Hi, Phil! It's nice to have you around! I'm terrible when it comes to exercise myself, and I too am embarrassed at a gym. I detest typical workout routines, so I try to get my exercise in in other ways, such as yourself. I figure any kind of movement that gets your heart rate going is good for you, and if I remember from my own days, that game does get you moving! And if its something you find that you enjoy, you'll be much more apt to stick with it.

I can relate completely to the comfort food. My parents were farm kids, and my mom was taught to cook like a farmer's wife as her mother and her grandmother and her great-grandmother did before her, and that's how she taught me to cook. The problem is, that kind of food, even when it includes lots of home-grown vegetables, is very calorie dense, which was fine back in the day, when they'd eat their 1500 calorie breakfasts and then go out and work in the field doing heavy manual labor; it's not so fine nowadays with my desk job and the conveniences we have. I'm working on learning to eat in a different way and to limit my portion sizes, but it's not easy!

Best of luck to you; it sounds like you are definitely on the right track!

Hi Rachel, glad you joined our group. I think it's smart to start with just 1lb a week. When you have 100+ to lose, the journey is well over a year for most people, it's not a sprint. I found that after you develop your meal planning skills and figure out what macros give satiety, it them becomes possible to reduce your calorie goal without feeling like you are starving, it's then sustainable. In the beginning, just eating at maintenance was a challenge for me.

Hi. My name is Trisha. I'm a mom of 3 bio kids and 3 step kids. I'm also self empoyed in the beauty industry. I've been over weight since I had my first child at 17. And I'm now 32... I have had a hysterectomy almost 4 years ago and put on a lot more weight since.
I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. My goal is to loose 100 lbs and see how I feel at that weight. I tend to loose confidence easily and hoping that maybe having some support from this group might help me.
I hate to exercise, I hate water, and I feel like I never have time to plan meals. I've downloaded 3 apps on my phone to remind me to drink water(lol). Any suggestions anyone has are greatly appreciated.
Please add me....

Hi! My name is Carla. I'm 21 years old. I would love to have some friends who have a lot of weight to lose like I do. I lost 36 lbs a couple of years ago, but I gained it all back plus more. I just restarted in April at my highest weight ever, 353 lbs. I'm now at 335 lbs. My goal is 180, so I still have a long way to go! I'm following a keto diet and trying to get 45-60 active minutes a day on Fitbit. Feel free to add me. I could use some friends who are on this journey as well.

Hi all,
My name is Lori and I'm 44 yrs old. I've been overweight most of my life. I am a serial sister but this time I'm on a quest to permanently change my life style & eating habits. I went the Dr for my yearly physical and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She started me on oral medication and I want to lose about 130 so I won't need to start insulin.

Hi, my name is Nan. I'm 38 and a married mom of three from baby to kindergarten. I work full time and my husband recently started a job that took him from an easy 40 hour a week job to a stressful more than 40 hours a week. Coincidentally, this all happened when my oldest started school and my youngest was born. So, my life went from very doable to extremely time and sanity deprived. I gained 30 pounds in that time, so now I have just over 100 pounds to lose. I love spending as much time with my kids as possible and really don't want to take time away from that to meal plan and exercise. But I decided I just have to until I can get my health back in track. So, I made myself a schedule and I work out and meal prep after they go to bed at night. I've only been at it a week but I'm feeling pretty good. Like most of you, I've tried diets in the past and ending up gaining it all back and more every time. This time, I am feeling good about sticking with it for the long haul. I'm looking for an accountability partner or two or more. I'd really love a fellow career mom to share the journey with!

SW: 252
CW: 246
GW: 150

Hi, my name is April. I have been a big girl for about 27 years (it started when I was 10 years old and now I am 37). At the beginning of this year, I weighed more than I ever have. I was 5'3.75" and 240 lbs. During the previous years, I constantly told myself that this year is the year I lose weight. I would try for the first couple of weeks, not see the results I waz hoping for, and quit. My mom has high blood pressure and had to have open heart surgery to have a valve replaced. My sister has type 2 diabetes. I do NOT want to get there where they are. I have varicose veins in my legs, bad knees and ankles, and plantar fasciitis. I am tired of being tired and hurting. I am finally doing something about my weight. I sort of started the beginning of this year but really took off at the beginning of April. I have lost a total of 26 lbs so far and am continuing. I have a personal trainer now and am getting my crap together. Thank you for reading my story.

Hey everyone! My name is Summer and I am 39. So here is the deal with me. I have struggled with weight all my life. It didn't really get "bad" until I was in grad school. After I graduated I had to lose weight as I was in the military and I was sort of normal for a few years until I got out. Then I gained weight again and this time I was placed on phentermine and lost to about 155. As soon as I got off I started gaining slowly until I started having issues with my parents and their health. Was put on antidepressants and I gained 40lbs in about 4 months. Things with my parents are a little better, although it is still an ongoing issue and as I was better able to deal with the stresses I went of of the antidepressants and last September started using MFP to track food. I have lost 43 lbs since September and have about 60 to go to my soft goal of 145. So my loss has been fast or anything but I have made some good progress. I am looking to find support, friends and ideas on how to maintain my weight loss this time.

SW: 248
CW: 204.8
GW: 145

Hi all. I'm Valerie, I'm 56 and I'd like to lose about 125 pounds, although I'd be happy with 100. No health issues (yet!). My hub and I have been together for 32 years, married 22 of those. I'm mom to 3 spoiled kitties.

