Hello everyone! My name is Kizzy.

A little about myself: I'll be 48 years old (!) this month and I live and work in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. For those of you who may not know where that is: it's about half-way between Australia and Hawaii, about 600 miles north of the equator and just to the left of the International Date Line which means that I'm nearly a full day ahead of those of you in the States.

So why am I here? Well, for starters, I stepped on the scale on 01 April and despite me asking the scale if this number was an April Fool's Day joke, the truth is that I weighed in at 297 lbs. Now, I'm not 8' tall where all those pounds could have room to stretch; so let's be honest and say that 297 lbs on my 5'3" frame just doesn't suit me. Not one bit.

It's not just about looks, though. I also have osteoarthritis in both knees and I'm sure these excess lbs just aren't helping matters in that department. Any kind of movement just hurts, plain and simple. The benefit of living here on the island, however, is that there are very few vehicles; so everyone, and I mean everyone, rides a bike. So at least I do get some exercise from biking. I also enjoy swimming but my reluctance to get in front of people in a swimsuit usually curtails me climbing into a pool. Sometimes, though, I go to the pool (there are two outdoor pools here: a family one and an adult-only one) late at night and swim under the stars with the ocean crashing against the shore right next to me. It's lovely. I plan on doing that at least twice a week to start with.

I did Medifast a number of years ago and while it was successful for a while, it was also very expensive. I'm not in a position at the moment to drop hundreds of dollars each month just to lose weight. So I've been doing this the old-fashioned way: counting calories. I went to several different websites to determine what my daily calorie limit should be for weight loss and came up with 1886 calories per day. That seems to be working for me so far; I've lost 11 lbs in the past week.

The best thing about Medifast was the support forums that the company offered on their website. It was so wonderful to make friends and have people to check in with on a daily and/or weekly basis. I loved hearing the struggles and successes that other people encountered and appreciated the kind support and kicks-in-the-butt that I got in return (all the more so because at that time I was going through The Worst Divorce in Mankind's History). I'm really excited that I found this website and hope that I'll make some new friends!

Komol Tata ("Thank you very much" in Marshallese),
Kizzy

Kizzy: Welcome! I will have to go look where the islands are, I have heard of them, but did not realize that's where they were located. Good for you on the 11 pounds! That's always a nice feeling. Remember as you loose weight if calorie counting, you will need to continue to adjust down your totals as pounds fall off. I don't know if you have a phone or iPad, but there are some good apps that can help figure this out for you.

Swimming - I did that for a while before I moved, I took off about 30 lbs. I too was worried about my size, that I was a swimmer, not a great one. Guess what? Who was looking? I went at 5 in the morning because I wanted to swim before work. It was me and 4 old men, one old lady. Our body shapes were all over the place but the one thing we had in common was that we were choosing to move our bodies as best we could. We didn't have time or the inclination to pass judgement on someones skill or shape. Most times as it went on it became a moment for pleasant convos before the pool officially opened. Enjoy your access to water year round - swimming right near the ocean sounds divine. One thing you might incorporate is using a kick board. If you have issues w/arthritis break up your laps with just kicking back and forth.

Again welcome and jump in!

Thanks so much for the kind welcome, lemonthyme! You gave a lot of good advice. I recently just bought my very first smartphone, so I'm still learning how to work it. LOL I'll definitely look into the apps you mentioned.

As for swimming, I may have someone to go swimming with soon. That should make it a bit more fun!

Thanks again and I hope you have a great day!
Kizzy

Kizzy: Keep up with the swimming. I live in the upper midwest and in a rural spot so pools are at the minimum. One thing when you are starting, take a bottle of water with you. I seem to recall I got really thirsty and warm once I began in earnest. For apps I tens to use happyScale and Noom (both the free versions), one is my weight and the other is weight/calorie intake. You have the option of how fast you'd like to loose weight (turtle to cheetah speed) and it adjusts your calories as a) with your original weight/height and goal and b) adjusts as you loose. I know there are others on here that recommend other apps. You are in a good place to get good info and support!

Wow, thanks so much for the info on the apps! My kids just sent me a Kindle Fire for my birthday/Mother's Day...so I'm definitely looking to use it for good instead of evil. LOL

Swimming has been a challenge (as in: it's been hard to get my fat butt to the pool). I'm determined to get there at least twice this weekend. No excuses other than I get home from work and just want to collapse in bed and call it a day.

Bad me! :P

I see that you're from Wisconsin. My daughter and I have been talking about moving there sometime in 2019/2020 to be closer to family in Chicago; she's really interested in the Appleton, WI area. We drove up there last month when I was home on R&R and we flew to Chicago from Oregon. Wisconsin is really nice.

Have a great day!
Kizzy

Kizzy,

Congrats on the awesome loss this week! I use the My Fitness Pal app to keep track of things. I like that you give it all your stats and then tell it how much you would like to lose each week and it will set a calorie goal for you. Then if you put in your exercise it will figure out how many extra calories you can have based on what you burned through your activity. I actually follow a South Beach Diet food list but I find that when I'm left to my own devices regarding the amount of food I can eat I will go way over a normal calorie intake. It's a free app so you might check it out and see what you think.

Good luck!!

Hugs,

Rene aka gabby

Thanks Gabbs! I'm definitely going to look into the My Fitness Pal app (as soon as I finish figuring out how to use both my new smartphone and my Kindle...I'm definitely NOT "tech-y"!). LOL