You know what the problem is with this forum?! Everyone is just TOO DARN successful!

Sure, a lot of posters started at 300+ pounds, but now they are all under 300 and for those of us NOT, as much as we can admire their awesome success, it can also remind us of how far we need to go! So if you are just starting this journey to good health, let's support each other so we can someday be like the incredible success stories we read about here! We can and will get there!

I'm on good carb/ low carb, exercising at home ( when I get under 300 I'll find a gym) and my biggest challenge is drinking enough water. Who are you and what are you doing? What do you hope to do/ feel like " someday?" SOMEDAY I'll be able to walk without my thighs rubbing together and getting a bloody rash.

Please join me and let's do this!

I'll join you! I'm doing calorie counting with some caveats (eat less bread, sweets), which thus far has been just what I need. I try and walk every day - but I try and do 5 days a week if not. I'm lucky enough to live in LA where it's warm enough for outdoor stuff all year round. My roommates and I try and mix in some hiking/beach walking where we can.

I've attempted to lose weight many times in the past, to varying degrees of success, but this time I know I will be successful because I have finally abandoned the self-loathing and perfectionism. I am awesome, and the only way I'll fail is if I give up.

I have so many "somedays" we could be here awhile - but I'll just pick a few.

- Someday I'll be able to go to the beach without wearing a suit of armor
- Someday I'll be able to fly the world without worrying about being squished
- Someday I'll be able to wear high riding boots
- Someday I'll be able to give Lane Bryant the middle finger forever!

I'm not "new" but I am not super successful either. I'm down from my original weight but pretty much have just maintained my weight since.

Bridget! You ARE awesome! Oh man, I LOVE Lame Bryant. They have a perfume now, you know. I bet it smells like desperation, Twinkies, and that " soothing balm" I have to put on my saggy stomach to keep it from getting raw. YEEEEHAW! I cannot wait for summer so they put out some more of those sexy sleeveless sublimation tops with butterflies and rhinestones and glitter and wolves on them, those are my fave.

Silentric, hey maintaining is way better than gaining! 314 is fantastic!

Sugarzombie - totally, and I'm not knocking it, I hope to be back in the "losing" zone again. Maintenance is okay, but I think I need to push back into the loss column and get me under 300. I think that's doable by my birthday (in April).

Someday I will be able to get on a plane without stressing about whether or not I'll need to ask for a seatbelt extender.

Someday I won't feel horrible that someone gets stuck sitting next to me on a plane, bus, at a concert/sporting event.

I'm just starting out and while I only have a few pounds to go in the over 300, it will be a while before I'm far from it. My someday..

Someday I'll be able to go on a roller coaster with my son without having to worry about being too big and having to walk the "walk of shame" as everyone stares at me, annoyed that I held up the line.

Hi all-
Count me in!! I'm so new I just joined 2 days ago. And today I finally said to myself, quit the b.s., just pick a plan and go for it. Soooo, I have to go low carb/high protein. Only way I lost weight in the past and didn't climb the walls from starvation. And the comment about Lame Bry. . .LMAO. Too funny. Maybe you are on to something with the perfume "Desperation". O.k ladies, good luck to you all, we can do this!!!!!
Someday. . . I will look at myself in a full length mirror.

Yeah, I totally love paying $90 for jeans that will look like crap on me. And first you have to figure out your size from a complicated grid of colors, shapes, and fake low numbers. Yessss, I'm a size 6 yellow triangle! Dumbasses.

I also really don't understand their fascination with embroider - it looks like arse on 90% of the world, especially fat people. Between that and the need for every garment to be sleeveless, a trip there is like paying money to get kicked in the taco.

I seriously can't wait until I never have to set foot in their store again.

Yep, I single-handedly keep my local Lane Bryant in business and I hate it.

I'm relatively new, and while I love participating with the vets, this is a good place for me to jump in. I'm trying to kick the exercise into gear in February (my gym bag is packed for tomorrow!) and otherwise, I'm trying to eat intuitively for at least three months. If that doesn't work--and I have vowed not to give up on it until the end of April--then I will start trying to count calories more strictly.

SOMEDAY I will be able to make plans without asking myself "am I likely to embarrass myself at this event due to my weight?"

Bridget Jones- Just have to agree with you on the embroidery on the jeans. . .I bought a pair of dark wash jeans (because the darker the skinnier I would look) with flowers embroidered down the side of each leg, along the seam, about an inch wide stripe of them. Anyhow, went to a party thinking I looked pretty good and a guy friend of my said laughingly that I looked like Liberace. I don't know if you are too young to know who that is , but it was not a compliment. That was the last time I wore jeans. Fat jeans are just too ugly, at least that has been my experience.
Telorida- Your plan sounds sane. I hope it works for you.

I'm so in this! It's so nice to hear about everyone's stories and it gives us hella motivation, but at the same time it's kind of intimidating first starting off and you feel like you'll never get there!

I hate Lane Bryant. I pretty much hate all stores carrying plus size clothes. Just because we're bigger does not mean we should be paying close to 100 dollars for a pair of jeans! Ridunkulous!

My whole plan is KNOWING what calories are in what, but mostly eating better, and portion control. So far it's working. I'm not feeling like I'm starving...sometimes I feel hungrier than I feel like I should but it's not to a point where I feel like I have to eat everything in the fridge right.this.second. Lolol! It's actually easier than I thought, and that's what scares me. I feel like it has to go down sometime. I'm not really keeping anything off limits, but I'm definitely not trusting myself with stuff that I know makes me go over to so far away, and when I can trust myself with portions.

I'm drinking water like it's going out of style. It sucks because I hate water. Crystal light here I come!

Someday I would like to feel comfortable in my body. I want to be able to walk outside and feel cute and sexy and not constantly have to worry about whether or not my fat pudgy stomach is showing and pulling my shirt down. I want to be able to walk in to whatever store I want and pick out what I like vs. anything that will fit. Also, I have a friend that always says we should go shopping together. Sweetie, I have 200 lbs on you easily. Nowhere we shop is gonna fit us both!

It's hard losing weight, but at this point I think it's harder being heavy. That's where a lot of my motivation is coming from.

HA! I had to laugh because I agree with this so much. An also-fat friend of mine once said that the phrase "like flies to honey" should be replaced with "like beads to a Lane Bryant tunic." I don't know if they still put sequins and beads on everything, but places like Ulla Popken and Roaman's still do.

And their jeans ARE expensive. I just discovered my one pair of Venezia jeans finally wore out. They were $75 at the time, lasted 5 years so I can't complain, but still.

I'm not terribly new but new enough that I'm happy to join in. Sometimes it IS overwhelming, being the only person on a thread in other parts of the forum where I'm struggling but everyone else is having tons of success. I'm glad it's working for them, don't get me wrong.

I know I'm paraphrasing this terribly...But one poster has as her tag line "Being fat is hard. Losing weight is hard. Pick your hard"....

I'm looking forward to feeling pretty again...
To letting my husband actually touch me!
To NOT getting chub rub in embarrassing places..
To not having to squeeze around a tray of sterile instruments, sucking it in and PRAYING TO GOD that my fat doesn't touch them and we have to start again.
To shopping at my favorite resale shop and having CHOICES. Not just what fits.

Good luck ladies! =]

I normally loathe all the kumbaya life-affirming quotes everywhere - but this is probably my favorite when it comes to weight loss. It basically tells it like it is, which I appreciate, and emphasizes the choice we have in the matter. It really is a choice - and when I think of it that way, it seems less daunting and out of my control.

Losing weight is very difficult, but so is living life as a fat person.

Between the two, it's obvious where I stand at this point in my life.