This is me, and my goal
 

Hello, my name is anna. I am 32 years old and i live in upstate new york. I currently weight 343 pounds, a fact which utterly disgusts me. I have made a pledge to myself that i am going to loose the weight. I am giving myself 3 years to get to MY ideal weight of 150 pounds. I am trying to become more active, but it is hard because i have no one to walk with. I need a buddy. Someone that i can walk with and call when the food cravings become impossible to ignore. I am an emotional eater and even though i know i shouldn't do it, i still do and hate myself for it. I have started a food log, and realized that i am eating about 2700 calories a day. My goal is to get to 1900. I came close the day before yesterday, a fact of which i am immensely proud. I am here because i am hoping to hear words of realistic encouragement. No one else understands, it's not a big deal to them. My husband tells me that i am fine the way i am and that i should not want to lose weight. He doesn't understand that i am not happy the way that i am. I don't even want to leave the house i am so embarrassed by the way i look. Thank you all for reading my rant.

Welcome Anna,

Your feelings are exactly like I felt. I started in a similar place as you and it has taken me 3 years to get to where I am.

Please come back to 3fcs often. There is lots of support here on these boards.

I know you can do it Anna! One step at a time. Right now I think 1900 calories is a good step for you. Just make sure those 1900 come from good, healthy, filling foods. You may find that you don't even need that amount of calories if you are eating things that will keep you full. Protein and fiber with breakfast is one thing I'd highly recommend! Whole grains and plenty of fruits and veggies will keep you full and can help with the cravings.

are you up North or more Central. I'm near Syracuse, how about you?

Thank you. I am doing a program on the internet that is allowing me to track my foods and put in the fat and other information. It then tells me what i am lacking or what i may be eating to much of. My big issue is the saturated fats. I'm suppossed to stay under 64 grams and that has been very hard for me since i CRAVE sweets so badly. I figured 3 years was a reasonable time frame. I doon't want to give myself 6 months to lose 100 pounds, fail and then quit.

Welcome Anna,

Matt is right, these boards are very helpful. The people here are awesome, very supportive, and sweet.
You can do it, you've made an important first step, signing up.

twinmoomaplusone, I live in cortland ny. It's about 25 miles from syracuse.

Anna,

I know exactly how you feel. We have similar starting weights, and I know how hard it is to be active when you don't even want to leave the house. Feel free to PM me if you need anyone to talk to.

Same age, 1/2 hour from each other, was pretty close your current weight and here I am today, 18 months later.
I just recently started coming to this forum, so I'm sure it will be most helpfull to stick around these parts for the support since your hubby is not forthecoming. I did my journey with my husband so it became incredibly easy to get passionate about it, We both are always on the same page.
Too bad you get him to see the need not just for 'skinny' reasons but for your health.
Do you have children?
Can you get access to the Ymca down there?

twinmommaplus one, Yes I have 4 children, ages 8,6,3 and 1. I am going to get a family membership at the YMCA in January when i get my financial aid refund. I am determined to make this work. I am hoping that once my husband see's that i am serious and he see's results he will jump on the band wagon. He is almost 400 pounds and it kills me that he isn't more concerned for his health. He is a truck driver so i understand that it can be difficult to eat well, but i would like him to at least try to become more healthy. Heart disease runs in his family and the men in his family rarely live past 60. I am sick of being tired all the time, no matter how much sleep i get. I am tired of feeling old and gross. I know that i can do this:carrot:

Wow you are a Busy Momma! I have 3! 5 yr old and 2 year old twins! So I know how hard it is! Try for the scholarship at the ymca! You could get a family membership at a huge discount and that could help you afford it.

When I started I did it by Portion control and calorie counting. STeadily increased my activity with no specific work-out routine or set work-out schedule. Just more walks, parking further away from store entrance, etc.

What I want you to learn is never be hungry, if you are then eat. I know it's sounds weird but it's fact. You are hungry, eat......show this to your husband and he will be happy! Never be hungry again!
It's not about drastically dropping yourself down to where it's too hard and it's all about food replacements! You know all the healthier versions of foods to pick from!

Keep Journaling! It's where I started. You will learn your emotional and daily habits from this. SparkPeople is great for putting in your calories!

So what have eaten today and what are you having for dinner?

