- Joined
- Aug 16, 2007
- Messages
- 5,821
Hi everyone!
I'm going to be on a long journey here and I have no one else to talk to about this besides my husband. My husband is great and very supportive but I just need other people who may have been through this or who are going through this to talk to!
When I was in my childhood I ate badly (what Mom gave me) but I was a competitive figure skater and was very active. I was never skinny but I was within a healthy range and I was quite fit from all of the skating. When I was 12 my Father passed away and within in a year I had to stop skating for financial reasons. My Mother also had to work two jobs after that which effectively left me home alone from when I went to school to about 8-10pm depending on the night. Fast food became my best friend.
From that age I became a convenience eater. I drove up to a window and got my food. Done. I also worked from that age at least 20 hours a week during high school and full time while I went to college full time. My bad food patterns never broke. I didn't own a scale and I didn't want to know the number. I knew I had been steadily gaining a massive amount of weight since Junior High School. The first time I really weighed myself since high school was after my honeymoon when I was 22 years old. I weighed 296 lbs and I'm about 5'5". I literally could not believe it! I was in shock and pretty horrified by it, I didn't think I was that heavy, I didn't feel that heavy, I knew it was bad but I didn't think it was that bad. Within a year, through a very changed diet, I had gotten down to 239 lbs. I felt pretty accomplished. Then I started my first year of teaching and fell right back into my old bad habits. I gained almost all of it back within a year which brings me to now.
My best friend had also struggled with her weight for her entire life. She has done Jenny Craig and lost a ton, and gained it all back, Weight Watchers and lost a ton and gained it all back, she even had a lap band put in to have it removed about a year and a half later, weighing more than when she had it put in. I talked to her about me getting back on the wagon, for good, and all she said to me was "I can't talk about this weight stuff". I had always been there for her so it was quite a sting.
I've been back on my healthy wagon for 8 days and have gone down to 278 from 290. I know it's the initial change shock and water weight and that it will not come off this quickly for the end. Mainly I'm posting here to join a community of people I can talk to about the struggles I know I will encounter during this.
So what I'm doing: My diet consists of a lot of different things, it' much more varied than it was the first time around so I'm hoping that will help me out. I basically eat a small breakfast, small lunch, mid-day snack, dinner, and a desert. If I feel like I'm starving I'll eat a small something to keep it going. I do keep a food journal which I didn't do before and I already really like it. I plan on updating weekly and if anyone has any questions for me at all please ask! I do better when I have people to talk to.
Thanks!
I'm going to be on a long journey here and I have no one else to talk to about this besides my husband. My husband is great and very supportive but I just need other people who may have been through this or who are going through this to talk to!
When I was in my childhood I ate badly (what Mom gave me) but I was a competitive figure skater and was very active. I was never skinny but I was within a healthy range and I was quite fit from all of the skating. When I was 12 my Father passed away and within in a year I had to stop skating for financial reasons. My Mother also had to work two jobs after that which effectively left me home alone from when I went to school to about 8-10pm depending on the night. Fast food became my best friend.
From that age I became a convenience eater. I drove up to a window and got my food. Done. I also worked from that age at least 20 hours a week during high school and full time while I went to college full time. My bad food patterns never broke. I didn't own a scale and I didn't want to know the number. I knew I had been steadily gaining a massive amount of weight since Junior High School. The first time I really weighed myself since high school was after my honeymoon when I was 22 years old. I weighed 296 lbs and I'm about 5'5". I literally could not believe it! I was in shock and pretty horrified by it, I didn't think I was that heavy, I didn't feel that heavy, I knew it was bad but I didn't think it was that bad. Within a year, through a very changed diet, I had gotten down to 239 lbs. I felt pretty accomplished. Then I started my first year of teaching and fell right back into my old bad habits. I gained almost all of it back within a year which brings me to now.
My best friend had also struggled with her weight for her entire life. She has done Jenny Craig and lost a ton, and gained it all back, Weight Watchers and lost a ton and gained it all back, she even had a lap band put in to have it removed about a year and a half later, weighing more than when she had it put in. I talked to her about me getting back on the wagon, for good, and all she said to me was "I can't talk about this weight stuff". I had always been there for her so it was quite a sting.
I've been back on my healthy wagon for 8 days and have gone down to 278 from 290. I know it's the initial change shock and water weight and that it will not come off this quickly for the end. Mainly I'm posting here to join a community of people I can talk to about the struggles I know I will encounter during this.
So what I'm doing: My diet consists of a lot of different things, it' much more varied than it was the first time around so I'm hoping that will help me out. I basically eat a small breakfast, small lunch, mid-day snack, dinner, and a desert. If I feel like I'm starving I'll eat a small something to keep it going. I do keep a food journal which I didn't do before and I already really like it. I plan on updating weekly and if anyone has any questions for me at all please ask! I do better when I have people to talk to.
Thanks!
i think its great you're doing this , congrats on taking the first step! im afraid im not too great with diets myself, so ill leave it to other folks for tips on that...but can i suggest swimming? its low impact so a good place to start, and regular exercise makes you feel great, and is all part of the healthier lifestyle that you want for yourself. Not to mention it can help your body in terms of how the weight comes off KWIM? that is as you lose the weight, the exercise should help minimise signs of it, stretch marks etc (correct me if im wrong please folks!)...
and when I started university I basically wanted to stop obsessing about my weight and just let my body find "its natural set point". HA! I think my body's natural set point is about 500lbs. I did find a set point of sorts around 200lbs, where I could eat crap and no excercise and maintain that weight. 
I have just started using the gym myself and suprisingly I love it. I go with a friend when there are few other people around and we put on some fun music and sweat it out together! She has a great body and that is my motivation to look more like her. When hubby returns from a month away (for work) I'd like to suprise him with no muffin top... 
Keeping a food diary is also a wonderful way to change your food habits.
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