Introductions!

jessicagrimwood

My name is Jessica, I am 33 years old and I weigh 303 lbs. I used to swear I would never ever let myself get this big...but here I am. When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a fat person, but not the same person I see in pictures. The person I see in pictures is gross. Not my profile pic though, I like that one. Anyhow, I fear that most people see me the way I see myself in a normal picture, and that terrifies me. I don't have energy, and am pretty grumpy a lot of the time.

I have always had weight problems, since I was about eight or nine. Sometimes I think to myself, why didn't my mom do something about this back then. She was just doing the best she could as a single mom and I can't blame her for the fact that I have continued to gain weight.

I am a very picky eater and have actual fears of trying certain things, like fish. I have taken a bite like twice in recent years but that's it. I don't really even begin to know how to fix that. I eat out way too much over the last few years, that I know needs to change.

As I said, I am 33 years old. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which could be corrected by losing weight. Having this condition basically renders me infertile and a baby is something I want most in my life, and I don't have much time left. I was also recently put on high blood pressure meds, low doses but still. It's embarassing when I have to be extremely careful to use my pool ladder because the weight limit is 300 lbs and I don't know how many things I have broken by sitting in them too hard.

I have decided it's time to change, for me and my family. I am happily married for 11 years and have a 16 year old step daughter, who by all accounts is my daughter. I want to be a good example for her and my husband. My husband is disabled and cannot do a lot of physical activity any more because of his back and knees and my daughter doesn't do anything unless she has to. Now she is not overweight but I fear for her still. Her health and the fact that when she is older, she could have problems.

Well I guess that is me in a large nutshell.

jessicagrimwood

Can you give a little more detail about being a picky eater? What do you eat? I would also like to understand what you mean about being OCD about food? In what way?

I have a daughter who has never eaten a vegetable or piece of fruit in her life. She is 11. If I try to get her to try a taste she will gag and throw up. She only eats eggo waffles, chicken nuggets, French Fries, and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

I'm wondering if you are the same way

Sure! Some things that people are shocked that I won't touch -

- Bacon. Or anything from a pig for that matter.
- Ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, mayo, and MOST white foods (there are some exceptions to this rule). All of them cause me to gag. Yes, this means milk of any variety. Unless in a bowl of cereal, but even then it's extremely minimal.
- Cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and most cookies. Any kind of chocolate with things in it (caramel, nuts, almonds...)
- Any kind of pizza other than cheese.
- Most fruits and veggies. I do like apples most of the time (I'll explain that in the next section), red seedless grapes, and corn.
- I'm allergic to any kind of seafood (although that's not really being picky...)
- Most green food
- Spaghetti sauce
- Peanut Butter
- Any kind of jelly
- Most juice. Occasionally I'll drink apple juice but it's rare.
- Before I quit drinking soda I would ONLY drink pepsi. Not diet or any of the variations, just normal pepsi.

When I say OCD, I mean :

- I can't bring myself to eat Wendy's hamburgers for no reason other than they're square.
- The only time I'll eat the previously mentioned apples is if they're peeled and cut up.
- I will eat vanilla ice cream (the exception to the white food rule) but only if it has rainbow (not chocolate) sprinkles and/or M&Ms on it.
- I will only eat lettuce if it's cut up into squares.

I also can't have my food touch most of the time. Especially if it's got some kind of sauce/liquid on it (mashed potatoes with gravy for example) because I don't like 'soggy' foods.

And for everyone who says "oh, your parents didn't feed you enough of a variety of foods..."

Bull. Crap. My dad eats every thing except ketchup. My mom is the same way. They both tried to feed me EVERYTHING. They tried the 'you're not getting up from this table until you eat that!' approach. Fine with me, I slept at the table. They tried grounding me. They tried "this is the only dinner I'm making so if you don't like it, you don't eat." I even remember my mom making pancakes when I was younger and me taking a bite and saying to her "mom, these taste funny." She shrugged and said "I put more sugar in it, don't tell your father." I took another bite, looked down, and realized the "sugar" was actually slices of bananas that she mixed in the batter to try to get me to eat them.

