How do you gals deal with birthdays? I just had mine on Tuesday, I turned 29, yikes... 1 year until 30!! Anyways... I am feeling a little down, I am still overweight, and I'm over 100 pounds overweight.. I feel like I should have figured this out by now! I've been dealing with my weight for nearly 8 years!! I also find that sometimes this does the opposite of what I need! I feel like I get paralyzed by this, and seem to do worse!

Am I alone in this? Or does someone else out there get freaked out by their birthdays??

-Aimee

I hate birthdays, I mean really hate them. Mine was yesterday and I'm pretty much only 3 lbs nearer to my birthday goal than I wanted to be. Aside from my weight I just hate them anyway. Totally understand

I just turned 29 too. I was down for a few days and ate very badly. I then thought things over and now more than ever I know I need to get this weight off. I don't want to spend my 30's at 200+ pounds. The older I get with this weight the more health problems I will have. So I'm trying to turn sadness into determination. I'm also not letting my past attempts or slow weight loss discourage me. I know you're having a hard time right now. Just don't give up! Today's a new day. I know we can do this!

Aimee, I think a LOT of people are freaked out by birthdays - you are not alone. The good thing is that you can use that to your advantage. You have a year before you turn 30, so use this year to make a difference before you hit the big 3-0!

I had the same kind of problem, but a decade later. Just before I turned 39 was when I got on the wagon *for real*, so that I could lose the weight before I turned 40. Well, by my 40th birthday I had lost 100 lbs, and it was the best birthday present I could have received!

(Stupidity disclaimer: Of course, I proceeded to gain back most of that weight, which is what brought me here to start over, but that's beside the point.)

Moral of the story: Don't be too hard on yourself now. You can make a lot of progress in the coming year! Good luck!!

Happy late birthdays ladies!!!
You are all doing something about it now, rather than waiting until you are 45 like me! Look at it this way, that's an extra 15 years I spent on weight struggles you won't have to. You can use this as motivation, you've got a whole year until you turn 30, in a year you can do a lot of good work.

By the way, 29 is just generally a sucky birthday for everyone I think, so don't let it get you down. I didn't like being 29, nobody believes you when you say your age. 29 is the age of liars! I just wanted 30 to come on already! You guys can make 29 the year you changed your lives. I know you can do it!

ugh! i went through this same thing this year. i turned 28 on 7/31. i always get upset about birthdays- at least ever since i started thinking about mile stones... i feel totally behind in my life compared to where i want to be. at 21 i thought about all the people my age that were graduating from college but me. at 25 I was thinking about all the people who were done with graduate school. then i started thinking about babies- and how i don't have one. this year it's the 10 year high school reunion haunting me. what have i done in 10 years? i got married and i gained a ton of weight.

it's hard not to run those things in your mind. i think of my birthday as a sort of good time for a new years resolution- my goal is to be healthy and happier by the time i turn 30. that gives me two years to accomplish something, anything that i want to- and to lose the weight.

Happy belated birthdays!

Thanks for all the replies! Glad to hear I am not the only one out there!!

I actually quite enjoy my actual bday, it's just all the mental stuff after that gets to me! I'm really a bit of a birthday diva... this year I celebrated it 3 times so far.. hehe. I also get spoiled with presents, and with friends and family coming to spend time with me. All of this is good and fine, but it's those late night thoughts when you are having a hard time sleeping that get me. I'm trying to be positive, and remind myself that at least I AM thinking about this stuff, and not ignoring it.

Thanks again everyone for replying

-Aimee

I didn't read all the posts to this thread but I had to chime in...

When I turned 29 I said I was turning 29 for the first time LOL. But I think I'm beyond anyone believing I'm 29 anymore. I'm pushing 40 now UGH.

I think my most difficult age was 28 though. The first age I remember my mother being is 28. And I have always thought of my mother as old. So I felt I was officially OLD. At least in a five year olds eyes!

I get completely freaked out by bdays! I will turn 30 in Dec, and last year at 29 was a hard one too. I actually left town and went to visit a friend in Cali just to avoid being "home" I'm hoping to do the same thing this year. I feel like if I'm not around it isn't happening. I wish I could be happier about getting older, but besides weight loss, where I'm moving forward, it seems everything else in my life I am moving backwards. No bf, or husband, no kids, where I thought I would of by now, I'm also having to move home to save some money, which may be the worst of it all, while I now it's the smart move money wise, I feel like I"m taking a step back.

I love birthdays - birthday parties, birthday gifts, birthday stuff. But getting older totally bums me out! They say it's not your age but how you feel - I still feel in my 20's but age-wise I am definitely in my 30's!

How I deal with birthdays:

I think you know. I make a non-weight related goals: Do a triathlon, learn to rock climb, travel every 4 months.

But these are for me and they fit MY philosophy of life. But at the end of the year I can look at them and say, "Yeah, that was NOT a year wasted." And that makes me feel good.

Happy Belated Birthday to all of you! All I have to say is make this one count more than the others, because you are finally making the best decisions in your life!

Happy Belated Birthday! I like celebrating my birthday...getting together w/ family, presents, cake--ok, so I try to cut back on the cake part these days, but PRESENTS!!!

Seriously, though, some birthdays seem to bother me more than others--29 'hurt' more than 30 for some reason. 40 doesn't seem so bad, yet (I'm 37 right now, so still a few years away...). Maybe because I am finally doing good, healthy things for myself--eating better, working out, rather than telling myself I would do it someday.

Like many others have said, make it count now...you can do a lot of good in a short period of time.