Hi I'm a stay-at-home mother of 2 in the Chicago suburban area.
I'm 5'9" and weigh 195.
I've always been a big girl (at 13 I was 5"8" and 135 lbs) but most of my current weight came with my pregnancies.
Now my kids are 7 and 5, so what's my excuse?!
I have a pretty good idea of how to eat well and lose weight. I've done Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, both of which worked for awhile until I got bored with it (and ran out of money!)
I've been struggling with depression for awhile now too, kind of a which-came-first-the chicken-or-the-egg thing, Am I depressed because of my appearance? Am I heavy because I'm depressed? Are my depression meds making it harder to lose weight? Who knows?
My mother has high blood pressure and diabetes and takes a zillion pills a day. I am so worried I will develop these same illnesses.My son is 7 and already struggling with his self-image (he is a big boy, taller and heavier than everyone in his class) and I am worried for him, too.
My problem has always been certain foods murmuring to me. I will develop an intense craving for a very specific food, always one that is very fatty and highly caloric, and then absolutely PIG OUT. I seem to crave chocolate (sugar, fat & caffeine) most of all, altho sometimes its fatty & salty (chips) or sometimes just fatty (like cheese). Sometimes all 3 in one day! And then I'll wash it down with a beer or two!
I was about 185 before the holidays, and really blew up between Christmas & New Year's. I have been feeling really disgusted with myself, and it shows. I take very little care with my appearance these days and I feel like I am really ready for a CHANGE.
I made a New Year's resolution to work out this year, and have been doing 45-60 minutes of cardio 3X a week. I plan to start with the resistance machines next week.

Anyway, when I was married in 1992 I weighed 145. My goal is to get to 155 by my son's 8th birthday in July, and then stay there forever!

I am looking for help and support: a buddy to help me along would be great.

JudeMama

Hi! my name is Crystal. I am 29. I live in Arkansas. I am a stay at home mom with 3 children. I have 3 girls, ages 3mths, 21mths and a 7 yr old. I too weighed 140 lbs when I met my husband and now 2 kids later, I weigh 180. I had the 7 yr old with a previous marriage.

I agree with you 100% about the depression. It's so hard being overweight and looking back at how I used to look. I can't stand to look at myself in a full body mirror. I feel very unattractive. So, here I am ready to loose 40lbs and change back into the old me.

I started my diet on the 17th of January. I started with the Atkins and went off of it on the 24th. It was terrible. I couldn't stand the thought of choking down another piece of meat. So now I am counting calories and using www.fitday.com to log my calories. I love it! I'm eating every 2 hours and am doing great on a limited calorie intake. I am also exercising daily on my Lateral Thigh Trainer.

Looking back at how many calories I was taking in, I'd bet that I was taking in 5000 calories a day. Once you start looking at calories, you would be amazed at what you are putting into your body. My big downfall is pizza. I absolutely love pizza!!! I have decided to treat myself to only 2 pieces of pizza per month. That way I won't feel like I am missing out on food that is off limits. I also craved chocolate really bad, but I think that I have it under control. Once you get off of sugar for a couple of weeks the craving withdrawals get easier.

Let me know if you think that we can help each other out. If so, I'd be happy to have the companionship and support.

Hi Crystal,
Wow, thanks for the tip on FitDay.com! What a great site! I see it being VERY useful.

I didn't even try Atkins. I'm not much of a meat eater at all. I haven't had any beef in probably close to 20 years. I don't like seafood, either, so I felt that left me nothing to eat on Atkins! And I couldn't bear the idea of totally giving up carbs.

I hear you about the pizza: cheese is one of my great loves. I have been known to go to the store and buy a bag of chips, some dip, and a 1/2 # brick of cheese and sit down and eat the whole thing.

I agree that you need to treat yourself periodically: otherwise I just feel deprived and cranky and binge.

I think we can definitely help eachother lose weight, and I am looking forward to "buddying up"!

Jude

Jude- I started doing WW on my own Jan 11th.. So far I've lost 3 lbs without keeping myself from having anything... I dont have the money to do the meeting and such but I did but the books and am using this board to help me along. Stick around here.. there's all the support you need and more... Good luck with any plan you choose. You will succeed if you put your mind to it and have the support of others!

Great! I look forward to the added support. Yesterday was pretty tough. I wanted some home baked chocolate chip cookies so badly that I could hardly stand it.

I know what you mean.. I have all the makings for them in my pantry and thought about it Sunday.. how good the house would smell.. how good the batter would taste.. how good the warm gooey cookies would be... then I drank a glass of water and tried to find something good to watch on the Food Network!! hehehe

Talk about making my mouth water. I love the smell of homemade sweets. Man, it sucks having to watch what you eat. I love food!! I love to eat. It seems like once you get married and have kids, that eating is the only thing to do. Prior to starting my diet my husband would always bring home my favorite sweets, like hersey's candy bars and Strawberry Cheesecake from Copeland's. I had to put a stop to that fast! I said, honey, I know that you love me and this is a small way to show me that you are thinking about me, but if you want the smaller me back, then all these sweets have to STOP!

I hear you about the married and kids thing!! I'm good most of the week./.. its the weekend thats the killer!

We have a new Cheesecake Factory opening in the are this week.. I'm glad its on the other side of the county.. don't venture there very often...