Welcome aboard! I hope you find all the support you need on this site!

Welcome to the community!

I also have a sluggish thyroid

Hi and welcome to this wonderful board. Good luck to you on your journey to better health.

Pennie

Welcome Stephanie!!

Welcome Stephanie! Making the decision is the first great step. So have you considered what the next step is going to be? (weight watchers, calorie counting, something else) The important thing to remember is that it really is just one step after the other. Good luck!

Welcome welcome!

Yeah, I'm going to count my carbs. I have found that there are two ways I can lose weight -- Atkins or vegetarian. I found out the vegetarian thing earlier this year when I went on a 21 day fruit & veggie only fast. I have lost weight before on Atkins & did really well but I tried to stay on Induction levels to drop pounds quicker, but that didn't work because I made bad choices when I would get bored. I halfway thought about cutting out all meats & just using legumes, nuts, and eggs for my protein, but my family will not be supportive with that way of eating -- at all -- and I'm way too busy to fix three or four separate meals every night.

Thanks for all the welcomes!!

You might consider South Beach then. With induction (I believe) it follows the same concept as Atkins. After your first two weeks though you slowly add in whole grains and fruit. I simply calorie count, however, one quick suggestion foe evening meals (with the family) is to cook a meal with lean protein, veggies, and some type of starch (potato, rice pasta). Put the lean meat and veggies on your plate, add the starch to the others' plates.

I tried vegetarian a few years back. It worked well for a while, however, in the end I couldn't stick it. With people with a lot to lose (and hey I'm still one) it becomes more important to find a way of eating that works for you long term. The less restrictive your plan is the less likely you'll end up going nuts from things you can't have.

Wow! I just looked at your pictures & I can tell a big difference. You look great! A friend of mine lost 100 lbs a couple of years ago but has let a lot of it come back.

I think my problem with Atkins is going to be my coffee. I have a hard time not drinking coffee first thing in the morning. I think I'm going to try to switch to half-caf and then decaf.

Hi Stephanie, welcome to 3FC! I wish you much success on your journey.

Thanks Nona!

You'll love it here. I'd suggest going on South Beach it's low carb but I found much easier then Adkins. And you can still have your coffee. That is a biggie for me as well. I was on it before and lost 40lbs but then got carb crazy again. I'm back on as this morning. I stayed on the 1st phase a long time only because I had tons of weight to lose and my doctor said it was ok and was watching me as I did it. I plan on doing it for longer then it says again and then slowly add things in.

Welcome