Welcome to the Group

Hello! 

I wanted to introduce myself.  I have spent many years working on my weight (and honestly I recently gained back a lot of the weight I had lost).  I believe that it is virtually impossible to lose weight (or gain if you have those issues) unless you are healthy both in mind and in the body. 

I started this group to discuss how to make a healthier mind.  Losing weight is a life long process and until you work on your own unique issues, it is difficult or down right impossible to be successful for life.

A little about myself.  I am not a professional therapist, but I do have a b.s. in psychology,  I work with adolescents who have mental illness and behavior disorders, and I have interests in helping people be the best them they can be!

This isn't "my group"  I just happened to start it.  This group should be what we make of it.  Feel free to add your own story, information, links, whatever.  My only rule is this:  everyone's experiences and feelings are valid and important so I will not tolerate making fun of or picking on someone for what they say.  I will delete those posts.  Thanks!  :) 

I am glad to be a part of this group. Your stroy sounds similar to mine. I have tried to lose weight now for many many years. I strated gaining significant amounts of weight when I was around 18, and I am 34 now. This has been the biggest fight of my life and I refuse to give up. It has taken this many years to learn that I had major emotional baggage preventing me from getting the results i've wanted. I am more clear now than I have ever been. But that clarity also comes with accepting the fact that this is NO WAY NO HOW easy!! I have difficult days, I still fail-many times, but I have to continue to not give up.

My current weight is 199, I lost around 10 Ibs in the last 3 months. that is pretty slow I know, but I have just come to the realization that I have to eat less calories, not just healthier foods.

This sounds like the kind of group for me, only it doesn't look like a lot of activity. I just joined CalorieCount and I feel very motivated right now.

All my life I've had weight problems, and emotions play a big part. In January this year I weighed over 185 lbs, which is the heaviest I have been since being pregnant. I got to that point by giving in to cravings produced by stress, anger, or depression, and maybe even sometimes celebration. I found that certain foods can be like a drug - calming, soothing, relaxing. My favorites were chocolate, ice cream, and baked goods, which I would sneak eat. My husband is also an over-eater but he just eats alot. I guess portion control is another problem in my house. I would like to be a good healthy influence for my family too.

So here I am, ready to begin again! Like Tiffy73 I refuse to give up this time. And I know its not easy (I've tried and failed before, too), but I have a good feeling about it now.

Thanks for listening, everybody!

Hello Everyone,

I just joined this site about a week ago. I have read alot of comments/stories that make me realize that I am not alone.

Well here is my story, I apologize if I trail on.

All my life, I was told that I wouldn't amount to anything and the old adage, "You'd be so pretty if you just lost weight", and most of the time it came from my family. I guess some people just look on the outside before looking on the inside. As I got older I got depressed and tried so hard to prove myself and just kept gaining weight. At 24 years I was over 200 lbs and settle for the first man that came along. He was an ok kinda guy but he had drinking problems and really didn't want to work. We were together 18 1/2 years when he passed away in 2004. I had just had gastric bypass the month before he died. I had lost 100lbs, down from 227 lbs.

After almost a year still not selfconfident I settled again for the first man that came along. God it was worse, he didn't like working either, and he was an alcoholic, a violent one. After 2 years he punched me in the face and that was it I was outta there. I said never again. I started to gain some of my weight back and had become more depressed. I tried all kinds of things, haven't we all.

I moved into a small, dumpy house, one that I could afford on my own and keep my babies (dogs) too. I had a problem with my door lock one day and I called a local locksmith company Pop a Lock. Well Larry came and fixed my door lock and took my heart.

He is a big bear of a man and growls sometimes, but he doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs. He has 3 teenage boys, they are a handful, I was never blessed with any of my own, maybe I didn't have any because this is what God had in mind for me. Larry spoils me when he can, but it is the little things that mean the most.

I recently found out that I have heart problems, Bundle Branch Block, in layman terms a short in the electrical system to my heart, well after all my tests, I spent the whole day at the doctors, I went home and just wanted to rest/sleep, the boys had gotten home from school long before I got there and the house was cleaned up and everything looked real good, considering they are teenage boys. Larry came home to find me in my PJ's and in bed the boys started cooking dinner and Larry brought me some beautiful wild flowers he had stopped to pick beside the road on his way home.

I thank God everyday that I did not give up on trying to find that right person and I will not give up on myself either.

I apologize for the long story.

Tiffy you have done great loosing that much and don't loose it in a hurry. Feel proud of each little goal/step you take.

