I am an ex-fat kid. Was 6'3" 330 at 19, went to 180 (too skinny) by 22, back to 235 by age 36 (recently). I have dropped a little over 20 lbs since October - down to 213 right now. My ticker says I've lost 16 or so but I didnt' start tracking until 230. Goal weight is 205, then I plan to focus on strength training and up my calories to sligthly more than a maintenance level to build muscle. I plan on making weight training and regular cardio a part of my life for the rest of my life. I get plenty of cardio already as a daily surfer, but "just surfing" doesn't get my body out of its comfort zone.

I just want to kick *kitten* when the apocalypse comes, not be stuck screaming and panicking and unable to so much as climb a tree for safety. I want to be healthy for my family, too. At this point in my life it's not that important to me to "look good without my shirt" so that really isnt my motivation.

Right now I am stuck on week 3 of a nasty plateau at 213. I plan on breaking it by swinging around my daily calories up and down then changing up and adding to my cardio routine... only 8 pounds left to go. I got all the willpower and motivation of a charging rhino right now, I'm confident I'll succeed.

Good to meet you all, lets kick some *kitten*.

Hello everyone!

My name is Rob and I am a 33 year old teacher born and raised in Baltimore. I've always been the 'big guy'. About 3 months ago I read an that talked about how children's health and body type generally comes from the father. I don't want my kids to be like I was growing up. I decided to change my life. I started at 283. I am down to 262 (as of new years) just from counting calories. Been lurking on LoseIt for a while, and decided to join some groups are really get it done this year.

Hey all,
I'm a 20-something software developer living in cold, cold Wisconsin. I've been half-assed trying to lose weight for a long time, as I've always been a bit chubby. However, I've never gotten too far--last year was my best attempt when I lost around 8lbs. However, I've gained back 4 of those after I got lazy the last few months of the year.

I've never actually acknowledged my attempts at weight loss to anyone other than myself. So, I'm hoping announcing it in this slightly more public way will spur me on to actually try this year.

In terms of hobbies and junk, I do lots of hiking and other outdoor activities (though less so in the winter). I've also been trying to make running a part of my life (I ran a half marathon last year), but damn is it boring to run.

Happy New Year and good luck to everyone in their goals!

Well hello everyone... I am jackelface on Reddit, brad_lay on MFP, and http://www.fitbit.com/user/28PJJ9 on Fitbit.

I'm 34, LOVE food, and am on my 42,201th attempt at losing weight. In my days of when I was more accepting of myself, I proclaimed that my stomach was a trophy for all the awesome things I've ate (I don't remember where I heard that).

I had great success with losing weight in 2007 and lost seventy pounds with a combination of Weight Watchers and hitting the gym HARD. Then I got a little cocky about my weight loss, went back to old habits and gained it all back... and then some.

Last summer my family and I relocated, along with my job, from Minnesota to Georgia. I have a very dark sense of humor and do not identify socially or politically with the common Georgia resident so finding friends has been difficult. I've gained thirty pounds since moving here and was already one hundred pounds overweight before I moved.

My motivation lately? I haven't lost anyone I know personally to complications from obesity but I do know friends of friends that have and that freaks the hell out of me, especially as I get older. Death itself doesn't scare me as much as leaving my wife and kids behind without a husband and father. Also, I tried donating blood recently at Red Cross and I was denied because I weighed too much for the portable cots they used. Seriously. So... enough of this crap. I need to do this and keep it off this time. This is ridiculous!

Hey all, I'm a 23 year old ginger originally from Washington state currently living in QLD Australia. A few things I've been dreaming of since I was in high school included visiting Australia (and two online friends who lived there), living in a foreign country for a year, and getting to a healthy BMI.

As a freshman in high school (year 9) I weighed in at about 170 lbs, but was pretty healthy and active. Early on in my sophomore year (year 10) I tore an ACL playing volleyball and wasn't properly diagnosed for about 3 months (my doctor told me "I've seen grown men cry with torn ACL's, you're not in enough pain to have that kind of injury." so I walked on crutches and hobbled around on it for far too long) Eventually they gave me the freakin' MRI and I had to have reconstructive surgery on both my meniscus and ACL. During the down time following I gained about 20 lbs or so, which sucked and took a huge toll on my confidence.

