Hi

CathiWiltsey

Hello all,
I just joined and am very interested in seeing where this all goes. To introduce myself: I am a married 37 year old teacher with a 4 year old daughter. I have been overweight for most of my life and really need to do something about it. I have started and stopped so many times I have lost count. Beside the desire to get healthy, my daughter is my biggest motivation. I want to be a better role model for her and I want to be around for a long time to enjoy her life with her. I don't want to get winded playing soccer in the backyard.

I have two big obstacles. First, I feel like I have no will power (and a ton of excuses) when it comes to food. I am an emotional, Italian eater. Food is connected to every holiday/event/emotion. My husband tries to help, but he loves food as much as I do. Second, finding the time to exercise. Between my daughter, my job and the 'at-home' stuff I have to do, I just can't find the time to get to the gym. There is always 100 other, more important things to do.

Well, thats about it, I guess. I look forward to taking this journey, I only hope I finally reach my destination.

Cathi

BobbyDaniel

Welcome and God bless on reaching your goals!
As for your two obstacles, they can be overcome. I have always thought I had no willpower what so ever, and I still think I don't...but finding what I can do and eliminating "I can't" made a big difference. So, yeah...I may not have willpower, but there are still a LOT of things I can do to improve my life, like watching what I eat, portion control, etc.
And the exercising point....get that one too. We have 2 kids, involved in sports, scouts, church, etc. My wife and I had to learn to make time for exercise. Usually the only reason we had was not being able to sit and watch TV at night, so thankfully we have a DVR and whenever time to watch those programs. We also try to take our kids with us as much as possible to make it more family oriented.
Your health goals can be reached and they are so worth it in the end!

jebfab2612

Welcome to MFP! You can do it. My husband is italain and loves his food. so it can be hard but when he saw that i was losing the weight helped me choose and cook better italian food. Friend me if you want. good luck

mitts1970

Hi - welcome! I love this site - very supportive people, great ideas and recipes and even if you "fall off the wagon" like I did for 4 months - they will take you back with no judgement! I am Sicilian Irish - so I understand your relationship with food - if it's a starch I'm eating it! Tracking your food really helps and the fact that you are motivated for your daughter is beautiful! You can do this and we'll help! Feel free to add me as a friend and we can journey together! Good luck!!!

April
mitts1970

e3slisa

Hi Cathi and welcome, my situation is very similar, I live in Spain and every occassion is all about food. My partner and I have four Children and I also have a full time job. I have found this site amazing and the support from freinds is fantastic, I have now lost 22 lbs and have completely changed my way of thinking about food. I have transformed the eating habits of the whole family and our meal times are still a big occasion but healthier. I never seem to have time to go to the Gym and quite frankly the thought fills me with dread, they are not 'my kind of place'. But having said that you will be suprised how many calories you burn doing normal day to day things like house work, walking the dog etc. Once you start recording your exercise you will be amazed at how much you actually do do. Good luck on your journey Cathi, I have sent you a freind request if you would like to accpet for any motivation of general support I can offer.

Becca_007

Welcome Cathi:flowerforyou:

EHuntRN

Welcome Cathi...first off let me say how this site is so informative and motivational that you will find some way to make this lifestlye change work for you...With your child being 4...I would suggest finding a gym with a day care and also buying some videos for days that you dont wanna go to the gym...You are a teacher so you work 5 days a week...that gives you 2 days to work out in which you dont go to work and 2 days that you do work to workout...I just read a post about a healthy shooping list...I had already found me one on another website...but what Im saying is that YOU have to find the ways to not only make this possible, but comfortable for the whole family...I eat brown rice..not my husband and my son...I eat light salad dressing, not them, I eat oatmeal every day, not them, I weigh and measure all my food...not them(well actually my husband does all this for me the cooking & weighing)...But this can be done and it takes work for the first few months and then it becomes a necessity once you start to lose 8-10 lbs and realize you wanna lose a whole lot more!!!