It eventually got to the point where they both decided that if I was going to be so picky, I was going to have to cook my own meals.

I too am a picky eater. No quite so picky, but I am deathly afraid to try fish. I have tried some vegetables but I will only eat them in small portions, and I have to cut them super tiny and eat with something else. Milk also makes me gag, not all milk products but just white milk, since I was a kid. I have always found it weird, so has anyone I have ever told about it. You are actually the first person I have ever heard of that has this problem. I can't even eat a bowl of cereal. I really want to get out of this but don't know how. I know I need to overcome my fears, but how?

boodlelibra

Hi, my name's Rebecca. I'm 36, one child, married for almost 14 years. I hit 260 (20 lbs bigger than my hubby) and it's just stupid. I'm not food obsessed or particularly lazy, so there's no reason to be so fat. I've tried Weight Watchers but hated the meetings and rah-rah/crying for gold star stickers. Tried SparkPeople, but it was annoying. My cousin recommended MFP and so far I really like it - though I can think of 100 other things MFP could stand for :happy:

I've tried running before and always damaged myself - stress fractures, blew out an ankle, etc. Right now I'm doing Zumba and Crunch videos that I stream from Netflix. This time I want to try to lose 50 before I start trying to run again. I really do enjoy it so I think that's going to be a pretty good motivator.

I'm looking for some support from people in my same boat!

belladonna_3k

Hey I'm Donna... for the first 23 years of my life, I was slim, in shape and very fit. I didn't have good eating habits though. When I began having kids at 24, my metabolism caught up with me, to say the least! Sadly I didn't change my eating habits, and needless to say, my weight soon caught up to me as well. In the 23 years to follow, I went from weighing 135 to weighing (at my heaviest) 290.... from a size 9 to a size 24. My health problems were getting to me (i.e. sore joints, back... swollen ankles, high b.p) and I finally decided to stop "trying" to do something about it and actually just DO it. This site has been such a blessing for me. Even though before finding it, my eating habits had drastically changed (for the better) and my health was getting better, I was unable to really keep track of anything, so I never knew what I was eating or how much. I feel very in control of my eating routine and exercise habits now and hope to continue dropping the weight. I have cut out meat, dairy, eggs, processed sugars and all fast food from my diet over the past month and a half and feel great!
Best of luck to everyone in your healthy endevours!

sexycute

Hello, everyone! My name is Laura and this is the first time I've ever joined a group like this so I'm hoping that the support will bring a boost to my weight loss. I am 40 years old and 5'0" and started at 228 lbs. Being short and heavy has its own challenges but I've never allowed being petite to be a deterrence. I was able to lose 20 lbs but then came the holidays. I do make it to the gym 4-5 times a week including Zumba on Mondays. I just need the motivation to persevere. My current goal is to be able to lose 30 lbs; but I know it requires baby steps first. So, I guess we're in this together! Let's do this!

lmjonesga

Just wanted to introduce myself here. I am almost 43 and heavier then I've ever been thus far in life. I saw some photographs of myself and decided that I could no longer remain this heavy...eeek! I've lost and gained my entire life. It's time I lose the weight for good. I want to be healthy, for myself but also for my family.

I have two beautiful children: 14 and 10. My husband is pretty tolerant of my weight but cannot relate to the way it feels to enjoy food as much as I seem to. It's very difficult for me to not "clean my plate"...I know this characteristic alone hasn't helped my journey thus far. I am an emotional eater. I am also very impulsive. Sometimes I wonder where my self control has gone...with food it just never even seemed to exist. Sigh...

Thanks, John, for creating this group! I look forward to learning more about each of you. I really think we will able to help and support one another!!!

Cheers,
Lisa