**CLOSED**October Shredders MiniChallenge 10/11/11**CLOSED G

daniellesb1

Bump. Until I stop being jealous of all the people who grew up skinny.

Too cute ! Love it !

slainnz

Hi all, well I find it amazing that we all have different issues and different goals but were all at the same place trying to change our lives for the better!

I’m the same as a few people here, ive always been big, my dad used to kid that I was 10 stone when I was born!! I was actually 10lb 3 and had to go to special care baby unit when I was a day old because I choked drinking too much milk, think the foundation was set then!!

I was extremely active in my school years which I think helped me a little, even though I was still by far the biggest I would play sports 5 times a week also at lunch. Things went down hill when I went to college, the sports stopped and the fast food and drinking began. And its carried on ever since! Ive tried every diet you can name and a few others you cant.

I had my first wakeup call when I was trying to get pregnant and the doc said I need to lose ‘ a lot’ of weight. Anyway I did, I lost 2 stone got pregnant and continued to lose weight up to him being born (5 stone in total). I was still no skinny by no means (12 stone). Anyway I felt great for 6 mths then got pregnant again and had a rough time which saw the weight going back on. So here I am nearly 7 years after giving birth to my 2nd son again trying to have some self control! I must say though this time feels a lot different to every other time I have tried to lose weight think its just the massive support you guys give!

Sarah

KerriMx5

Me.. Hmmm. I have issues. Who doesn't? Growing up I thought I was fat. My mom always made it sound like I was. Then I got married and my husband didn't think I was pretty and he didn't think I was thin.. I was never happy with me. What is funny is that looking at pictures I was NOT a big kid.I was bigger as a teen and for a teen I was in bigger sizes but they were like 7/8's not 16!! When my second husband saw the pics of me from my first marriage he has comment more then once how tiny I was. I didn't think so. My body image was so out of wack. I mean I wasn't a size one. I was between a 9-12 but I wasn't the hippo my mom and husband made me sound like. I realize all these years later the issue wasn't me. I get that. It is hard though because my sister and I both have food issues.

With me last three daughter's I have gained a lot of weight. I also don't lose when I nurse. Oh I have tried and I can get in better shape but actually dropping pounds is really hard. I would have loved to be one of those woman who has weight just come off while nursing. NEVER happened. I was at 232 when I had my last dd. I always gain a lot while pg since I get to where I can't move, then eat a lot of stuff like cheese.. Not a good combination. I started out about 170/175 with my last daughter. About a size 12/14. I had her and was about 215 then I gained another 15. That is where I have been.

Some more history.
When I was 25 I got divorced. I got in shape, lost a lost a lot of weight . I was just working into a size nine and they were a little big when I moved from CA to NC. This was the smallest I had been in a LONG time. My first three girls were all two years a part so by the time I would get smaller I would get pg again. Gain again. Well I moved here with my new husband and he is a southern boy. He loves his fried foods. My eating healthy and working out went out the window. We moved into the country and I didn't have my neighborhood to walk in.. The bad things kept piling on. I gained. I would lose. I would gain. I did this for the last 12 years. Adding in some babies in there. Brings me to today again.

My husband still eats bad. He is still big. He is not in good health. I get mad about that BUT then I figure I am doing this for me. It has to be his choice to lose just like it is mine. I wish I had support at home. I wish we were doing this together but we aren't. Which is why I have turned to the forums and these challenges. I need someone to be my partner in crime here. I need the support while losing. Or if nothing else someone to talk to about it. He gets tired of me. I talk about what I am up to a lot. It is that important to me.

So here I am at 210 last weigh in.. Down from 232 at the start of the summer. I don't even feel shame at sharing my weight anymore. I got here. I am working to get out of here. It isn't going to stay this way. I can do this.

That is as condensed as I could make it. Hope it makes sense. The two year old keeps trying to play while I type.

SweetPea482

This group is just amazing… so many of these stories hit home to me… and some, well, kudos ladies! You are all fabulous!

