Hi guys!

Just wanted to introduce myself.
I am Jelena, 28 years old and ready to lose weight. I always struggled with my kilos but actually had everything sorted out couple of years ago only to fall off the wagon and gain over 40 lbs. It really does kick your ego a bit, huh! The funny thing is that my live-in boyfriend is a condition & strength trainer! Oh the irony!

I want to get back in some serious shape, especially since I finally resolved my binge eating (one single book had me "cured", and not therapy - go figure). I don't plan on doing any strict diets and restrictions, but will exercise and lower intake of food a bit - in healthy range. If you want to be my support buddy - let me know!

I am 5 11 and at this moment 223 lbs. I want to get back to 160-150lbs the most. So, I have a long road ahead.

Thanks for accepting me to the community!
Have a great day!

J.

Hi Jelena!

I'm new to this site as well! I'm 24, 5'7, 230, looking to get down to 155-160 range! I'm here looking for support because I've finally realized I can't do this alone. It's so hard because growing up I was always tiny and in the last 2 years, I have gained over 60 lbs. I have 2 roommates who eat anything and everything in sight so it makes it hard for me to be motivated to eat healthy and exercise. But I'm tired of the way I feel and I'm tired of the aches and pains I have from being overweight. I'm ready to feel good again! It's nice to meet you and best of luck to you on your weight loss journey!

Good morning Zagreb and Arkansas!

Jelena, kicking the ego a bit isn't necessarily a bad thing :-) It hurts, but it also makes one grow as a person. Not literally! I think that with a bit of humility it's possible to achieve permanent results. Slow and steady wins the race!

What was the book that was helpful to you, if you don't mind me asking? I've also been able to finally get rid of binging, also with help of some books, but I'm still interested in the whole phenomena.

Anyway, I guess I'll be seeing you both here at the boards! :-)

Hi!!!

Thanks for the responses and nice to meet you too!
The book that helped me is called Brain over Binge. It literally just wiped away my problem. Not to use this as a promo or anything, I have nothing to do with writing it, but it really just gave a different perspective (not-emotional) on it and I was able to 1-quit smoking 2-quit binging right away. I still struggle with an urge from time to time, but much less since I am able to control it and ignore it.

Now I am ready to lose the weight and get fit so my inside can match my outside

Does anyone have simple and diverse mealplans available somewhere?

I've heard a lot of good things about Brain Over Binge, so even though it's not an issue for me anymore, I think I'll want to read it as well :-) So many people have said that it's helped them that I'm really curious now. I think that's really great that there's something like that out there to help people.

As for meal plans, there are so many to choose from that it can get ridiculously difficult. More difficult than it should be! I liked the Whole30 plate model, which was 1-2 palm sized (the palm of your hand) portion of protein, the rest of the plate filled with vegetables and then a thumb sized portion of fat added (which could be like a tablespoon of olive oil). However, that plan doesn't allow any bread or pasta, etc. so it doesn't take those into consideration.

I'm drawn to the Mediterranean diet, but I don't have any specific meal plans for that. Essentially I'd just eat proper foods (instead of junk food and processed foods) and try to have set mealtimes instead of snacking and grazing. But it really depends a lot on your metabolism. Some people do well on a higher carb diet and some people do better on a higher fat diet. For example, I can easily skip breakfast (and lunch) or generally be without food for a long time and am drawn to salty and fatty foods, whereas my sister would murder everyone if she was without food for too long and she's drawn to fruit and chocolate. So I think that if you force yourself to be on the type of diet that doesn't suit you well, you'll just be really miserable the whole time and that's not good.

Hi Jelena and kndebrow! to both of you! You'll find lots of support here! Good luck!

Hi!

Yea, I find the various meal plans overwhelming. I don't eat so much junk food, I am more drawn to sweets and that is my main issue, so I guess I will just curb overall intake. And now another question... how do I get one of those ruler tracker things

Here is a link to info on the ticker: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/anno...questions.html.

Thanks for the links! I will see if this works now.
How does everyone stay in touch? If someone wants to be a buddy through a msger or email/twitter/fb or something that is more instant, please contact me on private msgs. Would love to have a buddy to share my journey with.

Also I went to a nutritionist a year ago and she created a really good meal plan which I never got around to try - so if anyone needs some meal ideas, I can pull some up for you.

I'm going to be here the next 6 months and would be happy to be a support person :-) I got one thread about changing habits and the body in that time in the Weight Loss Support section, so even though it is a project for me, it's aim is to find lasting results.

I have no idea how to send private messages here. It could be that because I only signed up couple of days ago there's no option like that for me just yet, so I'll have to communicate via threads. But like I said, I'll be here at least until next summer... :-)

SparklyBunny, we will figure something out Thanks!
Let me find the thread