Hi all.

I registered on 3FC a while ago, but have been a lurker. At the time that I registered, I was around 250 lbs. That was probably about 2-3 years ago. Today, I am 5'9 and 293.6 lbs according to my new digital scale. Never in my life did I think I would be practically 300 lbs. I recall that 5 years ago, when I was about 220lbs, I thought there was no way I would ever let myself even get to 250 lbs. I don't even remember seeing 250 on the scale. It came and went and I never saw it. So, here I am. 27. Almost 300 lbs. Ready for change. Hoping that I can stop merely lurking on this website and begin to use it as a resource. Just tonight, I have spent hours reading inspirational story after inspirational story about real women, and I have felt so moved. I want to be these women, and I know I can be someday with the help of this wonderful community. For the last 3 years I have used my being in law school as an excuse for why my weight has increased, but it's not an excuse. Now that law school is over, the stress of studying for the bar exam is the new excuse I am tempted to make for myself. My 6th grade gym teacher used to say, "There's no such thing as excuses, there's only explanations." He was right. Because excuses won't make my weight magically decrease. Only hard work will do that. So, this is the beginning of my journey. Writing it down makes it feel real, not just a fleeting thought in my addled brain. So, thanks 3FC for giving me a place to memorialize the beginning of this ride. I hope I come out better on the other end.

I feel ya! I was in the same position & though I haven't lost a ton of weight yet, I still have that inspiration and motivation I feel we need to hang on to to keep going. I belive in you, we can do this!

Sometimes we just aren't ready till we're ready. I also joined a couple years ago but didn't reach the place i needed to be till February of this year.

Congratulations on finally being ready!

Welcome! I too joined a while back, but didn't *snap* until 9 weeks ago. I can't even explain what changed, I just knew that day was the day.

You WILL do it!! Congrats on taking the first step!

So glad you're here, SweetEpiphany! This is a wonderful place to get the support that this journey requires.

Welcome! I'm excited for you to start your journey! Congrats on taking the first step to changing your body and life for the better. You can do this!

half the battle is starting! hope to see you around!

I'm so glad you're here!

You CAN do this. We all have the ability to lose the weight - yourself included. Losing weight after all, is a doable thing, for every one and any one.

So may I ask, how are you going to go about implementing the changes that will have to occur? What is your mode of attack? How will you proceed? What's the plan?

What you said above really struck me. It is amazing what we can keep ourselves from doing because of our excuses. For me working full time while going to school part-time was my excuse for not losing weight. I didn't think there was any way I could do it being that busy and stressed. But I finally had enough one day and modified my diet. Despite my busy schedule and the stress I'm doing it. If I can do it so can you!!

I'm so glad you are making a positive change in your life. I love the poem in your signature, btw!

Good for you! And good luck with your goals

U can Do it Girl!!! U feel so much better when u start losing that weight. Don't let anything get in your way of accomplishing your goal. We r here for support

Congrats on making the choice to join! You can do it, your gym teacher then was right! No more excuses!!!!!

Hey Rockinrobin,

I don't know that I have completely fleshed out my mode of attack yet, but I have decided to do 3 things: (1) Log all the food I eat on SparkPeople.com, (2) exercise for at least 30 minutes every day, and (3) weigh myself every day first thing in the morning. I am really trying to stay within the recommended calorie range that SparkPeople gave me, and I realize how bad I have been at doing that in the past. I am weighing myself daily, not really to see if I lost weight every day, but just to get an idea of how I am doing on a day to day basis, and maybe gain some insight into how my lifestyle [i.e., not sleeping well, eating late, drinking alcohol] might have on my weight loss goals. I think this is a good start, and I will tweak accordingly. Thanks for the questions, I really do need to get into attack mode.

Thanks everyone for your supportive posts!!

Hey Renwomin,

Yeah, my "this is enough" moment was really seeing that I was practically 300lbs. I always had this idea in my head of how a 300 lbs person would look. I imagined him or her as looking very different from myself, and I know how wrong that is, but I am just being honest. So, I think that contributed to my denial, because the whole time I was thinking that as long as I didn't look the way the 300 lbs person in my mind looked it was OK. How foolish! I carry my weight well, thankfully but at the end of the day, I am still carrying way too much of it. Thanks for the support!