Hi im sarah. 5ft 60 kg. In healthy bmi range. Was 70 kg. Im happy with absolutely everything else now except my tummy. It looks lile im pregnant. Doing crunches and squats. Soon to go on rowing machine so hopefully ill lose in the next few months.

Hello everyone! I am so glad I came across this group!

I am Jodi, 36 years old, married for 8 years, and have a 15 year old daughter. I began putting on weight when I started going through puberty. We always ate pretty healthy growing up and I was active, played soccer and did alot of swimming in the summer and figure skating in the winter. Until high school, I became too self concious of my weight/size and quit all sports. In my last year of highschool I met my ex. I was with him for 5 years and had my daughter with him when I was 21. My pregnancy with her was great! I didn't gain much weight at all, 15lbs total and she weighed 8lb 5oz. It was after she was born that things went down hill. I left her dad (he is an alcoholic) and I was faced with single parenthood of a 3 month old baby. I gained a lot of weight and was at my absolute heaviest! I was miserable. I finished college, got a job that I really enjoyed and was pretty physical. Started losing weight and feeling more confident.

When I was 26 I met my husband. After we got married the company I was working for switched owners and my hours were reduced, I quit and started a home day care (to stay home with my next child) and we started trying to add to our family. I was also having major issues with my weight at this point! I had gone off birth control pills (been on them for 5 years after having my daughter) and gained back my weight lost prior to meeting my husband. I was so upset! After multiple visits to my doctor over my weight and failure to conceive I was diagnosed with PCOS. Years of failed fertility treatments and the emotional rollercoaster that goes along with it my weight was up and down like a yo-yo! I knew I needed to lose weight, was experimenting with different diets, had a personal trainer etc. My family has a strong history of diabetes and heart disease and having PCOS is only increasing my risk! The final blow came in 2010 when I was diagnosed with POF (premature ovarian failure). I became depressed and was at my lowest point in my life. It was a very very difficult time for me and my husband. Our dreams of having a child together and giving my daughter a sibling were crushed. I am now on hormone replacement therapy and it has helped with alot of the menopausal symptoms I'd been suffering with.

Early last year I was inspired by a good friend of mine who has been very successful losing weight. I discovered a small group of women in my small town who work out together twice a week doing a boot camp/circuit training style program. I went to my first class in early March. I was SO out of shape I thought I was going to die!! Think Biggest Loser first week on the ranch! LOL!! After about the 4th class I was at least able to get through without feeling like I was going to vomit or faint! I also rediscovered MFP (I didn't even remember ever starting an account in 2005), and have been puting one foot in front of the other ever since. I hit a plateau over the summer. And have been stuck at the same weight now since a couple weeks before Christmas. However this time I know it's not a plateau, it's me being too relaxed and even though I'm doing my workouts, I'm not making the best food choices. I do feel very frustrated at times when I look back and see that my weight has only gone down 19lbs since March. But this is SO typical of my body!! I've been to a number of doctors over the years trying to find out what my problem is! I've had my thyroid tested several times, and I was even tested for Cushings Syndrome, and my PCOS diagnosis has been somewhat questioned at times. But the only thing that one endocronologist has come up wtih is that I have a metabolic disorder of some sort and am encouraged to find what works for me and just stick with it. Because I do well with my exercise program I am convinced that diet is key, but have not been able to figure out the best one for me. I love my carbs (bread, rice, pasta) and do choose wholegrain options. But I find that when I cut those things out my weight will come off easier. I don't know if it's lack of willpower, but I don't seem to be able to stick with that way of eating long term. Would love to know what has been working for you ladies! I do not fall in to the success category of calories in and calories out. Doesn't work. If it did, I wouldn't be where I am today with my weight. Like all of you, my belly is my biggest issue! I have a small lower body, absolutely love my legs (though some fat from my thighs still needs to melt, lol) and my arms are okay, just need some more work with toning. I've been blessed/cursed (it's a love-hate feeling) with small breasts and butt! My hubby loves my butt though! Hahaha!! I'm loving my boot camp classes, I've done some Zumba classes with my daughter and enjoyed those as well. I have a treadmill at home and ran my first 5k in September! My daughter enjoys running as well and did the 5k with me. I'm getting ready for my next one in March. I've not seen the scale move like I want it to, however, I have seen some significant changes in my body shape (gone from a size 14 pant to a 10, even fit in a size 8 dress pant!! and down to a L shirt)and the increase in my abilities fitness wise! I feel great!! And am looking forward to reaching my goal this year!!

I look forward to getting to know you better! :happy:

Hi all. I'm gg.

I am 62 and was always at or near my ideal weight until 14 years ago when I remarried. Then life hit. I quit smoking (took 2 tries at 30 pounds each) and started gaining a pound a month. Then we sold our house and bought a motorhome. What is traveling full-time if you are not experiencing local culture - which includes eating indigenous foods and doing very little exercise? An undiagnosed tumor was pressing against my nerves, so walking became nearly impossible. I thought it was the fat. It wasn't.

