Hi there,
I have just discovered this site tonight and have fallen in love with it! I am 27 years old and have struggled with my weight most of my life. I have weighed as much as 270 lbs in high school and as little as 175 lbs about 2 years ago. Within the past few years I have met the love of my life and have since steadily gained weight.....mostly stemming from the fact that we are now social butterflies and that I drink more than I used to. Not to mention the fact that I would rather stay at home with my man than go to the gym. Unfortunately, Brian works a very physical job and doesn't have the energy to go to the gym with me. I have yo-yo'd 15 lbs multiple times over the last year or so and am FED UP!!!

I am hoping to find that little extra push here, from all these amazing support groups. It would be great to find a few people that would like to chat regularly and weigh in weekly...to hold me accountable and to have a little extra support.

I am planning on weighing in every Monday morning, starting this Monday, and I hope to have some buddies to do this with.

Talk to you soon,

Melissa

Hi Melissa!

Welcome! What kind of diet do you like to follow? We have a good group on the Superfoods forum if that's your thing (it's pretty great... this morning I had an oatmeal muffin with dark chocolate melted on it!).

I completely know the feeling of wanting to stay home with a boyfriend who doesn't go to the gym rather than go myself. That was something I struggled with for a long time. I am now part of an outdoor group that meets at 6 am and that has been the only thing to ever make me wanna actually workout and leave my boyfriend in bed! When I come home afterwards and he's still sleeping I actually think to myself "wow, his loss!" hah. So just find something that excites you so much that you'll take that extra hour away from him for yourself- you deserve it! But make sure you enjoy it!

So, tell us more about yourself!

Hi Melissa!
I'm kind of in the same boat. My boyfriend was living in Sweden for a few months at which time I used to go to the gym very regularly and I was eating properly. He came home at Christmas for good and I have since put on 10 pounds thanks to our social eating and drinking! Not to mention that like you, I'd rather be with him than go to the gym. Yikes!!! Not good.
I've been up and down for the past while too and I really want to get things under control. I'm currently at 150 pounds and I'd like to get to around 120. I'm 28 years old and 5'2". I'm an avid rollerderby player and I love doing step and body pump classes at the gym, when I actually get my butt there!
Anyway, welcome, and if you're interested in a buddy to keep you accountable, feel free to message me.
Julie

Hi Julie and Michelle,

Thank you for responding to my plea It is so nice to hear that I am not a weakling and not the only one who has trouble leaving their man to take care of themselves. I think I really need to start looking at it this way. If I think of going to the gym as caring for myself instead of work, maybe it will be a little easier to head out that front door and get moving. I should want to take care of myself just as much, or more, as I want take care of him.

Julie- It must be nice to have your boyfriend home (despite the 10 lbs) after being gone so long. I'm sure it makes you appreciate him more. What was he doing in Sweden?

And it sounds like you're pretty active....rollerderby looks like such hard work and lots of fun. Is all this activity relatively new, or have you been doing it for awhile? Personally, I get going to the gym consistently for about 2 - 3 weeks and then I get either bored, or tired and miss one day. Then one day turns into two and then three and pretty soon, it's been a week and no gym.
Do you have any tips for how to get out there on a regular basis?

And thank you for your offer of someone to check in with...I'm definitely gonna take you up on that. Are you planning on doing any one specific diet?



Michelle- Thank you for the invite to the Superfoods group. I have in the past used counting calories on fitday.com to lose weight, with pretty good success (when I stick with it). I'm definitely going to check out the group though and see what it's all about. As far as I am concerned, you can't have enough good info when it comes to losing weight.

And KUDOS to you for getting out of bed at 6 to get your exercising done. Especially with a nice warm man to leave behind... you are my hero!! Unfortunately, I am nurse and work night shifts, and the thought of getting out of bed at 6 makes me want to cringe. But maybe if I could get out of bed by 8, that would be about the same for me. In the past, I have always loved getting my exercising out of the way early, so that I don't have it hanging over my head the rest of the day.

So it looks like you are doing awesome with your weight loss!! How long have you been doing the superfoods thing, and what is the main concept behind it?

Thanks again ladies for the warm welcome into the group. I really feel good about this and can't wait to get back into my size 10 jeans....okay...maybe I should go that far....let's start with ....I can't wait to get back into my size 14 jeans. One step at a time right?

I'll keep you updated on how the next few days go, I'm already starting, but I am officially beginning the weight countdown on Monday....look out world, here I come!!

