Hi everyone!
This is my first time posting on 3FC. I have been coming to this website for support for a few months now and have decided that I want to be a part of it. So here is my story. I'm sure many of you college students can relate.

Freshman year I arrived weighing a healthy 135 (I'm 5'5") and vowed to myself not to gain the infamous FRESHMAN 15. I didn't eat past 7:30pm and didn't drink beer (only liquor). I never had the pizza or any of that stuff. By the end of freshman year I was around 140. So I considered it a success. And then came sophomore year...

Over the summer I worked a job at the hospital and I was on the night shift. I loved it, but my eating habits were so out of whack. I because too tired to exercise after the 12 hours shifts, and I gradually ate my way up to 149 by the end of the summer. This is when I started to get really upset about the way I looked and came to school thoroughly embarrassed of myself. The year began and I kept telling myself that I would lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving break, then Christmas break, then Spring break. All that time I would go on diets, start working out, and then get frustrated because the numbers on the scale wouldn't budge the way I wanted them to. So within this timeframe I discovered the amazing comfort of food. I would eat when I was sad, angry, when I aced a test, when I failed a test, and so on. It was aweful. I hated myself because I didn't have any control and was powerless. So the end of sophomore year came to a close and I vowed I would come back to school a changed woman.

Over the summer was the same deal, try to work out, eat right, and so on. I was so upset at myself. Seeing friends and you know they are just thinking "Wow! She gained a lot of weight." I never wanted to go out because I was ashamed by the way I looked. I didn't by new summer shorts because I didn't want to admit that I was not a size 6 anymore. I wore pants all the time, even in hot weather. I was completely miserable. I love swimming but I never went to the beach. I feel as though I missed out on so many opportunities because I am fat. Like I am wasting my life away. Living in the future version of myself. "Well when I lose 10 pounds I'm going to..." I don't want to be like that. I want to live day by day. Making the most of it.

So junior year came and I am now at my all time high 157. I have spent many weekends not going out saying "Oh I have so much work to do." I made so many excuses. I AM THE QUEEN OF EXCUSES. I see pictures of myself now and I cannot believe it is me. I feel like crying all the time. The past few weeks have been really good though. I have been exercising a lot more and eating much better. My plan really is simple. I'm going to eat around 1300-1500 calories a day and work out 30-60 minutes. I think the most challenging part for me is my mentality. I need to have patience. My body is not going to change over night. I need to persevere through it. I have also discovered that you truly cannot change your body until what you want comes from a good place. If I say I hate myself and the way I look. I am just going to get frustrated when I miss a day of working out or eat something bad. If have a negative mentality about losing weight I will never be successful. So I am really trying to stay positive and make small goals. That way I won't feel like I am a failure, but I am making small changes for the better.

Now I am just asking for you support and if you guys have any stories or comments to share. It is great to know that you are not alone in such a personal and emotional struggle! Thank you all and God bless!!!

If you have looked around, then you know that this is a great place for support, inspiration and motivation.

Good luck to you!

Hey! I'm just finishing up my junior year as well so I know all about excuses. One of the things I've found great about eating well and working out is that even if the changes aren't visibly happening overnight you start to feel great. The little accomplishments really add up, and you start to get excited the first time you run ___miles in ____ minutes or do bicep curls with 20s or something... That's the kind of instant gratification you have to look for and it really does work. This place really is great for support and definitely a good source of motivation. I'm sure you'll do well.

Good luck!

Well, I'm not in college or anything.. But I wanted to welcome you to the site! I'm 22, and live on my own... I've had my own issues with not eating healthy because of no time to cook healthy meals..and drinking wayyy too much. If you ever just want someone to chat with... I'm here! I know you'll succeed! You really sound like you have the motivation to do it this time!! You can find lots of support here, its a great site!!! Good luck!

Hey sky...I was right where you were at just a couple of months ago. I would say out loud constantly "I'm fat". Whenever I would eat something bad in front of my boyfriend I would say "Yes I'm hella fat". I KNEW I was overweight and VERY unhealthy, I felt tired all the time, lazy, and hopeless. I KNEW I needed to change but I just didn't have the motivation or the self esteem to do so.

And then a couple of things happened that made me hit my weight gain "bottom". My best friend's mom asked me if I was pregnant after not seeing me for a couple of months. I also looked in the mirror one day and realized that my stomach was a round gut, and looked like it did it high school when I was REALLY overweight.

Now I am on weight watchers and trying to work out at least 4 times a week.

This is a really good website for support and advice whenever you have questions! Everyone here is really supportive and genuinely interested in your weight loss. So welcome and good luck!

Thank you all for responding to my post! It is so wonderful to see such a response so quickly!

Rockstar... Thanks for the recommendation of the mini goals. I am starting to run again so running so many miles in so many minutes is a great suggestion.

Tiffany- Thanks for you post. The whole drinking thing is really hard during college. I love to go out with my friends, and it's so nice just to let lose sometimes. I think it will be great for me this summer and hiatus from that. Again, thanks for your response!!!

Vdaybaby- That is so aweful about the whole pregnancy thing! That is so great that you are making strides in the right direction! How do you like weight watchers by the way. I heard it was a great program!

Welcome Sky!! I can relate to the looking at pictures thing and being frustrated and making excuses. Sounds like you're taking a step in the right direction though. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but it truly does get easier the longer that you do it. And the second you start doing it for yourself and no one else, the more motivated and goal driven you get. Good Luck!!!

Welcome sky123!

I am also in my junior year and in a very similar place as you are. I started to gain weight throughout sophmore and junior year... but for the last 2 months I have been steadily losing weight. I too was very embarrased of my body and would try to find exuses to avoid going out and facing reality. The problem with that is you end up home by yourself, depressed, thinking about how much fun everyone else is having and you end up eating MORE! I slowly started making changes: I became vegetarian after reading some excellent books, starting to exercise more, being creative to think of healthy meals and making the extra effort to walk to the grocery store and cook. I am losing weight and I truly believe that this time I will lose all the weight for good. I also run and am setting some goal races for myself in the summer (5km, 10km, half marathon). I am studying abroad and sometimes everything is just one big party... so avoiding/limiting alcohol is difficult and it makes weight loss more challenging.

This website is a great place for support and information. Good luck and keep posting!

Welcome!

Welcome! I am also a college student, I'll be 20 this year, and I'm trying to drop about 25-30lbs (depends on what I look like when I get there...but first is the GETTING there!).

Good luck with your weight loss journey, I know you can do it!

Thank you all for your support! I really appreciate it!

I totally agree. Perseverence is just as important as diet and exercise because without perseverence your diet and exercise isn't going to get one very far!!! It is like a hidden 3rd component.
You are very insightful to recognize all of this and your plan seems to me sensible. Though it is just as important to make it sustainable. Remember-- this is for life, for your life.

BTW: WELCOME!!

Welcome, Sky! I hope you love this site as much as I do!

I've never been a size 6 (well, not since I was 11 anyway; maybe someday... ), but other than that, this pretty much describes me EXACTLY. I know just what you mean about living in the future you. And I've decided I'm going to live in the present while still looking forward to reaching my goals in the future. The time it will take me to get healthy won't pass any faster if I'm just waiting around for it to happen. In fact, I'll bet it would seem a whole lot longer.

Good luck!

sky:
I really like the WW program. It's actually fairly easy to do. Everything has food points, and you just count how many points you eat a day. It is similar to counting calories, except it takes other nutritional information like fat grams and fiber grams into account. I really like it because it teaches you balance and portion control and basically healthy eating. For example, I can eat a piece of pizza (maybe even 2) as long as the rest of my day is healthy.

So basically I love it!