New here to the forums! Hello! :)

mimiteh35

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd throw out an introduction and see if I can finally get some "friends" going through here! I could use all the support I get! I am the ONLY one in my home actually trying to get healthy, no one else seems to want to stick with it with me!

So, here's a brief bio:
Age: 39 (but I always say I'm 35, lol)
Relationship status: Just got engaged on Christmas 2012!
Job: full time night shift medical transcriptionist, which makes it pretty hard to find time to exercise because I work when the whole family is asleep, and when I'm awake I have 5 people in the house.
Home living situation: I live at home with my son (11 yrs), my fiance and his twins (12 yrs).
Work out using: I tried my hand at P90X, YIKES way too out of shape for that, so I purchased Turbo Jam to start off and loving it. I started trying to walk daily with my dog, but there were always time conflicts because of my work schedule and the practice schedule of 3 kids in various sports/chorus/band obligations... plus its winter here in West Virginia, so my poor little dog doesn't like the cold weather and, well, I prefer to exercise to this Turbo Jam! There is only 1 small gym here in town, a Curves, but it is a small town and the hours of business don't work with my work schedule, either. But, so far I'm almost 2 full weeks into Turbo Jam and loving it!

START WEIGHT: 226.4, which is my heaviest weight EVER! Prior was my pregnancy weight of 222.

REASONS FOR WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT/GET HEALTHY: High blood pressure and diabetes runs rampant in my family, about 5 of my 8 aunts/uncles have diabetes. I had a bad marriage and when I got out of it I had struggled financially with the debt left by my ex, and well, I work nights from home and I hardly saw anyone outside of my son's friends' parents at practices/events, and so it was easy to let myself go, but I didn't realize HOW MUCH I let myself go until I started noticing I'm always tired and light headed, took my BP when I was sick with the flu and it was 165/98! Doctor said he wanted to see me again when I wasn't sick to check my BP, and it was still 150/90, so he said he wants to see me work on weight reduction and if after 6 weeks I'm showing no improvement, they are going to put me on a BP pill, mainly because I BEGGED him to let me work on reducing the BP without meds. He gave me signs/symptoms to watch out for... That was a big scare, and going to my 20th reunion the year and being around all my old friends who are fit, healthy, stylish, and I had gotten frumpy and old looking... I used to be the girl who loved to go clothes shopping and wear makeup, and now I barely left the house and didn't own cute clothes, and when I did start getting back into it, didn't like what I saw when I started trying on clothes, so right around Christmas I decided as a Christmas present to myself I'd buy Turbo Jam and start getting serious about getting healthy! I didn't really start until 2 days after christmas, so I've only been working out a total of 2-1/2 weeks, but I've been motivated and hopefully will find some more people to help keep me motivated!

Feel free to add me if you are interested in helping and being supportive/supported and encouraged/encouraging each other!

Diana

abuhler

Congrats for stepping up and wanting to do something about your BP other than just take a pill! I know the hardest part about losing weight is becoming motivated to do it, but it sounds like you have made up your mind and will lose the weight.

As I was reading your post I noted several similarities between you and myself and thought it would be nice to have you as a friend and we could check in with eachother for motivation.

Here is my info:
Age: 24
Relationship status: engaged, Christmas 2010
Job: Pharmacy student
Home living situation: I live in an apartment with my fiancee
Work out: I am a member at LifeTime Fitness and workout there. I really like the elipitcal machines (Usually 30 mins) and then do strength training( core, chest/tricepts, bicepts/back, legs). My fiancee and I go about 5 times a week.

START WEIGHT: 230 lbs. This is the most I have ever weighed. I have always been a little chunky, but since I have gotten into Pharmacy school and making horrible food and fitness choices, my weight has literally spiked 60 lbs in 1 year.

REASONS FOR WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT/GET HEALTHY: I am only 24 and I weigh more then most women twice or three times my age. This really urks me. I have absolutely no self confidence and feel like I am no longer beautiful to my fiancee (although he tells me otherwise). I want to by in shape for our wedding in 2015. I recently had my blood levels taken and my doctor informed me that I had high cholesterol. I couldn't believe this! So, I have decided to change my ways, because I know the side effects of anti-cholesterol medication and they are not worth the efforts I can take to get rid of the high level.