After the operation, I lost 13 pounds the next year or so (the same rate as it went on). As I was doing nothing to help it along, I FINALLY realized that it WAS actually reversing. As we are no longer full-time RVers, and I am in a house again, I thought that I would take me back to the pre-marriage days.

My family used to blame my husband for my weight gain, and it was quite the joke. But now that I'm headed in another direction, I realized that it wasn't such a joke. I had been losing my sense of self to the marriage. When I reclaimed it, my marriage was forced to confront our unspoken agreements and adjust them. The marriage is better. My "self" is again empowered. I see a lovely future ahead of me - even though I miss the travel.

I avoided looking in the mirror for a long time. Now I confront reality. As the denial faded, so too did the shame. And so I am here - apple-shaped and all - working it off one thought at a tiime.

Hi. My name is Betty, and I am an apple.
("Hi, Betty!")

Humour aside, I've been struggling with the belly of doom most of my life. I was about 145-140 in high school and university, mostly due to a combination of semi-starvation and being a broke student who walked three miles wither way to university. And some hussy still had the unmitigated nerve to ask me, "so are you pregnant, or just fat?"

I gained a little weight in college, and then I got diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, then gained about 50 lbs on birth control, then got diagnosed with clinical depression and gained another 50 lbs from antidepressants. So there I was, finally off the birth control pills and stabilized on the anti-depressant. And 245 pounds. *sigh*

About three years ago, I got into a long term relationship with an amazing man who loved me exactly as I was, giant belly, hair, nonexistent bosom and all. So I ended up going on the NuvaRing and losing ten pounds, which was a nice surprise, but I was still 238. Whatever. The last cholesterol test I had, my results were better than my doctor's numbers. I wasn't an overeater. I was fairly active, all other things considered. But my weight wouldn't budge.

I had pretty much just decided to live with it. I knew my lipids and blood sugar were good, and I knew weight wasn't a diagnosis, and I knew my osteoarthritis was traumatic in nature from an earlier injury and had nothing to do with my weight. I was beginning to work within the size acceptance and fat acceptance communities a little bit.

Fast forward to last year in July, when I had my first appointment with my new doctor. Who proceeded to lecture me for twenty minutes about my weight, with no bloodwork and no real knowledge of my situation. And then she handed me the Food Pyramid and the Nurses Association recommendations, like the problem was, to paraphrase Denis Leary, that I just hadn't noticed yet. She seemed to have no interest in diagnosing me or treating me or helping me and paid no attention in the slightest to my EVIDENCE that losing weight would in no way change my PCOS, since I was diagnosed at 155 and suffering from significant symptoms at as little as 135 pounds.

I. Got. Mad.

I started out on Livestrong, but all the women on SoulCysters seemed to be on here, so I moved over later. I started out by tracking calorie and activity level just to prove to her that I wasn't lying in my closet and scarfing whole bags of Oreos and Jelly Bellys, and found I was eating about 1800 calories a day with anywhere from 300-500 calories a day of exercise, even with no active modification to my lifestyle.

This set off a few red flags in my brain. There was no way (my BMR is about 1550) I should not have been losing weight if it was all nothing more than calories in calories out. No. Way. In. He11. None. Not possible.

Two weeks later, I show up at my first appointment with the new Ob-Gyn with my reports in tow. Damn it you people, it isn't ME - I'm doing exactly what you told me to do, and it does not work. After some conversation, I managed to convince the specialist to let me try Metformin, a common insulin sensitization drug which is sometimes proscribed to women with polycystic because, among other things, it is a powerful anti-androgen.

Bear in mind that I've been trying to get on this drug for years. I have all the symptoms of insulin resistance, but all I got was "eat less and exercise more", which I could prove didn't work.

After a three month trial, I was down 25 lbs. After six months, 45 lbs, after about nine months, 55 lbs. So it's slowing down a little as I re-up my calories to support my new weight training (I started out at 1500, then 1600, then 1800 at the moment), but it's still there. I eat at about 25% carbs, 35% protein, 40% fat, with minimal beige food (pasta, bread etc.) except for bread we make ourselves which is very high protein. I'm expecting the last 35 lbs to take until the end of the year, anyway, if not into 2014. But that's okay.

I've posted my losses in another thread, but I'll re-post them here in case none of you are following that apple thread:

245 to 180. Still have about 35 lbs to go to reach goal weight, although I'd be happy with 150. 5'5" most of the time.

Losses:

Neck: 1.75"
Thigh: 4"
Waist: 8"
Hips: 7"
Chest (Ribcage): 5"

I have some photos in my profile. You can friend me if you want to see them.

I might be more of a banana than an apple, as my ribcage is 39" right now (with a rather underdeveloped and unsatisfying B cup at the best of time), my waist (belly button) is 40" and my hips are 47", but all of my weight is "out front" and I've never been pregnant. Don't even WANT kids. I have a little bit of back fat, but I seriously do look like I'm expecting, which is frustrating.

I notice that there hasn't been much activity here, but I hope you don't mind if I elbow my way in and pull up a chair.

=Betty=