Hi RN,

I know how you feel, every time I wanted to work out in the past, I didn't have the heart--or the guts--or the motivation--and this has been happening to me since I was seven years old, and I was overweight then as well. By nine I was beginning to diet and struggle with several diets, believe it or not, all throughout my childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

On the drinking thing--be very, very careful. Drinks can make you gain weight as well as food, some over 500 calories! I myself am only beginning to be very selective about what I drink, and am now strongly committed to having drinks only on special occasions, limiting myself to one glass and making it last.

I am sharply committed to losing weight now, as my diabetic doctor has warned me I have to, and I'll be glad to help you out with staying motivated. I sincerely and wholeheartedly wish you all the best of luck.

BTW, if you want to keep things simple for a time, just have a walking regimen like I do, walk every day or every other day for 30 minutes, and you'll be guaranteed to see results.

Hi again!
It really is nice to have him back!! He was finishing his degree there. He's a traveller at heart and loves Europe. I've never even been on a plane before so you can see what an obvious couple we make! Haha.

I have been doing derby for about a year now and I've been going to the gym off an on for a few years. I am usually pretty active, until I stop going for a day, like you mentioned. As soon as I decide I'm too tired (aka lazy) and I'd rather watch crappy tv like the Bachelor than to go the gym/derby practice one day, I'm sunk. It turns into two, then three, then a month has gone by and I haven't gone!
A tip I can offer you though, is to find something that you really love doing. I find I can drag my butt out of the house for something if I'm excited about doing it. I love doing step classes and I go to them early on Saturdays and Sundays, which says a lot seeing as they are the only days I could sleep in! If you can find at least one thing that you really love doing, it makes getting exercise soo much easier. What do you usually do at the gym?

I'm not following a specific diet really, just watching calories in VS calories out, cutting sugar, pop *cry! I'm so addicted* and things I know I shouldn't be eating. Do you have a diet plan?

Good luck on your weigh in tomorrow. I will do the same! Just remember, one step at a time and remind yourself often that you are a STRONG person and that a strong and healthy body is more than worth the effort!

I, too, am new. I been on NUMEROUS diets in my life, and yo-yoed quite a bit. After a week on the South Beach diet, I weighed myself.... 172... YIKES! that is my highest weight, except for when I was nine months pregnant! This morning I weighed myself again, and was at 169. I know that it is probably water weight, but I am still really encouraged. For a long time, I refused to weigh myself. The fact I weighed myself, and did not get hysterically emotional, represents huge progress in terms of being honest with myself. I am 44, have 2 boys, ages 10 and 12, and am married. I am 5'5, and 44 y.o.
I have posted in the 40 something forum also. My goal weight is 135, and I am looking for other fellow travelers on the road to weight loss to keep me accountable.

Morning!

Well, the official weigh in has started this morning!!! YEAH!! I can't wait for it to go down, down, down! I weighed in this morning at 227.5, which is so frustrating that I let myself get back up there again.....but I have to remind myself that I am here to stay and it will go down, FOR GOOD!

I'm just getting ready to go to the gym and thought I would stop in to say hi.

So, how long have you and your boyfriend been together? Very long? And don't worry about the no plane thing, opposites attract right? I'm sure you guys compliment each other nicely.

Thanks for your advice on the gym thing....I think I am going to try to get into some regular classes at the gym. I do LOVE Step, but it has been awhile since I have gone, so maybe I can rekindle the love.

As far as the diet thing goes, I am mostly like you and do calorie counting. I use the website, fitday.com....which I am sure you have probably heard of. If not, you should definitely check it out. It's free and has an amazing database of foods, and lots of charts. I love the charts because I am a very visual person and it helps motivate me. I am also using the "Beck Diet Solution" program for psychological stuff. I figure if I can attack the problem from all sides, I'll have a better chance of making my life changes stick!!

Well...I'm headed out to hit the gym and get this bod into shape!!

Hope your day is going well...good luck with the scale...

Talk to you soon,
Melissa

Hi there TRimom,

Congrats on the quick weight loss! Even if it is water weight, it is definitely a motivator and keeps you on the right track. I have never done the South Beach Diet, but I know people who really like it. Personally I have a hard time with the no carb thing, and prefer to count calories. But, I am glad to hear it is working for you.

If you want to check in here, I plan on weighing in every Monday and your welcome to do that if it works for you. It looks like we have close to the same amount of weight to lose and it definitely helps to have to be accountable towards somebody. You're right about the being honest thing, it's so easy to turn a blind eye to the problem instead of dealing with it head on. But, here we are....dealing with it, and I know we can both do it if we put our minds to it....

Good luck on the diet the next few days, and check in regularly if you need some extra motivation. I plan on checking this daily and would love to be of some support!

