Hey everyone,

My name is Jess, I'm 21 years old, in Canada.

I am really glad I came across this site! I hope to gain your support, and friendships, and hopefully a buddy to lean on, and give support to! First, I'll give you my story, you may want to grab a coffee, I'm quite the chatter! haha!

Just recently, my weight has become a huge issue for me, I look at all my beautiful thin friends, and now, more than ever, I want to have what they do. Look good, enjoy shopping even more than I do now, wear the clothes I can't!, and most importantly, get healthy!

I have never been the skinny girl, and every diet I try lasts no more than a week! I remember the most dramatic weight loss I have expierenced, was when I decided to give up eating meat, I lost about 25 lbs. Now, that decision is haunting me, I find, that being a vegitarian is making it even harder to loose weight.
I just recently moved out of my town, away from my friends, in with my boyfriend, he's a big buff guy, and has a large appitite, but works his food off every day. Living with him, I feel like I'm eating what he's eating..(which is WAY more than I should be). Since my friends are so far away, and I don't know many people around here, I find it hard to find a support system.
I feel like loosing weight is being thrown in my face every day, and since a recent visit to the doctors office, I realized 179 lbs, is too much for a girl of my age and height!

Help Me Ladies!
I'll do my best to Help you!!

Thanks for reading!

Hi Jess! I'm Marion and I'm also a vegetarian. It's good to meet another veggie. You can understand the special eating plans/problems we have. Is your boyfriend a vegetarian or does he eat meat? If you guys eat together it can be rough, but manageable--just a little extra work.

Let's work to help each other. I want to lose about 20 pounds. I weigh 140 now which is TOO much for me at only 5'. I count calories and limit my portions, but lately have found myself doing emotional eating. Grrr.

Hope to hear back from you. Oh! I live in Upstate New York (Rochester), on Lake Ontario, near Canada (Toronto).

Marion

Marion!
You are now my hero!

I'm actually in a Suburb of Toronto, so we have even more in common!

My boyfriend is not a veggie, which results in a lot of take out...it's been just recently that that has been cut out of the picture. I have also taken a step to try not to eat past 6 pm. I've seen some results, and had a few comments on how I'm looking better, but in all honesty, I need to be in a bikini! haha...

I could really use any advice you have...I used to be a runner, but after highschool, I just sort of stopped.I'd like to get back into that.

And in all honesty, I don't know the first thing about counting calories...how much is too many? hahaha...

I want to loose about 45-50 lbs...a big leap, but I want to get to 130, and I really think I can do it!

I just need a plan!

I'd be more than happy to be supportive to you in any way! I guess thats why we're all here!

I hope to hear from you soon figgy!

Take care
Jess

Hey There!

You sound so much like me! lol I tried going vegetarian June 2004, it was soooo hard, then I only ate poultry, now I eat almost everything again...except beef. I think I might have actually gained weight when I stopped eating meat b/c I had no clue what else I could eat..and Im not really a veggie lover...lol

I also live with my bf, and he eats and eats but like yours burns it off lol Ive gained about 65lbs since i was 15 when I met him...at first I hated eating around him, but then you get comfortable and you just eat what they eat! lol

Im 19, 20 in July, from Stratford Ontario, about 2 hours from Toronto. I weight 236 right now (cant believe i let myself get this high) and id like to be 115-135 by july 2007 for my 21st bday.

Anyway you can PM if you want and I'll give ya my email/msn if ya wanna chat! TTYL

Jeni

Hey,

I'm not a veggie, but we do have a few things in common... I'm 21 too, I too have a boyfriend that has eaten large portions all his life and has a great metabolism that works it all off and I have found myself piling on the lbs because I eat the same amounts as him

How tall are you? What exercise are you doing?

I feel a good place to start with your diet is cutting out all the things you know are unhealthy and start a food journal so you can see where you are going wrong and if there are any links between mood, time of day, time of month etc. and what you eat. It also helps you feel proud when you have a good day

As for calories, I believe the general consensus is 2000kcal is the reccomended daily amount for women, and 70g fat. This is for people who are not dieting of course. If you want to restrict your cals, don't go any lower than 1200kcal as it has a negative effect on your body and can make you store energy as fat rather than burn it off. There are loads of websites out there that give you the calorie content of just about every food, so if you do decide to keep a food journal, these can help you calculate your calorie intake and see where changes can be made. There are also loads of books out there too & once you start counting calories, you'll negin to remember the content of your most eaten foods by heart.

I hope I've been of some help! I'm also new to online dieting support so I'd love to buddy up with you

Good Luck and I hope you have a good day

Maria
xx

Thanks so much for all your help guys!

Maria, I'm 5'4, so 179 makes me cringe...I do some cardio, walk to work, run, I think I will do the diary of everything I eat, sounds like it will help me out a lot!

I found it made me aware of all the little things I was snacking on that were really bad for me, as well as my huge portion sizes!

It sounds like you are really on the right track with the exercise

If you want to chat or anything, feel free to PM me

Maria
xx

Hi Jess, how are you doing? Keeping a food journal is a good idea.
Get a calorie chart or go to FitDay.com to get calorie listings. After a while you'll get to just know what is what. Also, read labels! Measure your portions. I use a lot of Amy's frozen products (meals). Most of them are low calorie,just the right size, vegetarian (of course) and really yummy. I'll have a veggie burger (70calories) and a salad or some vegetable soup or tomato soup. I try to eat several small meals throughout the day and a snack of an apple or juice. What do you think? Marion