Hi everyone!
I have been browsing these forums for a long time now, but never got around to joining in. I think now is a good time as I just got a big reality-check as far as my weight goes, so I could use all the support I can get
This is long, sorry, but I have a lifetime of weight issues that I'm trying to roll up into one little post
A little about me... I've been overweight as long as I can remember. Even as a 3 year old I was chubby, despite the fact that I come from a family of rather small people. My weight has never stayed steady though, it's always been very up and down. When I was 16 I remember weighing in at 210 and being horrified. I started eating healthier, walking a bit, and eventually I was down to 148 pounds. I stayed in the 148-155 range until I was 18, when I started dating my now husband. As soon as we started dating and I started being around his bad eating habits, the weight started piling on and I was quickly back up to 210. Of course I'm not blaming him for my weight issues, even though he does eat terribly, I was choosing to be lazy and eat way too much. It's just tough to be around someone who eats an insane amount of food like he does, but he stays in decent shape - he is about 5'11 and just under 200 pounds, and he's got a good amount of muscle on him. Well anyways we got engaged when I was 20, and I immediately started counting calories and exercising again. I went from 210 to 170 in four months by eating about 1500 calories a day and walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes to an hour 5 days a week. Nothing extreme. I maintained around 170 until we got married, and after that immediately went back to my old habits, only worse this time around. I am 22 now and today weigh in at 234... which means I have gained 64 pounds in the past year. I never in my life thought I would see a number that large on the scale. In fact when I got down to 170 before the wedding, I was determined to keep losing. Clearly that didn't happen. For the past several months I've been telling myself every day that I will start eating right, counting calories, and exercising. Every day, I go right back to eating fast food and doing nothing. Which brings me to my reality check today.. (warning: some "female" issues ahead!)
So I went to the gynecologist for my annual exam and to get my birth control pill prescription for another year. Last year when I went I was 170 pounds. I remember they commented that I must work out a lot because my blood pressure was really good. Not the case this year. The doctor gave me a speech about how unhealthy my weight is, how I'm heading towards big problems, etc. It was pretty humiliating -- everytime I've been to this doctor it happened to be at a time when I was at a lower weight, so I've never had this happen before. To make it even worse, she said my blood pressure is very high and that she didn't want me on hormonal birth control. That's a BIG issue for me because I am terrified of getting pregnant, plus when I wasn't on the pill I had super irregular periods, horrible cramping, and got horribly sick to my stomach every time it was "that time of the month." I've been on the pill since I was 17 and it's done wonders for me. Well, I ended up crying like an idiot there and she did in fact end up giving me another 12 months of birth control. Ughh, worst doctor's appointment ever.
But like I said, everything that happened at the doctor's today was a big reality check. Before, I always said I wanted to lose weight to fit into my smaller jeans, but it wasn't something that was really a priority for me. Now it's a matter of my health... I'm 5'8 and my doctor says she thinks I would be in great shape if I could get down to 150-165 pounds. I can do it. I've been there before. I just have to make my health a priority. My main problem is fast food: I freaking LOVE fast food. I eat it for just about every meal (ughh, I know, terrible) I have added up my typical day's calories and it is just under 5,000 calories a day... that is ridiculous and I know it.
I know how to lose weight in a healthy way, at this point it's just a matter of making myself exercise and having enough self control to stay away from fast food (when I go to fast food I get enough food to feed 3 people, it's not like I'm ordering a 4 piece chicken nugget lol.) Reading the posts here are inspiring and I'm hoping this place can offer support. My husband is thin, my sister (who is also our roommate) is a size 2, my mom is skinny, all of my friends are skinny. Nobody I know in real life understands this. It's nice to have people who understand what I'm going through. My goal is to be at 150 pounds at this time next year.
Hi, I'm new here =)
