My name is Amber. I am a 23 year old mother of two little girls. I am tired of being tired. It seems like my once clean bill of health is quickly deteriorating, as is my family history. I have a grandmother that just passed, a grandfather with two clogged neck arteries, a mother with a clogged neck artery, and an aunt that had her first heart attack at 42. I am not going down that road. I have kids that need me, and so I am going to fix this little mess I have gotten myself into.
I am 5'11", and last week I weighed 325 pounds. I have come to dislike myself as a person (largely because of my weight), and I am over that. I am ready to make myself into the person I NEED to be. I want to enjoy all that life has to offer me, and I can't. My anxiety and stress level is sky high, on top of just a crappy feeling all the time. I hope that losing the weight will help me learn to respect and love myself, and give me the energy to live the life I want to.
Today, I am down to 319. So 6 pounds. I have hired a personal trainer (we start January 1st!!), and I am starting to ease myself into my new life now. I look forward to getting to know alot of you here, and leaning on you for the inspiration I need to get through this.
welcome Amber, taking control of your health and fitness is the best thing you can do for yourself and family. It's not always going to be an easy road, so stay focus and keep pushing forward. You will be amazed at how much energy you'll have when the weight starts to come off. That alone will help you keep pushing.
The good thing is that you are still young. Your body will probably react better to the changes than someone older. Set some mini, short term goals but keep the mindset that this is a long term deal and you're in it for the long haul.
Welcome Amber! sounds like you've made some good first steps. I don't want you to die either! So keep going, one little step at a time will get you there!
thanks everyone! my trainer comes complete with a meal plan lol, so i hope that she can help me keep my eating under control.
i am paranoid about the way my body will look when i am done. the extra skin has my cringing, i dont want to be even more unhappy with myself (although i think that wont be the case...i am PRETTY unhappy right now).
i will check out the other forums! thanks so much for the warm welcome!
I believe that once again youth is on your side. Your skin should have a pretty good bit of elasticity. Naturally the faster you lose it, the hard it will be for the elasticity to keep up.
Welcome to the forums, Amber! Regarding your skin, Mike's right, it has a lot to do with elasticity, but I think as long as you lose the weight naturally (i.e. not through surgery) you won't have any significant problems with loose skin... at our age (I'm 24) the body tends to adapt to its conditions really well so as you lose weight your skin will automatically start to tighten up. If you lose really fast it might feel "less tight" but the longer you spend at a given weight the less that feeling will linger.
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-Nik
My rules:
1) eat real food - more vegetables, moderate meat, moderate fruits, less grains, less sugar, less vegetable oils.
2) exercise - moderate intensity cardio, sprinting, heavy lifting, dedicated stretching and mobility.
3) live - relax, de-stress, meditate.
Disclaimer: I'm not professionally qualified to make any formal recommendations. I've just done my homework and I'm my own guinea pig. All of my data, unless otherwise cited, comes from a sample size of n=1 (me).
Welcome! I can say that when I lost a significant amount of weight at approximately your age (the last time I got to a healthy weight) I had no problems at all with lose skin. As has been said, you've got youth on your side.
I don't want to die..
I am down 9 pounds now! woot! A nice jumpstart is always nice to keep motivated lol.
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