What's Up???

grbblystone

My name is Gina :bigsmile: . I am new here. I really haven't attempted to lose weight before. I have said I was trying to lose, but I never really did much about it. You know what I mean? :ohwell:

I find it extrmemly difficult to get to the gym after work (I teach high school) because I am drained, and it is impossible to get there before work (Classes start at 7, gym opens at 5:30).

I also have a tendency to depend on food for things other than just hunger satiation. I learned that from my mother. She moved in with me a few months ago, and having her here has been an eye opener for me in terms of why I use food the way I do. I can see her do it and it makes me sick, yet when I do it I can justify it. I can see the problem and I can acknowledge it as it is happening, but actually stopping the behavior has been near impossible.

I just turned 30 and I find myself in a situation I never thought I would be in....30, divorced and childless. I always thought by this point in my life I would have children and I would still be married. That is not the case and while I am ok with that, I am not ok with lacking confidence every time I meet someone new.

I find that the person who had no trouble meeting men and who enjoying dating is scared to death of being rejected because of her appearance. I have always been considered attractive, and people never hesitated to tell me so. Nowadays no compliments or flirtatious smiles come my way, and even my own family tells me I would be pretty again if I would just get control and lose the weight. It sounds vain, but it is pretty devestating.

Enough about me because that was depressing, huh??? :sad: I would love to hear from others. I think support and "venting" to those who can relate is key anytime a life changing plan is being implemented. People are our most amazing resource!!!

grbblystone

My name is Gina :bigsmile: . I am new here. I really haven't attempted to lose weight before. I have said I was trying to lose, but I never really did much about it. You know what I mean? :ohwell:

I find it extrmemly difficult to get to the gym after work (I teach high school) because I am drained, and it is impossible to get there before work (Classes start at 7, gym opens at 5:30).

I also have a tendency to depend on food for things other than just hunger satiation. I learned that from my mother. She moved in with me a few months ago, and having her here has been an eye opener for me in terms of why I use food the way I do. I can see her do it and it makes me sick, yet when I do it I can justify it. I can see the problem and I can acknowledge it as it is happening, but actually stopping the behavior has been near impossible.

I just turned 30 and I find myself in a situation I never thought I would be in....30, divorced and childless. I always thought by this point in my life I would have children and I would still be married. That is not the case and while I am ok with that, I am not ok with lacking confidence every time I meet someone new.

I find that the person who had no trouble meeting men and who enjoying dating is scared to death of being rejected because of her appearance. I have always been considered attractive, and people never hesitated to tell me so. Nowadays no compliments or flirtatious smiles come my way, and even my own family tells me I would be pretty again if I would just get control and lose the weight. It sounds vain, but it is pretty devestating.

Enough about me because that was depressing, huh??? :sad: I would love to hear from others. I think support and "venting" to those who can relate is key anytime a life changing plan is being implemented. People are our most amazing resource!!!

Coach2010

Welcome Gina! You've found the right place!

The MFP Crew are great...Insightful, Inspirational, and Informative.

Continue on your trek with the MFP. This is a great network of people...also, the tools are powerful to help in monitoring, and learning what works best for you.

Cheers! :drinker:

Hannah_Banana

Okay, first thing - You're STILL gorgeous. :bigsmile: :flowerforyou:

Second thing - MFP is the right place for you. It is really just a huge, compassionate community of folks and we are here to laugh, vent and share our struggles.

I look forward to seeing you on the boards!

SoupNazi

Welcome Gina!

You really have come to the right place. MFP is a great place for knowledge and support and many can testify that it WORKS! If you are determined...it will change your life.

You know what you need to do.


As Nike says........"Just Do It !"

Again, welcome to MFP!:flowerforyou:

renae77

Hi Gina! Welcome to MFP! You will love it here on this site! Everyone is great and you will find so much useful information. Good luck to you! And you really are beautiful!

pixiestick

Dear Gina,
I think that you will find a lot of people in the MFP family share similarities with your story. For me, it's people telling me, "oh, you'd be so pretty if you were just thin."

Eating has been like that deep, dark cave that I can retreat to. It seems safe, but life happens in the sunlight. It's not fair, but we are judged (especially professional women) by our appearances. Heavy women are automatically discredited and people assume that we are stupid or dull. It's not fair, but that is life. I think when that finally really sunk in, I was willing to put forth the effort to change.

Welcome to MFP. There are a lot of great people on here. The site is amazing and this is most definitely a step in the right direction towards losing those extra pounds and gaining a much healthier lifestyle.

MadTurtle

Hello Gina,

As a Teacher you may find that this puts a whole new perspective on things.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/34484-mouse-potato-vs-diet-math-ii

I make this suggestion to a lot of noobs and have caught serious flack for it. But my wife and I both failed on this site last year because we started exercising to early and got caught in the eat your exercise calorie trap.