Come Junior year, I started respecting myself enough to attempt to lose weight. Really I just got crazy active over the summer, I was about 208 lbs then and lost 8 lbs or so. Then my horse reared up and fell on my OTHER leg, tearing my OTHER ACL, resulting in another surgery and another gain of 10-12lbs or so.

I graduated in 2009 at around 220 lbs.

Then I went to community college, had a job, my own car, my own money so I felt crazy independent but was addicted to World of Warcraft and fast food. Gained an additional 40 lbs in that time. Ugh. When I think about how I ate and lived back then it makes me sick. I would literally spend the entire day in my bed with the laptop on my stomach questing.

*Disclaimer, this is the type of super ****ty shameful eating I was doing during that time* This is from a reddit thread I posted to:
Take a trip down memory lane. What was the biggest, most calorific, out of control portion sized meal you can remember eating (back when) that now just makes you cringe?
This isn't exactly one meal, but I thought I'd get this off my chest... During my first quarter of college I would stop by McDonalds and get a 10 piece chicken nugget meal with large fries, a large coke and a L Mcflurry and eat it on the way home. Then when I got home I'd eat dinner with my parents. Then I'd go to my boyfriends house and eat dinner with him and his family. Shortly after we'd drive the 1 block to the store and get a king size candy bar and soda (or 2) each as well as a bag of chips and/or pint of ice cream for later that night. I lived like that for at least three months... holy **** that is shameful.

Despite it all, I worked hard and graduated with high honors and a 3.89 GPA.

I have a general AA with my major focus being on Diagnostic ultrasound prerequisites (A&P. Physics, Pre-cal etc.) I've applied to the program twice now, first time I was declined outright, the second time I made the alternate list. There are only two accredited US schools in western WA and they each accept about 15 people (so 30 total). I think there were 400+ applicants this last year alone, so I guess I should be happy I was an alternate, but overall still no luck.

Jumped on the fitness bandwagon with my mom in early 2012 and lost 60 lbs. Got cocky. Thought I was too awesome to gain all my weight back.

Anyway I became a medical scribe to test the waters of the medical field and what I was getting in to. Worked in the ER and saw massive people with massive issues due to obesity, HTN and diabetes, and yet still the stress of the job and constant temptations there... guess what? Gained back every. single. pound. Didn't know until recently because I was literally too afraid to weigh myself but I could tell by my pants size, lemme tell yah.

Started hating my job (so much stress, 11 dollars an hour, watching children die wasn't worth it.). Moved back in with fiances parents (because they were struggling financially) after living on my own with fiance for over a year = strain on relationship big time. Depressed about my weight. Depressed about school.

So I started thinking, why the hell not go to Australia. Applied for working holiday visa, got it, bought my ticket like 3 days later, jumped on a plane in September 2013 (after never having traveled alone anywhere, last trip was to the grand canyon with my parents when I was 11) and flew down here.

Met up with a WoW friend I had been talking with for ages and we started losing weight together. He was 180 kg at the start and is in the 150's now. Super proud of him, he keeps me motivated.

Currently I'm working as a live in nanny, which definitely has it's ups and downs.

Anyway there is my life story in a nut shell. I'm kind of an obnoxious geek, who sticks her foot in her mouth way too often but I'm really sensitive and care about people a lot. I love animals. Horses and dogs especially. I have a 1 year old Great Dane back home with my (ex, but not really ex) fiance who I miss dearly. Annnnddd that's me and my journey thus far.

Let's kick some serious *kitten* this year loseit!


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Hi

I'm Kris, 20yo from NZ (originally from Zimbabwe). I'm studying nursing at Massey University. I was always overweight until bullying and parental pressure 'encouraged' me to lose weight. I lose too much and became anorexic at 16 (lost 50kgs in a couple of months), spent time in hospital and a care facility.
After I was released everyone consistently told me 'you can eat whatever you want' and something clicked and I started eating over 6000 calories a day.
I suffer with BED (binge eating and not purging) but I exercise hard so If I get my diet under control I should be very successful in losing the last 15kgs. I love exercise and sports and i'm currently doing Insanity workouts with great results so far.