Have a good one,
Melissa

Awesome! I'm excited to get things rolling too!
I weighed in this morning and it appears I have lost four pounds since last week (???). I'm seriously wondering if my scale is broken or if it's just because I've been drinking tons of water and cutting down salt, plus not drinking pop.. so maybe I've de-bloated myself or something. In any case, I'm not complaining and I hope it becomes a trend (although I doubt it, because I usually don't lose more than 2 pounds per week).

I hear you on the frustration part too. I keep thinking about how I used to look and it's so depressing to be here. I'm trying to think to the future though and use my past, healthy self as motivation to get my butt in gear.

I've been with my bf for about seven months. We met each other in college about 9 years ago so we know each other well. We're like two peas in a pod.

Good luck on rekindling the gym love! Hopefully your gym has some interesting classes or something to catch your interest. Mine has just started on a new schedule and they've added a Thursday morning class that I can attend before work. I was so happy to see it I almost did a happy dance. Hehe. Do you live near your gym? Or is it a bit of a trek?

Fitday.com is great! I've used it before. I haven't started using it this time around but like you I'm addicted to all the charts and following my progress. I find it makes me accountable for everything I eat because I know I have to track it. I love the little charts too! I'm a big fan of the calories burned vs eaten chart. Hahah. Makes me feel accomplished most days.
I'm not familiar with the Beck Diet Solution. What is it? Have you seen the new show on TLC.. I Can Make You Thin? I watched a bit last night and it was very interesting. The host was talking about how to fight cravings. He had a lot of different and easy to do techniques. It is on again tonight at 10pm (in my area, at least.. not sure where you are) and it will be about controlling emotional eating (something I am extremely guilty of) so I'm looking forward to watching it. Although it will be on at the same time as my favorite supermega trashy tv show, The Hills. Haha.

Anyway, must run. Hope you had a great gym session and good luck!
Julie

Hi BabyRN! My name is Heather,and I to am new to the site. I am assuming you are a nurse. I am in nursing school, please pray for me! I am looking for friends to help me along the way as well! Good luck to you!

Hi BabyRN...I'm Shayna and also new to the site. I work with nurses planning educational programs. I wish you all the luck. I'll hold you accountable if you do the same for me....

Hey Julie,
How's it goin? Pretty good considering you dropped 4 BIG LBS THIS WEEK!!! That is soooo great! I can only hope I have that much success my first week. And just think, even if a little of that was bloat weight, it means you lost at least 2 lbs of the other stuff. Most people lose only two with the water weight. You should be stoked! I'm so impressed you're cutting out soda, it is truly one of my vices. I LOVE diet Root Beer and diet Pepsi...but I am trying to cut myself down to one a day. I couldn't go completely cold turkey, it's just too much! I have been drinking a lot of water with the "True Lime" and "True Lemon" packets in it. That stuff is soooo great, because it's just crystalized lemon and lime, with no calories and it makes your water taste like it has a squeeze of juice in it. It definitely makes me drink more water and less soda.

Sorry it's been so long since I've checked in. I am an Intensive Care Nursery Nurse and have been working the past 3 nights, and we have been so busy I haven't been able to get on and spend 5 min. to check in. I work 12 hour shifts and commute 1 hour home, so by the time I get home all I have time for is sleeping and back to work again. But I have been sticking with the plan, although I have had some extra stuff going on and didn't make it to the gym one of the days I was planning, but no big deal....I am hitting it again tommorrow. The eating plan has been going pretty good. I have noticed that when I am overly exhausted (like when I get home after working a night shift), I just do not have enough energy to control my eating. I am going to have to come up with a plan for when I get home in the morning, because that is really the only time I have faultered this week.

My gym's is only about 10 min away and pretty easy to get to....which is just one more reason I don't have any excuse not to go

So, the Beck Diet Solution is a psychological method to getting your eating under control. And the basic premise behind it is that you have a task to complete every day, and then the next day you add on to it and create a solid psychological foundation for when you are hit with the hard days of your diet. For example, the first day, you write down a list of all the reasons why you want to lose weight and establish times in the day that you will sit down and read the list to help when your will power is weakened. I usually read my list before I go to a party or go out to dinner, or when I feel like snacking when I am not really hungry. Then on day two, you are expected to continue reading your list, but now, you are not allowed to eat anything standing up. And if you actually think about all the little nibbles you take during the day, when you're on the go, it really adds up. So, the goal is to add on day by day and therefore it's never overwhelming and in the end you get good tools for losing weight.

Anyhoo, I have to get back to work now. How are things going for you? Still hanging in there? I hope you are doing well and I am off of work for the next 5 days or so, so I will be here more reliably. Hope the weight is still coming off and life it good

Talk to you soon,
Melissa