Hi All!

I just stumbled across this site when I was looking for diet recipes and thought I would join for the support. I have never written in a forum but my boyfriend belongs to 3 and is always telling me I should do it to meet new people and get involved in interesting conversation. So here I am wanting to talk FAT!

I am 26 and have just reach my highest weight...207. Three years ago I was 150 and working out 5 times a week. And now I am here at 207 feeling awful about myself and very depressed about my weight. I have never been a thin girl but at least at 150 I felt very confident and comfortable in my skin. I was heavy all of high school and at 21 I started working out and got down to 150 from 175. I ask myself all the time what pushed me and I honestly can't remember.

All I know is now I want to make a change and learn to keep it off for longer than 3 years. My boyfriend lives in OK and I am here in CA and we are trying to lose weight together. We have gained weight I am sure from being apart this last year but in another year we will be back in CA together and want more than anything to have a healthy life together. We are active people who love the outdoors but more and more things are becoming harder to do.

I would like to make some friends here and hear some great stories on how everyone is losing weight. I love to cook and eat so some "good for you" recipes would be great! I wanted to go take a look at a new Gold's Gym that's opening...anyone a member? Hopefully I will join and get my butt in gear!

If I attached right....there is a pic of me before and how I look now.
Please cross your fingers I can get to the before AGAIN!

Hey there.. you look great in the 'before' AND the 'after'. Welcome to the board. I'm not much of a cook so I won't offer any recipes.. and as for how I am losing, I'm just trying to eat healthy and eat less, mainly, as well as get back into exercising.

You do look great in both! But, I can appreciate how one notices and is more critical of one's own body.

On another note..... to our little community! You will be able to find support, recipes, advice and stories all over the freakin' place here......

Holy cow ladies you have lost a lot of weight!! Let's see some before and afters. What did you two do? What did you eat? How much did you work out? Tell me how you started? What was your motivation?

My goodness, girl- you are too pretty! You should check out the Goal section. It's kind of interesting because we all did it different ways: varied atkins, raw, whole foods, Weight Watchers... All the colors of the rainbow are represented pretty much. I had a big wake up call in March of '04 and have been trying to perfect this maintaining business ever since. It is such a process and we all have to find what works best for us. I like to personally focus on raw and whole foods (but I LOVE to prepare and cook food!) and have found that staying active and keeping it interesting has been key to keeping it off for 2+ years. Oh, and this place is absolutely necessary! I didn't realize how much I needed a support system for this purpose specifically!

Soooo, welcome! And Charlotte (shrinking chica) is right- there are recipes and tips everywhere on here.

Hi GiovanniBubby, welcome to 3FC!! This is definitely a good place to come for support and to ask questions. Chances are, if you have a question, someone here can either help answer or at least point you in the right direction

Do you have a plan of attack? It's hard to say "I'm going to lose weight" without having something more concrete as a method behind it. Calorie counting? South Beach? Weight Watchers?

Well, welcome to the boards, hope to see you around!

Well I guess for me working out is something I have to do in order to lose. I eat pretty well but I don't move very much. I started reading the Bob Greene book The Best Life Diet...anyone read it? I have read phase one and am suppose to do it for 4 weeks before moving on. He has some interesting things to eat but not too much in the fitness category as of yet. As I said in my post I want to check out Gold's Gym but am worried about the high prices. Does anyone have a membership to a gym?

I found that when I lost weight before it was because I was going 5 times a week or doing 2 aerobic classes 3 times a week. Just seems like so much work to have to do for the rest of my life just to be a size 11/12...and that is why I quit going.

Anyone kept the weight off for longer than 2 years? What keeps you working out? How do you stay interested and not get bored?

I have a membership at the local YMCA. It was 200 dollars to start there for a family plan, and a 60 dollar pro-rated fee for membership. It's 66 dollars every month, and Melody & I go 5-6 times a week. Having a membership there & paying that much a month...in a weird way..motivates me to go & do my best to try to get this extra baggage off of me.

We have a gold's gym here, but I've heard that it sucks. Maybe it's just the one here though, who knows. lol.

Where is the Goal section? There are so many links here I am getting lost!! I like the 20 Something group cause I am well 20 something and I thought I could relate more to women my own age. But as far as venturing out I have only been to Introductions.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=199

Try that. You can also find it at the top of the main page of the Forums.

Hey Giovanni!
The plan that you should try and do is.......anything that works for YOU. Everyone is different and Jen (junebug) is right....everyone here does something a little different and so there are forums specific to atkins, ww, whole foods, ect.
For me, I just did my own thing-----ate less of the crap I was eating at first and progressed to eating less AND healthier. I don't exercise too regularly but, over the course of 2 1/2 years of losing I have spent spurts of concerted exercise which did contribute to my weight loss.

Pictures did you say? Here is a link to my "big pants" photo http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87610 and actually I have lost and additional 10lbs and dropped 1 dress size since this was taken. I am now a size 8!!
Here is another link http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...t=15563&page=3 to show the difference between my 272 and 172 weight. Since then I have dropped 29lbs.

Hey - I just recently rejoined this site. I tend to lurk more but reading everyone's posts really motivates me.
Anyway I have belonged to 3 different Gold's gyms around CA and love them. I always feel comfortable there and the staff seems a lot less pushy than at 24 hour fitness (at least in my experience!) I pay 29 a month and can use 5 different Gold's in the area... not too bad!

$29/month is pretty darn good! I haven't seen a single gym around here... They HAVE to exist... I don't want to go to campus rec because, well, the atmosphere is not terribly friendly unless you're already 110 lbs.

I just do my workouts at home, talking to the trainer on my TV like he's in the next room

They must just be those gyms that's in a cold, dark, musky room with one treadmill, a couple of exercise balls and a drinking fountain with names like "Larry's Gym" or something. They can be hard to find...

I too, have acquired a distaste for campus fitness centers over the past few years. Before, it was 100 lb gym bunnies and obnoxious frat boys. Now, it's all these scrawny boys who stand in front of the mirror and just stare at their "muscles" and a bunch of girls who look like they will beat me up.

So I was right to never venture near them............