Hi all!

My name is Victoria. I'm 22 years old and I'm here for the same reason as everyone else. I've always been a little chunky ever since I was little. The thing it, I never really became 'over weight' until I was in middle school. I was normal size. It wasn't until I started public school that it really started to bother me. I went to a private school until I was ten years old and in fifth grade, I got called fat for the first time in my life. I was at a birthday party and someone who was suppose to be my friend was whispering behind my back. I heard her say "No wonder she doesn't want any cake. Look at how fat she is." and that's when it all started. I never once thought about my weight or how I looked until then. What ten year old girl needs to be looking in the mirror and obsessing about her weight?

Through school, I gained and lost like any normal person. I think the smallest I'e ever been was when I was in 11th grade. I was in between size 5-7 jeans and at the time? I still felt 'fat.' Looking back now, I'm trying to remember just what I did to be that small. Yes, to me, that's small. Did I mention that I'm 5'2? If I even gain five pounds, it's noticeable. Anyway. I've been on a lot of yoyo diets. I've went and completely changed the way I've eaten. I've cut sodas. I've done all of these things to try and lose weight. (I don't feel comfortable saying how much I weigh. It's still bellow 200, however.) The thing is...I'm basically doing it alone. I still live at home (almost done with college, yay!) and my family just doesn't seem to understand how bad I want this.

I would LOVE to join a gym, but I can't afford it and I just don't know what to do anymore. I'll be doing this all on my own and it's really scary because I don't want to fail again. I want to feel good about myself and not feel so insecure. Any help, tips, or encouragement I could get from you guys would be great and really appreciated.

Replies

  • jlar09
    jlar09 Posts: 99
    Hi Victoria! I am 22 years old as well and I've struggled with my weight since right around puberty. I was active in HS and then stopped playing sports after I graduated and now here I am! I live in Utah while going to school and I don't use a gym either. The school gym is far too crowded and the other gyms are too expensive or not worth the drive, so I do it on my own. I am 6'0 and built like a tank (I HATE when people use euphimisms like "curvy" or "big-boned" when they actually mean overweight, because I am curvy AND big-boned AND overweight, haha), so I weigh more than most people would guess. Right now I am 261 (I hope to hit 30 pounds of weight loss and also get into the 250s next week!). My first goal is to be 250 and then after that it will be 199 and I will reassess from there.

    I think the smallest I've ever been was a size 12, in high school. I was technically overweight at that time, but I played a lot of sports so I think a lot of it was muscle. The smallest I would guess I could ever be was MAYBE a 10...with vanity sizing. ;)

    Anyway, feel free to add me! I'm fairly active on my MFP account/messages boards and I like to interact with my MFP friends a lot. Best of luck to you!!
  • bicste
    bicste Posts: 11
    Hiya, I'm becca, and I'm also about to hit my 20's in a couple of weeks!
    I know pretty much what you mean, I always knew I was a bit bigger when I was growing up, but it never occurred to me that I was fat or that it was a problem. Although I've known I wanted to lose weight for such a long time, I've never actually properly gone through with it all until now - and yes actually documenting what I eat has made me realise just how much I needed to cut out things like chocolate from my life if I actually what to change something (even though I'm slightly in love with it!)

    I'm from the UK so I don't entirely understand all the sizing and whatnot, but I'm 5'5 and 70kg and falling -I think that's about 160lbs. Anyway, feel free to add me! My inbox is always open :)
  • ftloy
    ftloy Posts: 132 Member
    If you need a motivation / accountability buddy, feel free to add me as a friend -- I'll be happy to help in any way that I can.
  • vpb91
    vpb91 Posts: 3
    Thank you guys. You've been really helpful so far! I just realized that I forgot to add that I'm currently between a 12-14 (depends on the stores) if that gives you any indication, with me being 5'2, of how I look without me having to give away how much I weight. I'mstill not comfortable with saying. Anyway, I'll totally add you guys! The more support, the better!
  • Hi,

    My name is Janelle, I have had fluctuating weights since last year, im only 5"2 and currently about 128 lbs. In a week sometimes I can go down until 122 lbs. Its because I dont eat, not because I dont want to, but, I work in the hotel industry for group reservations, and I work 9 hrs a day. If I oversleep, I wont be able to bring any food with me at work which ends up me not eating anything for 9 hours because Im not a fan of fastfood or even 7/11. So I stay on my desk. When Im on diet and budget, i eat mostly boiled eggs, i cook ground pork with either cabbages, green beans or and green leafy veggie, I drink milk and yakult and buy canned peaches and I dont drink softdrinks AT ALL. My problem is, even if i only eat this small amount of food I cant seemt o maintain my weight like 120 or I dont go down 120 lbs. Im from the Philippines and Im 23 y/o and in like 3 months time, it's already summer, and i really would love to wear a bikini and rock it in Boracay :)

    Do I have to really try and eat and increase calorie intake?

    PS
    I run for 30mins-1hr on weekends. i dance too...sometimes.