We both recommend only following the calorie guidelines for the first few weeks. It allows the body to normalize and fill up its glycogen stores and stabilize blood sugars and most of all in the beginning you will find that you will be eating a lot of bulk (lettuce,celery,etc.) just trying to stay full and in the guidelines.

After your body learns to live with in its guidelines and you wont require all the bulk and you may even have trouble eating all your calories you will know its time to start exercising and you will feel like it and want to.

It is amazing difference this time around. Last year we were exercising to get calories and never normalized. My wife had lost no weight in 60 days. This time she has lost 11 pounds of the 38 she needs to lose in the same 60 days.

Good Luck

BrenNew

Hi Gina, and welcome to THE best site on the web!
Between the easy to use food counter (which by the way is SUCH an eye opener!) and all the wonderfully supportive members, you WILL be able to lose the weight that you want to, AND, it'll "almost" be easy doing it!
I recommend logging ALL your foods BEFORE you have them, rather than later, as it tends to lead to better food choices. (not to mention you'll know if you've got enough numbers left to have a night time snack, like I ALWAYS try to do!) Some people also like to weigh and measure some things, such as meats, rather than just estimating and possibly being WAY off!
Also, drink lots of water, that seems to help alot too. :drinker:

SoupNazi

Hello Gina,

As a Teacher you may find that this puts a whole new perspective on things.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/34484-mouse-potato-vs-diet-math-ii

I make this suggestion to a lot of noobs and have caught serious flack for it. But my wife and I both failed on this site last year because we started exercising to early and got caught in the eat your exercise calorie trap.

We both recommend only following the calorie guidelines for the first few weeks. It allows the body to normalize and fill up its glycogen stores and stabilize blood sugars and most of all in the beginning you will find that you will be eating a lot of bulk (lettuce,celery,etc.) just trying to stay full and in the guidelines.

After your body learns to live with in its guidelines and you wont require all the bulk and you may even have trouble eating all your calories you will know its time to start exercising and you will feel like it and want to.

It is amazing difference this time around. Last year we were exercising to get calories and never normalized. My wife had lost no weight in 60 days. This time she has lost 11 pounds of the 38 she needs to lose in the same 60 days.

Good Luck

That's the first time I have ever heard of anyone having this problem. Hmmmm. Very strange.

I actually dropped 6 lbs the first week with exercise.

MOMOFTWO29

Hello and welcome to MFP. You will love this site, I do. I just wanted to tell you that I hope you have good luck with your weight loss journey and you can do this!!!!!!!!!!

songbyrdsweet

My name is Gina :bigsmile: . I am new here. I really haven't attempted to lose weight before. I have said I was trying to lose, but I never really did much about it. You know what I mean? :ohwell:

I find it extrmemly difficult to get to the gym after work (I teach high school) because I am drained, and it is impossible to get there before work (Classes start at 7, gym opens at 5:30).

I also have a tendency to depend on food for things other than just hunger satiation. I learned that from my mother. She moved in with me a few months ago, and having her here has been an eye opener for me in terms of why I use food the way I do. I can see her do it and it makes me sick, yet when I do it I can justify it. I can see the problem and I can acknowledge it as it is happening, but actually stopping the behavior has been near impossible.

I just turned 30 and I find myself in a situation I never thought I would be in....30, divorced and childless. I always thought by this point in my life I would have children and I would still be married. That is not the case and while I am ok with that, I am not ok with lacking confidence every time I meet someone new.

I find that the person who had no trouble meeting men and who enjoying dating is scared to death of being rejected because of her appearance. I have always been considered attractive, and people never hesitated to tell me so. Nowadays no compliments or flirtatious smiles come my way, and even my own family tells me I would be pretty again if I would just get control and lose the weight. It sounds vain, but it is pretty devestating.

Enough about me because that was depressing, huh??? :sad: I would love to hear from others. I think support and "venting" to those who can relate is key anytime a life changing plan is being implemented. People are our most amazing resource!!!

I think you are very pretty! The right man will be attracted to your mind and your personality first, and then will notice that you are cute to boot.

I haven't been married or turned 30 yet, so I can't offer much in the way of advice there. But when I think about everything I have planned (which doesn't include kids, but does include a PhD and traveling), I realize that we have a lot of time to do stuff, but so many people are racing to the finish line. I think it's important to take time to work on you. A year is a long time in itself, and considering we all get about 70+ years, I'd say you have time to do everything you have planned.

Mike

Hi folks -

I deleted a few posts on this topic. As a reminder, let's be sure to support one another and where we disagree, please do so respectfully.

Thanks for your cooperation.

songbyrdsweet

Hi folks -

I deleted a few posts on this topic. As a reminder, let's be sure to support one another and where we disagree, please do so respectfully.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Thanks Mike! :flowerforyou:

Coach2010

Thanks Mike for keeping us on track!