Hi from Ohio - looking for motivation and support! :)

Hi! I'm Valerie, 33, mother of 3 and stay at home mom/long arm quilter and quilt designer. I have a small business I run from my home quilting other quilters quilts for them, designing quilt patterns for magazines, and pantograph patterns for other long arm quilters. Life is pretty laid back and I live on my own schedule for the most part which is a blessing and a curse.

I have struggled with weight my entire life. Since birth. I'm pretty sure when I was born I struggled with over eating. LOL I was a normal sized kid until about 3rd grade when the words "chubby" and "plump" and "chunky" came into my parents vernacular. I remember in fifth grade a young friend of my Mother's who I admired and thought was so pretty began promising to share her pretty clothes with me if I just "lose about ten pounds". So yeah, early on I knew that I must've eaten too much and the people around me noticed it.

To be honest, I didn't mind being "chubby" or "chunky" or "plump" but I didn't like that everyone around me didn't like it. So I became pretty self-conscious at an early age and it carried with me until - well - I'm still somewhat insecure about the way I look. At 19 I had friends who were die hard vegans, and I thought that was awesome so I started eating vegan too. I was really interested in animal welfare and all of that at the time and I reached without effort, my lowest weight ever of 123 pounds. I wore a size 7/8 and all of a sudden had attention from from the opposite sex...something I hadn't experienced much prior to that.

Wearing a size 9 and eating french fries and spinach on a daily basis...as in all of the day...I met my now Husband of 13 years. We married and since have had three (like freaking gorgeous and amazing) children. Our favorite hobby as a family is watching movies and eating.

So yeah I sew, I eat, I watch movies - not a lot of physical activity there. I gained back all of that vegan weight and then some. Oh, and I eat meat and dairy now. About a year and a half of eating vegan I decided that while I love animals, I wasn't quite as passionate about not eating them. So...that.

Over the past decade I have succeeded a few times at losing 20-30 pounds but nothing that has lasted. I always get burned out or frustrated or just plain hungry. My Husband says I'm cranky when I diet and I know that he misses the delicious high calorie dinners. I just cannot cook that way when I'm watching what I eat...but at the same time I don't want to push my diet changes on everyone else. I am trying to just encourage the whole family to eat healthfully...but the Husband and kids still eat fried chicken and pizza and junk on a daily basis. The kids have really been trying to eat good with Momma, and the fact that they are learning from me and trying to please me by eating healthy foods is just the best feeling in the world and a huge motivator.

Once again, I am down 26 pounds from my highest weight (before joining MFP - so my ticker should say zero or one or two pounds) but I'm here because I'm finding it to become increasingly more challenging as I go along. My goal is to get to about 135 pounds...I have 60 to 65 pounds to go (and if you really want to know my weight you can do the math! LOL) but it is such a mind trip that I have come so close to quitting more than a few times.

While my kids are excited about eating healthy (until it comes to dinner time and they have a plate full of vegetables) my Husband is in no way shape or form watching what he eats and 90% of the time when I cook he picks up his own dinner. I don't want to push my eating on him...but he is a saboteur the booger!!! Constantly bringing home treats like doughnuts, ice cream, cookies, fried chicken...gah junk. Sometimes I have a little but I've been really good about not over indulging. I am watching calories but not terribly religiously because I want this weight loss to be sustainable...so if I feel like I cannot live without a doughnut, I have the stinkin' doughnut and move on. I try to keep those indulgences within or near my calorie goal for the day but man, it's not easy to say no!

Diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, and a number of other health related downright un-fun things run in my family. So it is super important for me to get my weight down and keep it down. I'd like to look good too - but mostly I just want to look ok and not get diabetes. So that's my driving force to keep at it. Also I see the changes in my children and how I've been able to bond closer to them now that I can actually physically PLAY with them on a daily basis. I don't want to give that up for watching tv and eating chips.

It is just like moving mountains to change your life so drastically though. When all of your friendships and relationships are based on food and bad habits. It's so hard to build new good healthy habits and keep it up. So I'm here looking for tips, ideas, support, and a place to go when all my FB friends and real life friends have gotten sick of me complaining about how delicious the cake that I can't eat is.

So, hi!