Generic Hello Post! (Complete with life story.)

stephelan · June 2011

Hello everyone! I've been using MyFitnessPal off and on for a while but have never really touched the forums the whole time. However, I'd love to extend my motivational network of supporters as far as I can to get those last 10-15 pounds lost and gone forever!

My name is Stephanie and I've always been overweight but never to the point of feeling like things were out and gone beyond my control. When I graduated from college, at 5'9", I weight 225 pounds and was the biggest I had ever been. I had never had a boyfriend, rarely felt beautiful and never really had the confidence to go out and make many friends. Despite never feeling like I had swirled down the toilet of life, I felt that, with a college diploma held mightily in one had, it was time to kick things up a notch! The first thing that had to go was the weight!

In the first step, I pretty much overworked and underfed myself. Eating three meals a day of nothing but Slimfast shakes and going to the gym for an hour and a half a day after my somewhat physical job (preschool teacher), I was able to drop about 20 pounds in less than one summer. WOW!! However, I felt miserable and tired all the time. As soon as I got home from work, it was time for a siesta. This was no way to live my life and now I couldn't even enjoy my favorite thing in the world! FOOD!! The modified Slimfast Diet had served me as a good kickstart but I booted it to the curb and decided to start with step two.

I had played soccer in elementary school and middle school so I figured that I must be Mia Hamm in a fat suit and signed up for a coed recreational soccer team. My teammates were nice but I was never very confident to talk to them all that much.

I joined Get in Shape for Women and they instructed me on the proper way to lose weight without starving yourself, working yourself into a sweaty mess and inevitably turning into the Incredibly Hungry Hulk! With their help, I lost another 15 pounds and was down to about 190.

Now, I have gone on to lose another 15 pounds through various other gyms, challenges, joining several more sports teams and basically watching what I eat. My story so far isn't so much about the weight I have shed and how I look. My greatest achievement so far has been discovering something that had been hidden away for so long. My confidence! (You may all take a break from reading this to lose your lunches.) At 175 pounds, I may not be a super model or even CLOSE but I carry myself completely differently than I did a few years ago. Before, I would have trouble talking myself or even telling people my favorite song. Nowadays, I can be passionate about the things I love, make people laugh and not be totally shocked when a guy tries to talk to me in a bar. (I still have not mastered the art of "flirting" yet but I'll take things one step at a time. Lose weight, gain confidence THEN get a boyfriend.)

So there is my story. I have been plateaued around the same 10 or so pounds (175) for about a year now and I'm about ready to give them a wedgie and take their lunch money. My goal is 155-165 pounds and I'm willing to work hard for them! So here I am, introducing myself to all of you and hopefully joining the Wagon of Weightloss that we will all travel to Oregon in! Yee-haw!