This morning i had a bowl of apples and cinnamon oatmeal with a 24 ounce bottle of water. For lunch i had a ceasar salad and a 16.9 ounce bottle of water and 2 apple slices with a teeny bit of caramel on them. Not sure what i am going to do for dinner, waiting on my husband to get home. I have to go to fulton and see my sister in law. He'll probably want to eat out. Any tips on places that have nutritional information so i can keep up with my journal?

You absolutely CAN do it.

Like they said above.... do it for your health, not what others think or say. There will come a day when you will no longer crave those sweet things anymore like you did... in fact, the day might come where you start craving the healthy things you've been putting into your body. :) I know mine did and does! :)

It's not about always being good, to me... it's about being better. And it makes a difference.

Good luck. :)

starfishkitty, thank you for your words of encouragement. I think this forum will help me alot because i will be able to reach out to people when i get down on myself about my weight. It is a vicious cycle. I feel bad, i eat, i feel bad. The journaling has helped alot. I am more aware of what i put into my mouth and i am making better food choices. I am also eating breakfast every morning. A bowl of oatmeal. I have read that breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism and i never used to eat breakfast or lunch. I would just skip meals and then be so hungry by time dinner rolled around that i would eat huge portions. A lot of my issue is portion control as well. When i look at a serving size, i think to myself, i am still going to be hungry after that.:o

Hey Anna, I feel your pain!

Oatmeal - Fantastic...Happy to hear you are eating breakfast....keeping doing that! Other great options are a whole wheat toast slice with 2 egg whites!

Lunch- Again....great! Lunch is a huge opportunity to load in your fruits/veggies for the day! Next time at the store try some Spinach salad, use a healthy oil like olive oil and vinegar for your dressing! It helps to rid belly bulge.

Dinner- where did you end up?

Yes if you wanted to journal online you can use sparkspeople, but I always took the accountability and wrote it out on paper so I had no excuses, left my journal in the kitchen and would tally my cals after each meal, so I always knew what I had left. Even still I typically can have up to 800 for dinner/snack!

Anna, isn't it New York state law that chain restaurants must list calories on their menus? If not, a lot of big restaurants list specific nutrition information on their websites so you can track sodium (a big one), carbs, fat, protein blah blah.

3FC is an excellent support system. We're all buddies here!

I agree with krampus, 3fc is amazing because there's always at least one person (usually many people) who can relate to your struggles and successes. Everyone here is going through the same thing. Stick around here and check regularly and I guarantee you will gain a ton of knowledge and be successful. Good luck to you in your weight loss efforts!

Hey, I was born in upstate NY! :D My family fell off the boat from Germany and stuck in upstate NY, so I have lots of family still there. They're all in Elmira, Syracuse and Buffalo.

This is a great and supportive place! It's extremely informative. You'll learn so much about yourself and about how your body works. I think you're off to a fantastic start!

I want to share my own little "secret" to my success. My problem with weight loss was never that I couldn't lose weight but that I the weight was always too slow for me so I'd quit. Then one day I got really curious about where I could be in a year's time if I just didn't give up. So I made a commitment to be on plan for one year without any excuses. Once I did that, the scale lost all its power and the weight loss was relatively easy.

Anna, Eliana has the right idea! Small permanent changes can be life changing! Commit to it. When I started, I decided that I was only able to commit to small, incremental changes--baby steps. When I had one good habit in place, I would add another. It sounds like you are off to a great start by adding a good breakfast. Stick around here! The support on this board has been instrumental ( I cannot stress it enough.) to my success and it will be to yours too.

I am so excited. I stepped on the scale for the first time since 12/6 and i went from 343 to 338. I lost 5 pounds!! That really brings home to me that the small changes, not buying soda, counting calories and actually measuring portion sizes, is working!!! I am happy. Last night i ended up eating a grilled chicken sandwich and apple slices, minus the caramel, from mcdonalds last night. Tonight i am going to try a stroganoff recipe i found. We'll see what happens. Thanks so much. It means alot to me.

I am a very emotional eater as well. Some days are better than others. I have learned to try to work through my feelings instead of reaching for food. Sometimes when I am sad, upset, or angry about something I make myself think about it and why I am feeling that way and I try to get rid of the feeling by working through it and not grabbing something to eat. It can be very, very difficult and it doesn't always work, but it's getting better. Good luck to you! :)

Congrats on the 5 pounds Anna!

Search around the 3fc's site and you will find lots of "rooms" for various topics and issues specific to certain people (weight, age, interests, etc.). It is a fun place and we are all here to support each other.

YOU CAN DO IT!