Hay I am here with you and for you. We are all here for basicaly the same thing. friends, support and encouragement.

I will be there for you just as I know that you will be there for me.

Thanks so much for listening to my lonnngggg story.

God has/will Bless us.

Dear Brendasue,

You have quite a story! You are so blessed with a wonderful family.

That line about "You'd be so pretty if you just lost weight", was exactly what I heard from my family when I was a teen. My mom even added that I should wear some make-up. Little did they know I was on the road to depression already...

I have it under control now (the depression, not the weight) with medication and a great faith in God.

I'm glad you joined the group, I just hope we get alittle more conversation/activity.

Dear Hayhill,

Thank you. I think that with everything that has happened to me in the past, that God has truly blessed me. I thank him everyday.

Like you I got more and more depressed growing up and as an adult, and like you again I have the depression under control with meds, but not the weight. With our faith in God and friends to help/support/encourage us we will do just fine.

I am glad that you have joined this group too. It may take some time but I believe that we will get more people to come to the group.

God Bless

I wish I had been more adventurous on CC earlier in my weight loss journey, so that I could have found this group before I hit maintenance.  I have lost 63 pounds since joining CC, and I weigh 99 pounds less than I did 3+ years ago.  I was morbidly obese for 16 years, and have struggled with binging and using sugar for comfort most of my life. 

I have always known that my relationship with food and my attitude toward myself was messed up but previously had felt helpless to change it.  This time around, I knew it was essential to overcome emo-eating and to address the way I treat myself.  Otherwise, I was doomed to not lose weight, or to swiftly gain back anything I did lose.

I've been working hard at identifying and changing the sabotaging thoughts that lead me to overeat and to escape to the dubious relief of numbness through binging on junk food.  I look forward to continuing this work with this group because the journey is far from over.  While I have, for the first time in my weight-loss history, reached my goal weight, I have never successfully maintained weight loss before.  So I'm in uncharted waters here, and am glad to have found some fellow sailors...

Hi, I followed mad4moon into this group. I'm looking for a place to talk about the "other" eating challenges besides #calories #lbs #minutes exercising and all those discussions about how many carbs/protein/fat to eat. Eating too much is something I do to salve emotional & spiritual pain, and it doesn't work!

I began the journey to obesity about 20 years ago, and have been struggling inwardly and outwardly for the past 10 years to find something that would work for me. I'm lazy, stubborn, and opinionated, so I don't cotton to lots of changes. I began with water, drinking more of it. I'm slowly becoming more active. I'm a very competent planner, and I actually enjoy logging all my food & activity.

I've been on CC a year, lost almost 20 lbs, and I really enjoy using all the tools to count & measure and analyze, but that's not enough to fix me. I keep losing and gaining the same 2-3 lbs, and can't seem to progress. In my quest to come to terms with simply eating too much, I have lately found ideas relating to Intuitive Eating to be useful. I haven't read the book yet, I'm just dipping into a blog.

So far I've learned that I need to 1. eat when I'm hungry; 2. stop when I'm full; 3. learn to enjoy the meal I am eating while I am eating it. I know I tend to gobble food while distracted by TV, books even work or the internet. My bites are too big, I eat too fast & don't chew, and thus I miss so much of the joy of food. It's gone before I know it. I don't think food is simply fuel--I think of it as an amusement park, and I want to go on all the rides, twice.

Thank goodness we are writing, not talking, because it would be really hard for me to verbally agree with earth_mom with this huge piece of - wait, what am I eating? - stuffed in my mouth while I sit at the computer...

amazin' innit?

TV, reading, just sitting around...that desire to crunch something...and the calories just slurp on by.

Okay I'm just reading about another technique EFT to practice acupressure or "tapping" to relieve this kind of mindless craving. Have to look into that.

Hi I just joined 2 days ago.  A little about me, My name is Paige.  I got married in Dec. '07, had a babygirl in Dec. '08.  In the past 2 years I have gained nearly 70lbs.  When my husband and i started dating i weighed 115lbs, then i jumped up to 132lbs when we got married, by march of 2008 i weighed 147 lbs and then i got pregnant at gained a whopping 37 lbs.  Needless to say I weighed 184lbs when i gave birth.  I have since lost 24 lbs.  I am down to 160 lbs and am determinded to get back to a normal weight which for me is between 98 lbs and 128 lbs (i'm only 5 feet tall) 

I have realized that i have 3 huge problems.  1) I obsess over my weight/size

2) I over eat when i am bored and anxious (im a stay at home mom so i get bored easily)

3)  I eat/over eat when I am around family members that are big eaters.

