I figure the best thing to do is to just jump in and say hello. I am Sarah Jayne and I am a 30 year old American that has been living in the UK since 1996. I now have dual citizenship.

I was made a widow at the age of 27 when my husband died from a heart attack when he was 45 years old. I have always been very overweight (well by always I mean since I was at least 10) but this was my major wake up call.

I have polyscystic ovaries and due partially to that I have found it really hard to lose weight. However, after my husband died I decided I had to do everything I could to drop some weight. So, I went to the doctor and I am now getting help.

I am on a low fat diet that is assisted by Xenical. I really find that Xenical is more like training wheels than actually losing weight for me because I still have to count all my fat grams and calories and exercise.

I have been on that for a bit over a year and have gone from 309lbs to 261lbs but I feel I need a bit more motivation because I know I bore the people around me by focusing (obsessing?) about my new eating style. So, hopefully, having other people to chat to about these topics will keep me going as the the weight loss inches a long.

So..hello!

Hey SarahJayne, welcome to the forum! I'm pretty new here myself, but already I am finding a lot of support, ideas, and encouragement here.

I know what you mean about boring friends/family with a weight loss "obsession". The thing is, before I committed to losing weight, I was also obsessed with food, but I was obsessed with eating everything I wanted, binging, and being miserable about how I looked and felt... so I figure now I am just channelling my obsession in a more healthy direction!

Hi Sarah Jayne

This is a wonderfully supportive site, and you'll make new friends quickly by posting often - we're all a little bit obsessive here!

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss - you are absolutely able to do this - we all are.

Let us know what kind of diet you're following, what you eat, and if you exercise - and hope to see a lot of you on these boards!!

Heather

Welcome SarahJayne

So sorry to hear about your lose.
Glad you decided to join us. Don't worry about sounding obsessed. I think we're all a little like that. I know the people around me are tired of hearing about it as well.
Best of luck to you and congrats on what you have accomplished thus far.

Thank you

Essentially, I have been following the requirements for being on Xenical in the UK. That means staying under 40 grams of fat a day. That worked for a bit but then I decided to count calories on top of that because I figured out that I could have much under 40grams and still have a heck of a lot of calories (ie pasta has a low fat to calorie ratio). So, my weight stalled a bit and then I started to count calories to make sure I stay within 2000 calories. If I do the under 2000 calories and 40 grams of fat combo I keep things moving - even if it is slowly.

Due to having to watch fat I am eating a lot of vegetarian meals these days and learning to enjoy different kinds of beans and stuff.

As far as exercise goes..I need to do a lot more. I have been going for a half hour walk most mornings but I need to kick it up to help move along this weight.