Hi, I'm Michelle. I'm 5'6" and 327 lbs. I've been over 200 lbs since I was 29 and over 300 for a little over a year. I'm 46 with 17and 15 year old sons and 1 cat. I've been on MFP for awhile but am just starting to get serious. The last time I was at my goal weight was when I was 18.:noway:

My name is Cristina I am going to be 23 years old in May. I am 265 pounds and my height is 5'4 and wish to lose weight to be healthier and to feel comfortable about myself. My whole life I struggled with dieting and I actually lost 20 pounds last year with mfp but gained 10 pounds back. I would love to be around 145lbs. I am tired of struggling with gaining weight. When I feel stressed about anything I tend to do emotional eating. My problem is getting the motivation to workout also I would love some support or if anyone needs support from me I am here Please add me if you would like to you.

Hello to you all. I am Debbie, and I am definitely in the obese category. I am 43 years old, 5'2" and as of this morning, 318 pounds. My husband and I got married 4 years ago and I was 173 pounds( after losing about 80 pounds ), so needless to say I have gained ALOT in a short time. A lot of mine was emotional eating to begin with. I lost my job the week before we were married, and then the month after we got custody of his defiant teenage son with ADHD and a police record already. These past 4 years have been a roller coaster for us. He retired from the military 2 years ago and then we moved for a job for him away from my family to another state; therefore more emotional eating. I am tired of being tired. Sunday he and I both decided we had had enough and started our eating lifestyle changes, lol if I call it a diet he will not stick with it . We have both gained alot of weight, though he has only gained about 60 pounds, still alot, but not as much as me. I worry though because I have no support system here where we live. We honestly do not get out much or have many friends so we are home bodies. I did get up enough energy today to go to the gym here in our housing area and exercised for about 30 minutes. One day down and many more still to go . I am trying to focus on eating better, no white breads and pastas and sugars, and trying to at least incorporate more movement in my days. Honestly, exercising hurts like crazy on my ankles and knees, but I know I am going to just have to push through it, at least in small doses until my body gets used to moving more. I worry that I will have a heart attack and my kids and grand-daughters wont have me around anymore. LOL well now that I have put my life story out there I guess I will close it. I hope to get to know you all better and maybe we can all be there to support one another. It helps knowing there are others out there in the same boat, and know how hard it is to even make an effort to exercise.

Hello

I've been using myfitnesspal on and off for a while through my phone only. This app has been a tremendous help in figuring out what's really in our food. This is my first time browsing through the forums though.

I just turned 31 this month, around 340 pounds. More top and front heavy. Despite the big body, I have a small stomach. Restaurants are a bane due to the large portions they serve. I've been struggling with my weight all through my twenties. Poor eating habits due to laziness, various exercise attempts, mystery illnesses, all while working full time and going to school part time. I too have suffered loss and gained love.
But I am a firm believer in a few big facts:
- Diets don't work
- Real food will make you healthy from the inside out
- Don't moan over falling off the wagon, just pick yourself back up again

For the past few years I've been working on lifestyle changes slowly. Because it's easier to manage. For example, at my doctors suggestion, I should go gluten free. Going cold turkey lasted 2 weeks. But now I slowly replace my favorite foods with gluten free alternatives. Once I found a suitable one, I never go back to the old version.

Now I'm what the grocery industry refers to as the "perimeter shopper". Meaning I only go to the produce, meat and dairy section (no bakery!) and only go into the center aisles for specific things such as rice, sauces, etc.

Right now, I'm on holidays so my husband and I will be doing a juicing reboot :drinker: (see Joe Cross's Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead documentary). We're on day two and doing ok. I had a cheese craving :sad: last night but my husband helped me get past it. It'll either be 3 or 5 days depending on how long we feel like doing it. We're used to juicing our breakfasts but this will be the first time doing it for a full day over several days.

For those wondering if this is a diet, it actually isn't because a diet means going into starvation mode so you don't get what your body needs. What the juicing reboot does is you're still getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs through fruits and vegetables only (yes protein too!) but it's in liquid form so it's easier on your digestive system to handle (perfect for those of us suffering from various forms of IBS and other digestive related illnesses or diseases).

I don't know if I'd consider myself an emotional eater. But a boredom eater definitely. Now that spring is slowly starting here, I can't wait to get on my bike and get out more. Plus my local outdoor pool is offering free admission for the summer. I'll be done school after 3 intense years of a double program.

