[Irysbleu]

Hello there. My name is Deeja and I weigh 175 pounds. I use to weigh 120 or so...maybe a little less seeing as I could fit into size 0 pants. That was when I was 16. When I got together with my boyfriend he use to shower me with treats and snacks. The issue is...I am half black and half Italian. Big hips and tummies are a thing in my family and I never expected it to happen to me. In just two years I was at 130. Now that I am 24, I currently weigh 175. I have a new boyfriend and what worries me is my weight. He use to date only really thin girls. Girls who looked like me.

The thing is...I fear he will feel grossed out soon and leave me. No I am not doing it for him. I suffer from depression and anxiety and extremely low self esteem. I don't even look at myself in the mirror anymore. I want to be at least 130-140 again with muscle this time instead of just skin and bones...maybe a bit less. I currently go to anime conventions and dress up quite often but lately I haven't been doing that which I love because of my fear of being laughed at for my weight.

My sister is a year older than me and she weighs 125 and is working on muscle. She looks amazing and is trying to help me reach my goal. I usually snack often. If I hate the way I look, I will eat. Its a vicious cycle. My boyfriend is supportive and helps me eat better foods and I am working out more often now. I hope to be a smaller size...maybe hit my goal by june. I just don't know where to start for food and meals. Any advice would be great.

[Jacqui_D]

Hi Deeja! A good place to start here is looking in the Diet Central section. There are all kinds of different weight loss plans described there. Everyone is different so what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, so you may have to experiment a little to see what works best for you. As for me, I am on a modified version of Tim Ferriss' Four-Hour Body Slow Carb Diet. Here is a thread that describes what I'm doing: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/othe...carb-diet.html. It's a low-carb diet for 6 days with a cheat day when you can eat anything and everything you want on the 7th day. It's good for someone whose hunger is triggered by carbs (breads, pasta, potatoes, sweets) and needs to cut back on them but who doesn't have a problem with binge eating (because a cheat day could trigger that). Anyway, there are lots of good plans to choose from. You just need to learn a little about them and see what you think suits you best, then start! Good to have you here! Good luck!

[Mountain Mamma]

Deeja!!!

As the other poster said, have a look around - there's so many tips & plans here and the support is excellent.

Just take it one day at a time!

[Selina]

Hi! I am also 24. I completely understand how you feel. I was 172 pounds at my heaviest and I'm 5'3''.
The great thing is that you're determined to shed the weight.

What worked for me was calorie counting and exercising three times a week. Zumba was my cardio blessing.
I was also depressed for a year, but then I just decided to get well and being focused on my goal worked. Now I'm back on my regimen and I have 10 more pounds to lose to be in the 130-140 pounds zone.
I believe in you and if you want to talk, PM me.

[Mara]

Welcome!

[Irysbleu]

Thanks guys and congrats Selina. I currently run on a treadmill for 30 mins a day...I've been eating right and exercising since January 1st and just working out non stop on different parts of my body. I took one break day so far and am back to working out. I think I can lose a lot by june but im sooo impatient and I know I wont see results right away but that's what ruined my last work out. I stopped because I didn't see any results in a month. Im so scared I will stop and get lazy again.

[Selina]

Well, don't overdo it at first because then you'll really get bored soon. Start working out three times a week for 45 minutes and then gradually do more as you go along. Increase the intensity and the length of your workouts. That will help you in case you reach a plateau.
It took me three months to start seeing results, but the good thing is that I was able to keep the weight off all this time and now I can just restart my weight loss. It takes time, but it's worth it.