I have been overweight most of my life, but it really started to balloon in the last 10 years or so. I tried my first serious diet about 5 years ago and lost 50 pounds, but started slacking on watching my eating and eventually gained it all back

Finally decided I really needed to do something about my weight, so I just started last week trying low carb and have lost 10 pounds - assuming much of that is water weight, but it was nice to see anyway

I found on my last weight loss journey it really helped to log my intake and be accountable, so...here I am!

slh213, krazee4katz, ZoneFive, Summerhime, jmolivia, Calliyope, myrealm23, Athomas4680, SydneyA89, onanci, chantalgal and others.....

Good Morning everyone. I just want to say that this site and group has helped me so much in my weight loss journey. It is never easy but with the encouragement of others that understand our struggles it helps to overcome some of the obstacles. Keep logging in and tracking your food, that is one of the biggest keys to success.

Some motivational words for everyone:

Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

Welcome, Kori! If you are wanting support, this is the right place to be! The folks in this group are from all walks of life and are from a variety of age groups, but we all have that 100+lb goal in common, so we're all in the same boat together. I've found that makes for a group that is very understanding and sympathetic, and the people here are wonderfully supportive and very vocal cheerleaders! They're great to congratulate you on your successes and to be sympathetic on your failures but also great morale boosters to get back up and keep going! So just speak up and join the fun!

I just learned of this group’s existence from member bmeadows380 from a post that was made elsewhere so I thought I’d join. Sorry if this is a bit long but I've posted some of this elsewhere & combined it here into an introduction post.

BarneyRubbleMD’s Introduction to the group…

I was diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) about 2 years ago & feel I'm finally getting it resolved (I haven't had a binge episode since May 7, 2017) but I'll keep my fingers crossed on that until I'm binge free for at least 3 months. Prior to that I would binge eat anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week to as often as maybe twice a day and when I binge, I don't get full & can sometimes consume over 10,000 calories in a single day which wipes out my dieting efforts for a whole week!

My diabetes was also a complication with the binge eating stuff & weight gain. If my blood sugar would get too low, I'd get way too hungry & would binge. If my blood sugar got above 180 mg/dL, it would trigger a binge that was difficult to stop (now I know what to do if that happens--start injecting Novolog insulin every 2-3 hours until I get my blood sugar under 140 mg/dL)--sometimes it takes a lot of Novolog insulin if I've binged on a lot of carbs. If my blood sugar gets above 140 mg/dL but is under 180 md/dL, it makes me hungry which makes it difficult to make good food choices which can also trigger a binge and start the whole binge cycle over again! Also, not getting enough sleep or poor sleep can also make me more likely to binge the following day & also messes with my blood sugars.

The best investment I made to help combat my diabetes & binge eating was a glucometer (blood glucose meter at CVS Pharmacy for about $20) & learned how to use it to keep track of what my blood sugars where before each meal and 2 hours after each meal and how various foods (bread, noodles, rice, crackers, cupcakes, etc. which were awful for my blood sugar) affected my blood sugar readings 2 hours after eating them and even longer like 5 hours later. After a while I could determine what I needed to avoid (like rice, noodles, limited bread) to keep my blood sugar from climbing over 180 mg/dL and re-triggering another binge episode again!

Not eating enough calories/day also seems to be a binge trigger for me. The last time I reduced my calories/day to 1200 from 1500-1600 (1600 was the MyFitnessPal recommendation for me for 2 lbs/wk), it triggered binge episodes for me (this was about 2 years ago). Reducing to about 1200 calories/day seemed the right thing to do since I had stopped losing on the 1600 calories that MyFitnessPal (MFP) had recommended for me (& that calorie level had been working well for at least 6 months), so, it seemed like a logical idea to continue my weight loss. However, with all the binge episodes that happened after that lowering of calories/day to 1200, I ended up binge eating my way back up to where I started (300 pounds) plus another 17 pounds by 1/1/2017 to 317 pounds--and starting all over again! My Binge Eating Disorder Specialist, who I started seeing in Feb2017, had me keep my calories/day at about 2000 which I would have "bet the bank" I'd gain weight on since I didn't exercise (mobility issues) but instead I've lost weight (63 pounds since Jan2017 & still losing) & now I'm back down to about where I was 2 years ago BUT eating 2000 calories/day which is FAR more enjoyable than 1200! Now, I just keep my calories/day at 2000 & I'll see how that goes over the next month or so. If I make it to mid August2017 without a binge, I'll no longer meet the Binge Eating Disorder criteria (i.e. 3 months without binge eating) that's eluded me for so long. I'll also be curious if I'm still losing weight at that time too as I don't plan to change my 2000 calorie/day plan until after that mid-August date & only (maybe) IF I stop losing weight at that time (I'm hoping my weight just keeps dropping so I can just stick with that I've been doing & gotten use to over these last few months since what I've been doing feels like it's sustainable for me. Hopefully I can keep this weight loss going until I'm at a healthy weight (about 100 more pounds to lose to get there)--the key for me will be to keep the binge eating & diabetes under good control so that doesn't get so out-of-control again like it did 2 years ago thereby wiping out all my efforts to lose weight & get healthy.

Wow, congratulations! Your after pics are incredible!

Since you're at the end of the trail we're all strugglinge along, I'll ask the million dollar question: did you have problems with saggy skin after losing all that weight, and what did you do about it?