cotton shirts button up properly anymore. And the beautiful, authentic vintage dress I bought a few month ago barely zips up halfway.

It's time to get serious, and shed those last 20lbs for good! I'm so grateful that there is such a wonderful support network here, of like-minded people who are determined to reach their goals. Looking forward to chatting with you all!

I'm new here and have joined in the hopes of getting some support/movtivation as I try to lose my last 13 lbs.

I can remember hating my body from a ridicoulously young age (4th grade??) and I've struggled with my weight ever since. My body image is probably a bigger problem for me than my actual weight, but I would like to see if I actually REACHED a goal for once if I could feel ok about my body.

I've recently relocated with my husband and I'm having a hard time getting me and my daughter adjusted to a new area and also fitting in a workout routine. Hubby is feeling it too, as he has also gained a couple pounds I'm attributing it to stress at this point, but as we all know, ya can't just wait for the weight to disappear on its own after the stress is gone.

Additionally, it seems like ever since I hit 30 my metabolism has hit a wall and I'm having a hard time compensating for it without really, REALLY restricting my diet. I'm all for healthy eating, but I have a tendancy to go on epic binge episodes if I stay really restricted for too long.

So basically, I would like to adapt a healthy lifestyle and make maintainable changes as opposed to crash dieting, which worked for me in my younger days, but now............Not so much. Also, I would like to set a positive example for my little girl in terms of health and exercise. I don't want her to feel bad about herself like I did as a child.

Anyhow, that's my story in a nutshell. Thanks for taking time to read

I found 3FC a few days ago when I was looking for information about Ideal Protein. I've never been over weight nor very small and I was ok with that. But now my belly seems bigger and when it sit down, it pops out... That makes me feel unconfortable and not to sexy. Since I can't also be standing to flatten my belly, I decided to loose weigth.

I can't afford IP, but I'm still doing a high protein diet. Of course I've cut the sugar out of my diet.

For my first week, I've lost a few pounds already, mostly water I suppose. I ought to that some measurements to track the progess.

I enjoy the support and the info I find here. I'm alse very encouraged by your succes stories and your determination !!!