Hypertension, Heart disease, Cancer, and Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 also run in my family making my chanes to get these diseases alot greater. I am afraid of being a diabetic patient by the time I turn 30. I NEED TO CHANGE!

Let me know if you would like to keep in contact!
Amanda

Gagirl0910

welcome! Sent you a friend request!

cara523

Hello, welocme and best of luck! Feel free to friend me ( everyone can!)

mimiteh35

Thank you ladies for the welcomes! I have already added 2 of you!

Someone asked me what my height was, my height is 5' 1-1/2" if that helps anyone on my weight. And yes, that 1/2 inch TOTALLY COUNTS!

mimiteh35

Got it and accepted! Thank you!

mimiteh35

Amanda! Thanks for the info and you are right, there ARE a lot of similarities! I haven't had a blood test in a while, I'm sure there are some things on there I need to know as well! But my doctor did tell me that because I carry most of my weight in my belly region that it gives me a higher chance of developing heart disease, diabetes and the high blood pressure that does run in my family! So, that was even more of the WOW I NEED TO GET THIS TAKEN CARE OF motivation!

I also feel like i'm not attractive to my fiance, even though he has seen me at my heaviest currently, and asked me to marry him while at my heaviest (this past Christmas), I still am extremely self conscious. He tells me all the time he loves me for me and big or small he is attracted to me. When I first met him 3 yrs ago I was about 15 pounds smaller, so I was still a heavy girl, but I was not as self conscious as I am currently with the way I look. It is good to know i'm not the only one, and hopefully we can help encourage each other and support each other on this journey and with the support of our men we can get where we want/need to be health/weight wise! Thank you for sharing with me, Amanda! (which by the way is my youngest sister's name, and she is 1yr older than you, and I first wanted to lose "some" weight to look decent in pictures for her wedding which will be in 2014, then I went to the doctor and you know the rest of that story now!)

leslie8339

Hi! My name is Leslie. I can completely relate to what you are saying. I am at my heaviest I have ever been and really afraid of developing health problems because of it. I'm also tired of feeling self conscious and really want to get back to a happy and healthy me. I've been off and on myfitness pal for a few years but never really made it a priority and never joined any groups or added any friends. I'm hoping to add a few new friends and help eachother stay motivated! And congrats on your engagement!

mimiteh35

Im so sorry I didn't respond before! I only saw this just today! I usually use MFP on my phone and it doesn't get me to the forums on my phone, and with 1 computer in a house of 5 (3 of those being kids) its hard to get computer time! Thanks! I see you haven't been on in a while, I hope you come back and keepgoing with working on being the healthiest YOU that you can be!

To be honest, I had "tried" to lose some weight and get healthy before and it was hard, no one in my family had the same goals as me and most of my friends are skinny-minny so they don't have the issues/hard time losing weight that I have, so it was hard without any true support/encouragement, they all just ate whatever they wanted around me and if I lost some weight it was like "oh really?" like they didn't see it so they didn't believe me and so I gave up quick with no real support. I tried and stopped a few times in the past 2 years. But, for some reason this time is kicking, don't know why other than I saw some pics of me and at 39 yrs old, I didn't want to start my 40s so overweight and bleh. Also, I have 3 kids who want to go to amusement parks and do fun things, and I am always the one sitting out, even though I want to go do things, so I want to be able to go on the rides with them or take hikes with them and not slow everyone down, etc., so that helps motivate me some, too.

Now that I'm using MFP and I've taken it upon myself to actually search for some friends, even using my FB to find other friends of mine in real life who are using MFP, it is helping some with the accountability!

I hope to hear from you on here! You can do it, even if its the slow 1 pound a week like I've been averaging, I figure 1 pound is better than no pounds, although I admit sometimes I wish I had the willpower to stick better to eating healthy and lose quicker than I'm doing!