I'm lucky enough to have a best friend who is losing weight with me who has more sense than I do

Hi everyone I'm Stephanie- a 27 year old dental hygienist currently snowed in at upstate ny. So many of your stories sound so much like mine. I was skinny all through highschool and started gaining toward the end of my senior year. I have hit the gym on and off through the years. Never keeping off what I lose. This is the year I have decided I'm going to do it for good. My biggest struggle being eating. Really working on eating healthy and concentrating on that.

I guess it's time I introduce myself as well. I have been a member (only lurk) of reddit for... well a year tomorrow. I subscribed to r/loseit that day. My weight has been all over the place. I used to play provincial Rugby and was also a lineman in Football. When I played I was about 350lbs, but mostly muscle.
I got injured and decided that contact sports were no longer a thing I could do. Problem was I kept the calorie intake of a heavy weight lifter, but I stopped lifting weights. I never got over than 350lbs, but lost a substantial amount of muscle. Fast forward to an ex -wife and a new life. In 2006 I decided I should get back in shape. I did the Atkins diet and hit the weights again, I dropped down to about 265lbs put on a good amount of muscle and felt really good about my self. I met my current wife and things got busy, the gym became less and less until it no longer happened. I gained back about 40lbs and felt pretty ****ty about my self. in 2011 I started Atkins again, and dropped down to about 250lbs. I couldn't keep up with the Atkins and guess what, 305 lbs again.
I turned 30 in 2013 and decided that this yo-yo dieting bs was not going to happen anymore. I decided to make a full lifestyle change. I don't get down on my self if I eat bad food, I just work it off. I allow myself cheat days, cheat weeks, cheat holidays... Whatever it takes. I always have an end game to it though and have not set a goal. For the first time I don't feel restricted by what I am eating, I am enjoying it. I bought a fitbit along with another guy at work and it has made a world of difference, those 5 blinking lights have made me move more, take the stairs, park as far away as possible... you get the idea.
So here I am now, 262 pounds, happy, healthy and in dire need of clothes that fit me.
The moral of my story is, fad diets and quick losses are great temporarily, but if you restrict yourself from foods you love, you will at some point binge. You may have the will power to stop after one time I didn't, and will never diet again.

Glad to see everyone kicking *kitten* on here!

Hey, I'm polkaduck on mfp and reddit.

I'm 21, f, 5'7 and from the uk.

I have always been pretty active, I walk most places I go, I do yoga, run at least once a week and swim roughly twice a week (I'm a synchro coach so have 4sessions a week but in water for about half an hour a session).

I have always LOVED food. I love cooking and baking, read cook books as you would a normal book regularly. When I lived with my parents my weight was fine, I always felt like I was massive, but looking back at pictures etc I really wasn't. Then I moved out and went to uni. First year I actually lost some weight, then second year I lived with a Flatmate who had a pretty serious eating disorder and basically ended up compensating for her- making bigger meals for the two of us to eat, etc. I also became really stressed and depressed, from this and other things that were going on at the time. Through the depression I developed social anxiety and basically I was eating ALL the time and piled on a tonne of weight.

2 years on and my depression and anxiety are (90%) gone, I'm off meds, still friends with but not living with ex-Flatmate (it was too toxic and I couldn't cope), so things are much better- yay!

My highest weight was 84kg this summer. Ideally I would like to graduate from university at roughly the weight I started, so that I can go on to the next chapter of my life as a healthy individual. I'm currently sitting at c. 78kg, and want to get down to c. 63kg by the end of July.

The biggest change for me has simply been to cut the comfort eating. I've also cut down on drinking, and now that I am counting calories I am starting to really notice the weight coming off gradually. I'm not worrying too much about upping my activity levels as I keep reading that weightless is mostly diet, and with being in my final semester/the amount I already do I simply don't have the time to add more excercise in!

So that's my little story, feel free to add me on mfp and we can cheer each other along!

Hey Reddit! Here's my deal, I'm only 4'11" and just hit my heaviest. Because I'm so small, every ounce counts. I'm looking to lose a bit, pack on muscle, and gain a ton of energy.

I just took my first hoola hoop class last week and it was so fun. My next class is Tuesday and I'll have my own hoop to take home. I expect to be doing it on my own because it's actually really fun.