Hello everyone. I'm 34 and I realized recently that I am 20 pounds heavier than when I was 9 months pregnant! I knew I was big and even joked that I was still working on losing the post-baby weight (hahaha, my son is 13) I just didn't want to see how big. Well here I am past the two hundred mark. I've never been thin and I don't really aspire to that, but I do miss being strong and being able to depend on my body to do what I need it to. I used to run and exercise but now I'm at an office job so the furthest I walk is across the street. I've never really tried to actively lose weight and I think I'm subconsciously scared that I can't do it so I don't try. Does that make sense? Wow, not a very cheerful intro, huh? Anyway, I really look forward to being a part of this community and hope that I can learn from all of you

Losing weight can be an intimidating idea. The best thing I've found to do is to take it one day at a time. You also have to be dedicated to making your daily goals, but at least when you break it down into just a daily task it doesn't seem insurmountable.

I make the same joke about losing my baby weight from my three year old, plus all the weight that I needed to lose before him. I'm just starting out also, and totally get the being scared to try. Best of luck!

Hi, I sure can understand where you all are coming from. . it is intimidating to start out to lose weight. I never thought I would get the hang of it, but I do seem to be making progress and learning a lot of things that I didn't know. first of all, for me,, it has taken a few months to realize that certain foods are off limits, at times, I do every other day "fasting" and once I got used to it the cravings are going away. I can see the difference in how some foods make me feel..the answer was to work on getting them out of my diet. , but that didn't happen all at once, I would still have ice cream and cookies on my eating day..after a while I got tired of going over the same 2 lbs and decided, hey, if I would make better choices on my eating days maybe this would work for me.. I've lost 20 lbs and am so encouraged to keep going and lose another 40 or 50.. it seems possible now where it never has before. . it's taken patience and learning about how I react to certain foods , and then seeing my appetite diminish over time. , so I wish you the best and I believe we can all do this..

B0bbette, I agree, it really sucks not being able to do the same things as before. I don't want to be a fitness nut or guru or have defined abs and muscles popping out everywhere... but being able to reach things without knocking stuff over with my belly or being able to walk or run a certain distance without getting all sweaty and out of breath... that would be cool. Fitting into old clothing. Perfect. It wont happen overnight, but it will come Starting can be the hardest part, mentally. Small steps help a lot in the beginning