Hello! I'll knock the technical who/what/when/where/why stuff out first... My name is B. No, really, everyone actually calls me 'B'. I'm a 38 year old mom of two girls who gave up a semi-interesting job to move to europe almost a year ago in support of my husband's career. While I love it here, I also find myself hiding in my flat way too often, propped up in bed... pillows behind me, laptop in front of me... sound familiar anyone? I'm here because I've finally worked through my shame, guilt, rationalizations and fear of failure and come to realize that... hey, I'm just not happy with myself the way I am. And life's too short to be unhappy and not attempt to do anything about it.

And now, the rest of the story... I love where I live, love my family and, for the most part, love my life. But I do allow my size to keep me from doing things. I dread meeting new people, and up until a few months ago you would never have been able to get me to admit in an online setting the fact that I was overweight. But then there's no room left to discuss something so central to you... something that consumes so much of your time & energy... that pretty soon you end up feeling even more trapped by your circumstances that you were before. I also live in a country where the obesity rate is almost non-existent. In other words, there's an army of tall, thin germans and then stubby little ole me trying not to stick out like a sore thumb. I always wanted to be unique, but this was not what I had in mind when in my 20's I said I wanted to stand out in a crowd.

So here I am... praying I won't end up a 3fc statistic who enthusiastically posts once or twice only to vanish as January turns to February and the call of jelly donuts and elastic waistbands becomes to great to resist. Seriously, for those of you who've done this for months & years... how do you find and keep the motivation? Because staying motivated and on course, I think, is my biggest obstacle.

Good morning - I love your intro post. I see so much of myself in there as perhaps many of us here do. Kudos to you for moving to a strange new home and making it work for you and your family. Well done. Don't worry about giving up and disappearing, just worry about today; the next 10 minutes.

I know it sounds dramatic but for me - for the last two years- that is how I've lived and truthfully, I think it is how I will have to live the rest of my life.

I'll come looking for you if I don't see you around
T.

You took the first and biggest step and that was looking for help and encouragement and boy did you find it! Start looking for some threads that look interesting to you and subscribe. Then start posting! Talk to people...you are not alone.

Fantastic post!!! I already love, love, love having you here at 3fc. What a great addition you will be. You are astute, honest, witty and itelligent.

I have been overweight (obese, morbidly) for almost 20 years now. I'm 43. I finally, finally realized that this was A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH. And I'm finally choosing LIFE. Sounds dramatic, but thems the facts. I got myself into an ugly, ugly mess and now it's time to clean it up. I have 3 beautiful children and they need their mother. And though I was (am) gigantic they were only getting a very small portion of me. And it had to stop. And that's my motivation.

And please stop by the 100lb club over in the support groups forum. We have a thread there called "Our Daily Commitments" I think you'll like it much. As well as so many other great threads and some wonderful, intelligent, supportive women.

Good luck to you. This is so very doable, with determination, commitment and at times a bit of obsession. You can do this. I look forward to hearing much from you in the year 2007. Bye, for now

P.S. And may I add one teeny, tiny suggestion - you have under your name "I Can Do This?" Why not change that question mark to an exclamation point. It just seems more positive. And I am positive you can do this. You should be too. I hope I didn't offend you, my goal was to help you and motivate you.

Welcome, mrs. sprat. I am new also. Found this site a couple of days ago. Look around and have fun. The people are great and helpful.
Good luck!!