For me, eating healthy isn't hard I eat many servings of fruits, whole grains, and veggies each day.  I exercise atleast 2 days a week.  I started a mommy and baby stroller "group" walk which we do on sunday and thursdays.  we walk 3 miles pushing our little ones and we do plies, squats, lunges, etc. 

I just don't have the discipline to STOP OVEREATING!  Any suggestions or comments??

Thanks everyone!  I love this website I am so glad I found it I think it's going to help me stay accountable with my food intake.

Hi all,

  I just joined CC today.  Trying to find a way to put into order the emotions that the current decision to lose weight are causing. 
  Like many, this is not the first time I try to lose weight;  I've always dealt with weight but mainly self-image issues.  Although at one point I was a healthy size 6, I never thought I was skinny.  I am what this site calls 'slightly overweight', with 172lbs now at 5'6', my healthy weight range is between 135 and 150.  My first successful weighloss came right before college.  Ten years later and 2 kids after, I joined weight watchers (weighing in at 189lbs) and lost 27 lbs.  This was two years ago.  Now I've gained 15lbs of the originally lost.  Went back to WW 5 weeks ago, but this time, I'm 'not feeling it'!

  This time, I'm feeling a sense of loss and mourning about my current weigh loss decission and process.  I feel sad that I can't just be OK with what i eat, without having to worry about the pounds creeping up.  I hate food being a constant and a constant worry. And ultimately, I think I'm ANGRY at food and weight and the effort that goes with trying to achieve my goal. 

I am relatively healthy when it comes to eating. Hardly ever eat fast food, don't do fried foods at home, eat veggies and fruits, love fresh tasting meals.  But I snack, and I eat emotionally, and sometimes mini-rage binges (if I age that cookie, I might as well eat 5), and I don't exercise enough...

  What attracted me to this site, was the possibility of talking about what coexists with weight gain/loss.  Emotions, relationships, images, expectations, etc... I know my self-image needs improvement.  I know this is a tough code to decode (otherwise we wouldn't be here), but finding an interest to the process might give it a fun twist!!  I hope to find some support and perhaps give some support as well!

  By the way, Hi All, I'm Michelle and we're in this together!! 

I'm new, call me David. I come loaded with baggage, actually I'm an extremely lucky individual. I just celebrated ten years of sobriety and on December 10th I'll have quit smoking three years.

Last but not least, over three years ago I reached my weight loss goal. I've held off over 150 pounds over three years. I won't say it has been easy. I have gone to some OA Meetings but I'm not a regular there.

I seem to have a problem at night, guess I eat for entertainment. I hope to learn about emotional eating from this group - I'm all ears. Well, so to speak.

Glad to be on board.

If I've learned anything about myself in the past year, it's that I'm a creature of two extremes. I tend to pig out when I'm stressed and not eat at all when I'm depressed. I'm hoping to find a happy medium with myself no matter how I'm feeling as I realize that my food intake should not in anyway shape or form be connected to my feelings.

I think that by not eating food as a form of procrastination to not deal with whatever is stressing me out will help me in more ways than one. A. it would make me more productive  and therefore not have so much to be stressed about. and B. It would decrease my food intake by a lot.

so now all I need is the will power and self discipline to do this.

Hello,

I'm a little excited to join the group, and a little nervous too because now I will be more accountable to others for my weight goals, and that is good, just you know a commitment out loud so to speak.

I can so relate to other members posts about the long battle against my body to be thin. Its so hard to stay motivated.  I used to walk all the time and I had lost quite a bit of weight, but I've stopped walking and I eat too many bad calories, so I have gained a lot back.

As far as the emotional eating,  sometimes I realize I am eating for emotional reasons, but still don't stop and sometimes I don't fel aware that is why I am eating, I just thikn I am hungry, but after realize I wasn't really hungry.  Does anyone have a strategy I can use to recognize that is what I am doing and how to talk my self out of eating in that moment?

Amy

Hi Amy, Welcome!

I find that my emotional eating became habit, so even when I wasn't really stressed or upset I would overeat with out thinking. Calorie Count works in that I am more mindful of what I eat because I have to record calories.

This might be off topic, but emotional eating can also happen in celebratory times (ie. "happy stress")

- Heather

I'm very happy to see this group! I would love to figure out how to tear down my food walls, so I can fight off sabotage. (mine and other people's)

I will spend some time reading through here, but in the meantime, I am just very glad you're all here.