[Bravadiss]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and in desperate need of support. My name is Michelle. I'm a wife of 10 years and a mom to 3 semi-wonderful kids (lol) (one of which is disabled). I'm a stay at home mom and I love scrapbooking.

As the title of my post states... I've lost myself. I don't really know who I am anymore. I hate not having the energy I used to, I find it hard to keep up with my kids. My marriage isn't strained by any means but I know it could be better. I've ballooned up from my average of 145 pounds to 195 pounds. I've been this weight for the past several years... never going up and never going down. Even during pregnancy.

I want to start the Atkins diet but I'm afraid of failure. I know that's not the attitude to go into a "change of life" which is why I'm here. If I had a buddy and some support I'm SURE I could do it!

I don't even really know where to start. All I know is I'm on a road to a 50 pound weight loss and I need support to get started and avoid all those "forks" in the road along the way.

Thanks for any support/advice anyone can give. : )

Michelle

[scorchin]

U might wanna try the south beach diet I read both books and found that the south beach one was a lil easier to follow ( specially if u like carbs) at least that how i read it however I ended up not being able to do either diet so Im sticking with exercising lots and lowering calorie intake to around 1000-1300 ( its ok if it goes over 1300 but not everyday) which for my height 5'1'' and goal weight it said to maintain a weight of 122 eat around 1500 cals a day so I first started off very slow eating 1000-1400 cals. Then lowering a lil at a time. I think the lowest i want it to get is 1000-1200 cals a day. Then when i lose that weight i was slowly raise my calories to 1500.
I would recommend a food journal no matter what diet u get on a great one online is www.fitday.com i use it sometime but I find it easier to write down what i eat and look at the labels. Also an exercise log which fitday also has and it also tell u how much calories u burn doing certain exercises by using ur height and weight and activitly level.
Incase u wanna know:
Here is an way to see how many cals u need a day to mantain ur current

weight or to see how many u need for ur goal weight.

For sedentary people: Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day

For moderately active people: Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day

For active people: Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

I would first record for a few day how much ur eating now and see how it compares to what u should be eating to maintain ur goal weight; then think about lowering it. If u wanna try low cal diet......
Hope this made sense and helped,
Heather
IF U WANNA CHAT OR ANYTHING FEEL FREE TO PM ME HAVE A GREAT DAY

[Rostar]

hi Michelle - I empathised a lot with your post. I'm a working mom with 2 great boys and a great husband but i too feel like i've lost myself somewhere along the way. I'm sick of feeling this way and sick of feeling that my life is shaped for me, instead of me being the one who shapes my life. I've started by trying to take control of my weight - I've been 5'4" and 187lb (give or take a few pounds) for the last few years and I'm determined to do something about it. I joined Weightwatchers 10 weeks ago and I'm slowly but surely losing weight - I feel like this is the first step to regaining some sense of me! Its not easy when you're a busy mom but I know that you'll find the right system that works for you, whether its South Beach or Atkins or calorie-counting yourself ... by posting here, you've already started on your journey, best of luck!

[outofshapemom]

Hi Michelle,
I feel the same way that you do. I have been married for about 10 1/2 yrs, am a stay at home mom to 4 children, and have been feeling lost for some time now. I keep asking myself why I ever let myself gain this much weight(60 lbs since my marriage). I was at 125 when I married my husband, and am now at 185. I beat myself up over it everyday, promising that tomorrow will be 'the day'. I would love to have some buddies to help motivate me, and vice versa.

Clara

[Bravadiss]

Thanks everyone for responding. : )

Scorchin, Thanks for all the advice. I'm looking into that South Beach diet to see if it may be easier on me. I have never dieted before and I'm really afraid of the Atkins (only because most of everything me and my family eats is CARBS. Ahhhh. LOL). And that journal sounds like a good idea. I will definately check into that. : ) I'm glad to hear your diet is working for you. That's great! What kind of exercises are you doing?

Rostar, wow, we do sound a lot alike. I hate hearing that someone is going through the same thing but at the same time relieved that I'm not alone. Glad to hear the WW is working for you. Keep it up! Oh, and you are so right about the kids. It makes it hard. But now I've got two in school and one at home maybe it'll be a little easier for me. : )

Clara, like I just said to Rostar, I feel bad that it's not just me but relieved I'm not alone. I know exactly how you feel. I'm a scrapbooker and I just recently started to scrap my wedding pics. I looked so different then. I think that's when it hit me that it's time to do something about it. I think I've gained about 60 (or more) since I got married as well. Maybe we can help each other out. : )

Thanks again guys,
-Michelle

[Wishtobethin35]

Hi! I am new to this site and I do know how you feel. I have been married for almost 19 years to my high School Sweetheart and we have Two Wonderful Girls both in High School now. I have been over weight for almost 7 years now and I am not ME! I weigh 230 right now and I hate it, I hate the way I look, & feel. I tried atkins but with the way my Family eats it made it so hard for me, I am thinking on trying it one more time. I know alot of people who have lost alot on atkins and when I gave up I felt like a failure! But I am to the point I can't take much more with all this weight and I am tired all the time and don't want to do anything or go anywhere. I have to change this pattern and get myself BACK! I told myself I have to make time for ME so I am going to try really hard starting tomarrow. I would love support and I will give others support also, it is so much easier when you have others giving support to you and then you giving it back to others. Well I feel like I have rambled enough. Hang in there everyone and lets all help eachother and we all will make it!!!

[scorchin]

i do treadmill walking climbing stairs(hardest one) curcuit training stationary bike pilates and now i'm trying slim in 6 videos i like it so fat today was my first day.....

[hippiechic]

Hi and welcome..... all the advice you have gotten sounds good, to add my two cents... I also debated on trying atkins, but like you I consumed a pretty good amount of carbs and I knew I would not be successful at this diet, so like miss Scorchin I decided a more logical route would be to just cut calories down to a certain amount a day, I aim for 1200-1400, but usually end up at around 1100. keeping a daily journal of what I am putting in my mouth helps immensely, because when i used to guess I was way off... Atkins has been successful for a lot of people but I have also heard it can be unhealthy. And anytime you just cut your calories you are going to lose weight, there really isnt any magic diet or pill or anything like that, losing weight is a Long process and a hard one at that,just pick the right change for you and your body and with the right support and mindset anything is possible.... so good luck to you.

(p.s. there is a thread called "april chicks" in the support section, Scorchin and I both belong to, the girls on there are AWESOME, read through them if you get a chance there are 3 of them now, and we love having new people join, the more the merrier, right!!! )