Ok - lets get real!

[KristenNelson1]

I'm turning 26 in 3 days - Yay 7/11 - and, drum roll please...I weigh a whopping 303 lb. SO. I'm looking for any kind of support I can get, tips/recipes/love? Just kidding on that last one, I have a wonderful fiance who thinks I'm beautiful (to him) but lets get real - he total wants a "Barbie" 36" Bust 18" Waist 33" Hips. I'm sure you can tell I hide all my self loathing with sarcasm and jokes but a girls gotta cope...? So who's willing to put themselves out there and give me and my witty fat ass some help? Thanks in advance Kristen

[01gt4.6]

Welcome aboard Kristen. I didn't answer the poll because I'm in a witty mood myself. Right now the answer would be 1-2 years b/c the years of getting fat wasn't the battle.

The only love I dish out is tough love... usually. If you'd like you should join the 7 day woman's motivational thread. It gets stickied up top every Monday. All the women me together for support... I am the only guy there but it works out well. They claim it's good to get the opinion of a guy every now and then... but we all know that woman don't want a our opinion. I've come to the conclusion that they won't let me leave because they have so much fun harassing me.

[wildbeanerz]

Hi Kristen,

I get exactly where you are coming from. I used to (still do at times) make jokes all the time about my fat ass. It is a cover up for the pain that hides beneath but it is easier to show that side than what you are really thinking.

I agree with Mike. You should come over to the women's corner and join in on the weekly motivational thread. You'd be surprised how encouraging it is to be with other people (can't say 'women' since Mike is there, LOL) who are facing the exact same struggle as you are.

[KristenNelson1]

Thanks for the kind words - I'm definitely going to check out the 7 Day thread. I think what I have always struggled with over MANY years of trying to loosing weight is - my family! From age 10, I was a heathy dancer (dancing up to 16-20 hours a week) but I was still getting flack from my overly involved grandfather (He was a fashion illustrator staring at 'Barbies' all day long). I was healthy almost all the way through High School - still dancing. I blew out my knee and needed reconstructed surgery - recoup time was almost a year. I became depressed and self loathing and yadda yadda yadda. My parents divorced before I turned one - and always had a complex about it - but...it finally 'really' came to a head during and after the surgery.

Long and short of it - for the past 10 years, I feel like I'm in a rut even though I have a lot of great things going for me. I can be happy - JUST STOP PUTTING FOOD IN YOUR MOUTH KRISTEN! FOR NO REASON - I NEED TO REALZE THIS!

This is why I think having the support here on FitDay is going to be really important to me - I'm not going to run to my fiance every time I mess up. I can talk to you guys - even if there isn't a direct response, I'll know that I have written it down.

Now that I just realized I wrote a book...haha

[frenchhen3]

Kristen, welcome!

My best tip is to slow down when you eat! I used to eat so fast I never even tasted the food! When you can really TASTE the food it is easier to gauge when you are "no longer hungry" and be able to determine, "I'm good until the next meal." If you don't slow down and taste the food you rely on the physical fullness which isn't accurate at all. I really surprised myself over the weekend, and I ate one slice of pizza parlor pizza, it took nearly 15 minutes to eat it because I was so IN to tasting it. And after that one slice, I sincerely said, "Okay I am good until the next time we get a pizza." which for us is usually once every other month or so. (I make pizza at home that is a little more on the healthy side, but every so often we indulge the non-dieters in the house.) So that is my one KEY that has worked for me.

[KristenNelson1]

Thanks Frenchhen! I'm so happy to report back that on my second day of my weigh in - I'm 4 pounds down and officially under 300! What a great birthday present! I'm really sticking to FitDay and the allotted calories they recommended for me to reach my goal - and I'm so happy to say, I'm not having too much trouble...yet! I'm really enjoying the process of logging everything I eat and seeing myself make heathy choices.

I think this is the right path for me - I'm looking at food different! Which is huge for me!

[nichaleh]

I sit somewhere between '10 years' and 'since birth'
I was a normal weight child, probably on the thin side, until I hit puberty. I got curves all at once, and got just a little bit chubby. I remember being told it was just puppy fat and I would grow out of it. My weight went up and down a bit, though I was not really that big until after I moved out of home and straight into an abusive relationship. I just ate and ate and ate I don't know how big I was because I didn't venture anywhere near a scale. I was 20 when I left that relationship and the weight dropped off with the burdens of that life. For some reason it all started packing back on a few years later, this time I ended up at 103 kg (225lbs) . This time getting it off was much harder, I worked at it until I reached 80 kg (176kg) and then I got the wonderful suprise of being pregnant with my daughter. that was almost 8 years ago, I have yo-yo'd between 85 and 95 since then and since October last year I have decided it is bloody well time to get it off and KEEP IT OFF!

whew, sorry if that was long winded, but it is kind of cathartic to write it all out.

[liberatedmist]

Hi Kristen! Something that really helped me was setting a non-weight number goal. My goal was to run a marathon. I started a training class in January and needed to eat healthier and lose weight to reach the running goal. The class started out really slow, so I was able to complete each step of that goal as I lost weight....if that makes sense.

Anyway, almost 50 pounds later, I ran the marathon this past Sunday and it was awesome! It really helped me to have a physical goal that I needed to lose weight to get to. Since you mentioned dancing, maybe you can set some sort of dance goal. We have adult dance classes by me. Maybe you want to dance in the recital next spring? Start stretching and writing out some choreography you would like to do again. Or maybe dancing doesn't interest you anymore, but you always wanted to see the view from a local summit hike. You can just start walking up the hill in small amounts and as you lose weight you will be surprised at how much farther up the path you can go each week. I found this type of goal very motivational.

Lastly, the diet method that I used (and EVERYONE is different) was to eat small meals throughout the day. I found that this really worked for me as a diet and as a new lifestyle. I love to graze all day and constantly used to eat out of boredom. So when I first started and I was still in the bad habit of eating when I wasn't hungry, it was ok....because I ate some carrot sticks and hummus and it was allowed on my diet plan. Then I could eat again in an hour or 2 anyway and not blow my calories out of the water.

You will find your grove and a plan that works for you. Listen to everyone's suggestions and just understand that you need to find what works for your lifestyle and your goals. Being here and being accountable is a great step though! Best of luck! (and sorry I am rambling, but I had COFFEE this morning!!)