Hi ladies. I'm 25, 5'9.25"-5'10" and 200-203 lbs. This time last year I was about 184 pounds. I started a full-time graduate program last year and stopped my only form of regular exercise (waiting tables) which I credit with helping the weight gain.

So, someone already mentioned it, but though I've had skinny periods in my life (notably, when I met my husband) and chunkie periods, I've never been happy with my body and always thought I could afford to weigh 10 pounds less, even when I weighed 140 pounds (which made my large frame look skeletal). It's this damn apple shape!

I've also got a short torso and a lot of back fat, which I *loathe* - pears gain weight on their hips/saddlebags, but I gain weight on my back and belly. How the hell? The only way I can think to eradicate the back fat is to decrease my body fat percentage. So I need to start doing that.

I've been eating like crap lately because its the last month of the semester, finals are quickly approaching, and when that happens I usually just try to maintain my weight rather than actively lose weight because I don't want to bother with any extra work, if I can help it.

However, tomorrow (maybe even today, it depends on my schedule) I plan to start the 30 Day Shred again. My goal is to lose about 30 pounds more (I've already lost 12 on MFP) but mostly just focus on strength training and a little bit of cardio and EATING HEALTHY AGAIN.

I can't think of what else, but I'm glad we have this group!

Hello Ladies!!! I'm Andrea, 25, 5'5" from the Portland Metro area (born and raised in Southern California, about an hour north of San Diego and 45 minutes east of Disneyland). Starting weight was 232, heaviest ever. Decided enough was enough when I saw a picture of myself last year at a softball game I was playing in. Went on Medifast and actually stuck to it for over a month (surprised even myself) and lost 17 pounds, shrunk my stomach and learned how to not only pay attention to what I was eating but also how to think about it first AND I learned portion control for the first time ever. Been watching my calories and working out as much as possible since September and in total I have lost 40 pounds! This is a record for me. About 5 years ago, I lost 20 pounds in about 2 months. But I wasn't eating healthy (ate fast food for lunch and that was it all day) and working out every night. Got to 202 and couldn't get any farther, then gained it all back plus some over the years. I have been the "chunky" one of my friends for as far back as I can remember and now they are jealous of me! :happy: Besides the want of being healthy and feeling better about myself, I also wanted to get healthier to start having children. I told my husband "I want to be cute pregnant, not fat pregnant." I am so happy that he has seen me at my heaviest and is honestly happy with me as a person and is supportive in any direction that I go with this journey. :blushing: My goal weight is around 170 and I would be happy with that, toned of course. But if I feel I could keep going, 160 or even 150 would make me ecstatic!

Now a little about the rest of my life: I am a warranty manager at my local RV dealership. I get authorizations on service work that needs to be done. I started out as the receptionist, went to sales for a week, then went to warranty. I am definately a people person but sales just wasn't for me. I married my hubby on September 19th, 2010 and we just bought our first house last week. We have an awesomely cute Sheltie named Toby and I hope to get him a friend in the next couple months. I enjoy sunshine (rare in the Portland area most of the year) since I come from So Cal and I miss the real beach terribly. I have my BS in Criminal Justice Administration and my goal is to be a Crime Scene Investigator. The requirements are different up here than in CA so I will need to get a science degree, probably Biology, to be a CSI. I am also considering getting my masters in Nursing at Portland State to be a Forensic Nurse. Money and time is the contributing factor in this decision. :ohwell:

I look forward to "meeting" you all. Add me if you wish.

Good Morning Apples,

My name is Jayme, I'm a 33 year old mother (5'8)of 3 kiddos. I have always known I was an apple (thanks mom), and I'm always reading articles on how to work out for your shape, etc. I stummbled on a thread for before/after pics for apple shape and found this group. I'm really excited to hear from other women who are dealing with the same issues. I love the jeans thread. I thought it was just my funky shape that made it hard to find a pair of jeans that fit right. I am going to check out the ones suggested

A little background...I've always been heavy, even as a child. After I had my last baby I hit 290 lbs., and I was miserable. I joined WW with my best friend and we both peeled off the pounds. After a year of hard work I was able to get within 10 lbs of my goal weight and began to get comfortable. This is when the yo-yoing started. Over the past 3 years I have gone from 205 to 169, it needs to stop. There is no magic number for me, I just want to be happy with my body. I've been using MFP since last summer and have lost 24 lbs., I run quite a bit, and watch what I eat. But the weight is coming off very slowly, which is good but I think it has to do with the yo-yoing I have been doing the last few years.

Anyway, thanks for creating this group. I'm excited to get to know you all
Jayme

Hmm… where to start…

Well, I'm Sara (AKA Sari), I just turned 30 in April and I'm 4'9'' and 152 lbs. I guess it's pretty safe to say that I'm apple shaped because my measurements are 41-42-43 haha. More like keg shaped but anyway it's so nice to see there is a community for people like me and that not everyone has an itty bitty waist and va-va-voom hips and boobs (a la Jessica Rabbit).

Ahem…so I was not as noticeably apple shaped for most for eighth through eleventh grade when at the same height I am today, I had maintained a svelte size 4 figure at 95 lbs. However, I began to develop a nasty habit of stress eating in my final years of high school (that would plague me to this day.) and at my Senior Ball at age 18 and 4'9'' I was 109 lbs. Still in the healthy range right? Until 114?

