Indianapolis Holiday Challenge

Hello Fellow Hoosiers!

First, let me introduce myself.  I am 51 and live in the Meridian Kessler area of Indianapolis.  I worked in the weight loss industry for 15 years maintaining a 100 pound weight loss for the last 20 years.  I know from experience the ups and downs of weight loss and gains.  I know I will always be a recovering obese person.  Right now my goal is a healty 10 pound loss.  I have been exercising and using calorie count for accountability.

With the holiday season fast approaching I know this is a difficult time of year for weight loss or even maintenance.  The average American gains 7 pounds during the holiday season.  Once I begin "Trick or Treating" I awaken from a food/sugar coma January 2nd. 

I would like to form a support group to meet during this season until January.  I know I need others to talk with and share challenges.  Group support has always helped my motivation and I really don't want to pay to sit with others and step on a scale in pubic. 

I was considering an initial meeting at Starbucks at 56th and Illinois (across from Safeway and down from the cupcake shop) on Thursday the 22nd.  Please post or email if there is any interest!

Thanks,

Susan Apple  susan.apple@mac.com

Good Morning Susan;

First of all congratulations on your success on keeping off the weight.  That says a lot about you and your desire to be healthy. 

I live on the Southside of Indy and am currently in a weight loss program for the next few months.  I am fairly new to this journey, having started in July of this year.  When I started I was medically described as morbidly obese at 221.8 which just writing that again makes my heart and soul hurt.  I had about 85 pounds to loose when I started and with this Dr. prescribed weight loss program I am down 36.6 pounds as of this morning which is just under 15 weeks.  But, I can honestly say that I am very nervous about the approaching holidays and I have a MAJOR sweet tooth, so Halloween is going to be a big struggle for me and I am scared that I am going to fall back into my old horrible habits and loose a lot of the progress that I have worked so hard for. 

I completely agree that having people to talk to helps so much with weight loss, the feeling that I am not alone on this journey is a huge help.  It is very hard getting on a scale in a public setting every week (especially if it has been a hard week) and it can be very embarrising but the group setting to learn about nutrition and  bounce ideas off of is a benefit so I do it and go back every week.  Luckily, the scale part shows a loss every week but not always a big number that I want it to be...

I would love to be an on-line buddy if you would like but I work full time during the day and I have three school aged children that are very involved in extra activities after school that takes up our evenings and weekends so it would be very hard to meet every week.   I look forward to hearing from you soon.  

Shelli