Summer goal - get outside more for biking and swimming. Continue with healthy eating habits.
Winter goal - find more activities to do so I'm not sitting on my *kitten* when it gets -40 degrees out. Continue with healthy eating habits. Try to get more swimming in for the winter.

Hello! Just joined today. I am 5'3" and about 278 pounds last time I checked. I have two very important reasons for being here: I turn 40 in 3 days and want to give myself the ultimate birthday gift of better health. And the 2nd, and most important, is my son who just turned 1! Right now, he is too little to mirror my food choices, so I need to get a handle on myself now. I would rather die than to have him follow my path of being overweight my whole life. And I want to be able to be active with him. He is already so strong and is starting to walk and is very active and I am going to need to be able to keep up with him. I don't want him to miss out on having a mom who can do everyday things. I dont want him to have to ride a rollercoaster by himself because I don't fit. Simple everyday things like that that people of a healthy weight dont have to think about.

I was doing well food wise right before I got pregnant with my son. I was 255, which was the lowest weight I had been for years. (I briefly topped out around 300 back in 2004-ish, but typically stay somewhere between 260-280). So I got pregnant and gained 32 pounds. More than the doctor wanted me to gain, but still not the end of the world. I lost every last pound by the time he was 6 weeks old. Then I started trying on work clothes. Everyone always says your body changes after pregnancy, but I figured since I was obese anyway, I would just go back to where I had been. It was a shocking blow to me that I couldnt fit into any of my clothes, even though I had lost all the weight. This was part of what started me on a several month PopTart and Oreo binge that resulted in me gaining almost all 32 pounds back. I was also home alone all day with my son from 4 weeks-12 weeks and he was struggling with reflux and a dairy allergy so sometimes he would scream and cry much of the day and wasnt sleeping well. It was hard to take him places because he was constantly melting down. It was a very stressful period in my life and I am, and always have been, an emotional eater. Because I had to go dairy free myself because I was breastfeeding, a lot of my go-to healthy snacks (cheese, yogurt) were no longer an option. And because he was so high-needs, I couldnt put him down so I subsisted on easy to eat things like PopTarts and Oreos. So much has changed since then. My son is the light of my life. He is happy, laid back, independent, smart and a complete joy and blessing. My husband and I can't remember life without him.

As my son has gotten easier, a lot of my challenge now is putting together healthy meals. My husband and I both work the same schedule and from the time we pick up our son from daycare, its total chaos at our house to get him fed, bathed, pajama'd and then I nurse him and give him a bottle (he's off formula now and is on flax milk because he is still having problems with dairy) and put him down for the night. This pretty much all takes place in a 1.5-2 hour timeframe so it's a lot of craziness. I try to eat while he is eating, but it doesnt always work out. Sometimes I am not eating until after I get him down around 7. I usually get in bed by 9 and spend some time with my Kindle. My husband is responsible for him (if he gets up, which doesnt happen too much anymore) until 1am. Then I get up with him when necessary after that. I am usually up with him by 6:15 for the day, so theoretically I am getting enough sleep. We leave the house around 7:15 and I work from 8-4:30. So it never ends and that makes it stressful and easy to just reach for something that isnt necessarily healthy.

I have a friend in another location of my company who is a Cross fit coach and an all-around wonderful guy. He has offered to help me and motivate me. Tomorrow I start tracking all my food for 3-4 days and then we will go from there. I feel so blessed that he is willing to help me.

I am looking into doing the 10-day green smoothie cleanse and downloaded it to my Kindle, so I'm going to see what that's all about. From what I have heard you can do it two ways: either a smoothie to replace every meal (plus you have healthy snacks) or a smoothie to replace two meals, plus healthy snacks, plus one healthy non-smoothie meal.

I am also currently reading a good book called The Problem is You (cant remember the author) that addresses the ways we self-sabotage and use various excuses for not doing positive things for ourselves.

Thanks for reading-I am looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Hi my name is Kathleen and I just turned 62 last week. I have been morbidly overweight for about 40 years now. Have lost and gained hundreds of pounds through all my life. I am so discouraged and depressed because this time in my life I really want to enjoy. I want to start taking trips with my husband and walk all over the place. I can hardly walk for a long period of time anymore. I still do have my strength, but I do find it slipping away. I need to lose at least 118 pounds. I should lose more but if I could lose that I could live.