Well I my Freshman year of college the following fall I was weighed down with a heavy courseload and the other students were mean to me because it was a private Catholic school and I was "out there" in how I dressed and acted, and so I went back to the stress eating and gained a whopping thirty pounds between late August and Halloween! So tipping the scales at nearly 140 lbs. at a mere 4'9'' going from a size 9 to a size 16 in a matter of a couple of months, I had become obese even before Thanksgiving and the big Holiday Eat-A-Thon was to ensue!

Desperate to lose weight, I began to cut out meat from my diet and ate more salads. I walked more, and by the spring of my sophomore year got down to 125 lbs. But I was still higher than I wanted to be; still overweight. In fact, back in my freshman year of high school when I was 95 lbs. I had had a nightmare that I binged on bacon and shot up to 125 lbs. That was it. I had enough. I asked my doctor for Adderrall (sp) and by the fall of my junior year in college had gotten down to 115-110ish. I was a size 5. But I was manic. I was impulsive. And it was in this impulsive mania that I vandalized university property (I transferred to a public university in my sophomore year) and with the stipulation that my oh-so-handy father repair the damaged property I was not fined, mercifully. Well, needless to say that was goodbye Adderall and hello regain of all my lost weight haha.

I maintained 120-125ish until January 2008 when I ballooned up to 140, 1 pound higher but that much more intolerable than my highest weight in the fall of 2000. When I had to go to an formal event in what basically amounted to sweatpants and a babydoll top I knew something had to give. I had been vegetarian for a year at that point, but was addicted to cheese. I vowed to go vegan, and with the switch-off from Risperdal (a medication I was taking at the time) to Invega (supposed to make you gain less weight than Risperdal) I was well on my way to a weight of 109 by summer of 2009. My high school graduation weight! Yay! However, my joy was to be short-lived. For my vegan diet was poorly planned, and instead of salads, I ate french fries, bread, popsicles, and cheeseless pizza (albeit with veggies) most of the time. My health plummeted, while my weight skyrocketed.

I gained 40 lbs. as a "vegan" haha. And I continued to gain from stess/night eating until my weight reached 157 at 4'9''. That is when I pleaded with my baby brother three years my junior who lost 35 lbs. in 10 months for help. He opened me up into the world of MFP and I'm so glad he did. Before I would eat something without weighing or measuring or counting calories, trying to eat "intuitively" Nuh-uh. Nah. Can't do it. I will OVER-do it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

But I know that about myself. I didn't back when I was making myself sick with the Adderrall and crazy diets trying to cheat reality. The secret to weight loss, I believe, is balance, in nutrients, in exercise, and finding balance in your life which means: taking time to smell the roses and carving out private alone time to de-stress or do something you enjoy, even if it's a little silly haha :P

Well anyway just my little story I know I'm not perfect with everything and I don't always practice what I preach but anyhow I m a work in progress and I don't aim for perfection just to do a little better each day. So there's my little affirmation, every day I do a little better, every day getting better and better, yes I know I am, I'll get there, eventually, one way or another, I know I can do it!

x sari

Hello ladies, I'm so happy to have found this group.
I'm 26, no children or husband and I am an apple to the core.

I've been obese since I was 11, I have diabetes, heart disease, high triglycerides, which caused pancreantitis, and PCOS. I reached my highest weight in high school, a daunting 375 pounds. Since then I've lost about 125 pounds so far and I'm no where near done yet. Current weight is 254, goal weight is 170, as I'm 5'10".

I am a size 18/20 pants, and I am a size 3x in shirts because there's nothing on my hips, it's all trying to encase my organs. This group is wonderful, because with our body type, we gain the most dangerous weight.

Because I didn't really do anything for five years, when I started getting stressed from the wonderful world of being an adult, my heart has actually turned sideways in my chest. I didn't know that was possible. Then last week I had a mild heart attack, and I've been going to the gym everyday since. I'm not on any fad diets, but I've been logging everyday.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you!

Thank you
Yah apparently being a high stress person (I cry...all the time o.x) and having an unhealthy diet will do some freaky dink things!

I'm just glad to be alive.

Hey! I am Jessica. I am 29. I am about 5"2-5"3 in a size 10. I need to lose inches around my waist. My stomach is extremely pudgy and I don't want love handles. My goal is 125. I'm excited!

Hey, welcome, Cindy! Good luck with your lifestyle changes - I think you're on the right track with that.

Yay! Other apples!

My name is Sandy and I'm 47. I didn't know I was an apple until my 40's I was always thin. I weighed 115 lbs. until I had my son in 1993. I was also in the Army so running was a big part of my life.

Fastword, out of the Army and in a desk job the last 15 years. I was at my highest weight last year 186 lbs, but no one noticed because I'm tall 5'6". I carried the weight very well. I managed to get down to 140 lbs, but gained some of it back after some health issues. After two surgeries, I started again at 164 and now I'm down to 149. My goal for now is to get to 140. Right now I'm in between a size 8 and 10. 10 is too big, 8 is too tight.

I began working out in earnest this August and my biggest goal is to flatten my tummy and get nice looking toned arms. I'm doing this by working out to Jillian Michaels' DVDs and running. I'm even thinking about skiing again this winter. As I get stronger, I'm enjoying working out more and more. Now I wonder why I didn't focus so much on fitness when I was younger. It could be that I'm finally an empty nester and have more time for myself

I'm glad to have a sounding board for advice and venting.