My story seems so 'typical'. I have always had weight issues. I think I have always been too comfortable in my skin, yet SO self conscious about what people thought of me. I verged on delusional… I remember once in my teens telling myself "Im a 14 petite… petite... that means junior." uhm... no…

I am the kind of person that would take moments that should have been breaking points, and turn them into emotional binging vs 'Ill show them!'. I remember my dad calling me a 'fat *kitten*' because I didn't want to get off the couch to get the remote… for HIM. I kept eating.

My first turning point was my freshman year in h.s. i went to the dr for a cold and found out i was 245lb. I really WAS delusional, cuz i had NO idea i was that big. My mom starting going to weight watchers, and since it was just the two of us (mostly), we really made it work. She would go the mtgs, and go shopping, and make the food, and tell me how much i could eat. it was awesome. i actually got down to 190ish and it seemed so easy! I managed to mostly maintain that weight through the rest of high school.

Then College, and though I wasn't much of a partier or drinker, it was suddenly difficult to have planned meals for myself… where was mom?! I moved 350 miles away to go to school and i was homesick. Then, my second year of college, one of my grandmothers died at thanksgiving. 6 months later the other grandma I was living with passed away (very) suddenly of a rare blood cancer, and 6 months after that my father packed up and moved out on my mom while she was on vacation. On top of all that, I was planning my wedding, got married, and moved yet another 325 miles away (which would make it close to 14 hours from my mom). I always thought i was trying to eat well, but i married a boy with a BIG appetite, and i spent the better part of our first few years trying to keep up with that appetite.

2 years ago was my biggest wake up call…. THE wake up call. My husband and I had been having a rough time, with many things, one of them being having kids. We had a mild separation, which was more a regrouping and figuring out what we REALLY wanted out of our lives.

I started on a 'plan' shortly after we got our lives back to a normal state. I started at 311, my absolute highest ever. I knew that the weight-loss would be huge in our trials to have a baby. I did very well… losing around 40 lbs. then we found out that the whole 'having babies' thing was not gonna work without A LOT of work from the doctors… I just gave up, what was the point? Why was i trying so hard? I felt like such a failure. I couldn't have kids, I couldn't win with my family, I couldn't compete with the people around me (there were 4 weddings in my family that year and it felt like everyone was moving on… and i was stuck.)

Flash forward to 10 weeks ago. My husband and I have been through so much with the 'baby stuff', and came to a very defining moment in our lives. After more than 5 years of trying, we have decided to take the adoption path to start our family. And since it is a long, grueling process, I am doing everything i can to lose the weight I keep putting back on… so that when we are finally chosen by a family, I can play with my kid. and when the time comes where we have the money to do IVF, and I feel healthy enough to carry a child, I will be ready. Ready to live my life instead of just 'staying put'.

So now, instead of turning to food when i wanna cry… i go for a walk, or go duke it out with Mr. Elliptical. I feel great. I wish I could get my husband to play along a little more 'willingly'. He seems to tire of my endless 'health talk'. so I don't talk to him much about it. i just learn to work around him. And when i tell him my success of loss, he spins it and asks if I am disappointed im not further… *shrug*

NEVER. No matter how much I have lost, it is still better than where I was 10 weeks ago.

I will never put a date on my weight loss. The only goals I will stick to are ones that may take time, but damnit, ill do it.

My start weight 1 August 2011: 307.8
My current weight: 285.8
My long term goal weight: 150s

Goal #1: survive MT hunting trip without a gain
Goal #2: start and finish 30 Day Shred
Goal #3: two hundred sit-ups

KerriMx5

SweatPea I like your mini goals. I have a lot to lose but I am setting little goals. When I started the thought of losing over 100 pounds just seemed like a big task. Little goals were what I needed. Ones I could see. I like that you have mini goals that aren't weight related too!! My little goal now is to get below 200.

I am enjoying all your tales ladies. I need to have a chance to come back and make more comments but life keeps me so busy.