Hi everyone! New here :)

steph22ak

Not new to my fitness pal but am new to trying out the forums! I’m in my 30s and pretty much have been overweight my whole life (and have been trying to lose weight that whole time too) with at least 100 pounds to lose! Looking for support, motivation, inspiration etc and want to be there for you all too! Really want to get rid of this weight for once and for all!

emmerin78

Welcome, Steph! So glad you're here We are a small but really great group of folks here. The boards seem to go in fits and starts of activity, but now with so many folks home due to COVID, I'm really hoping for an upswing in activity (I think we could really all use some extra support).

I'm Tara, I'm 41 and live outside of Philly with my husband and our 2.5-year-old twin boys. I've been here on MFP since 2013. I've also been overweight my entire life, topping out at 379 in July 2013 after a lifetime of many, many diets. I had gastric sleeve surgery in July 2013, and lost almost 100 lbs in the year following that. However, the ensuing years brought a lot of stress with the breakup of my first marriage, graduate school, the death of my father, my marriage to my now (and forever ) husband and the birth of our boys. My weight has slowly crept back up and I found myself at almost 330 lbs this fall. I've realized that I need to stop waiting for life to calm down or for things to "get better" for me to start prioritizing my health and self-care, and that planning my meals and logging here are going to be things that I need to do for the rest of my life.

Please feel free to friend me and keep in touch! We've got this! Best, Tara

dward59

Greetings Steph, and welcome.

I too have had hopes the group might pick up again as the world is right now, but then I went on a couple weeks of spending more time stressing and using that as an excuse to eat comfort food. But I got up this morning, stepped on the scale, was happy to see it had come back down from the last time I checked in this period, but was still above where I had started March.

We have, if you didn't notice, monthly accountability posts. Really, you are accountable to yourself, but it is nice to get kudo's or kitb's as needed. Any kicks are delivered gently.

As for me, well, I was here when this group started. I joined in prep for Gastric Sleeve surgery. After spending decades arguing with doctors that I didn't want surgery, my PCP got my attention in the best way possible. I was in his office at 450 lbs. On oxygen because I had so much fat in my chest my lungs couldn't expand, could hardly walk. After bringing the surgery up again and me giving my usual responses, he finally asked. "What kind of flowers do you like?" What, why? "I'll send them to your funeral. If you don't do something drastic, you WILL be dead in two years. Probably much sooner. You've been playing the diet game for decades, how HAS that worked for you? You need another tool as your best chance to live..." So in 2013 I also had the surgery. I lost from the point in his office, down to 275 when life threw us another curve and we had to move for work. I held pretty well for the first year, but then had a bone in my foot snap while walking the dog. I was a full time teleworker, so no movement, constant access to the kitchen lead to bad days, which turned into bad years. I avoided the scale, but one morning I woke up feeling horrible. I climbed on the scale and found I was back up to 391 pounds. Here I am now.

I no longer work. While I'm only 60, my wife and I have retired. We were looking forward to a lot of travel. Now who knows what the COVID world will bring us? Just figuring out our new normal.

So, that's probably more of me than you wanted to know, but there you have it. Like you I was overweight at a young age. From the age of six on, and it got worse as an adult. I'm sure you've heard before, make the changes now. It gets harder the older you get to lose the weight. If you have questions, throw them out. I'm sure someone on here will have some insight.

Again, welcome. Just let us know how we can help.

steph22ak

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and sharing your stories!