Welcome to the new over 100 to lose club!

Howdy guys and gals!  I'm taking over this club, not because i think i have all the answers (i so know i don't) but because i'm super pumped up right now and motivated to help those people out there who have a lot of weight to lose.  we need a place that's more than a "can i join" place.. we need a place to talk about issues related to being this overweight.. 

Who here needs to lose over 100 pounds? Who needs to lose over 150 pounds? Or more?

I did! I did! And yes.. i did!

A small amount of background on me for those of you who don't know: i am a binge eater. I have had a problem with emotional eating, hidden eating, over eating, eating with a hang nail, eating because i have split ends.. you name it i stuffed my emotions down with the greasiest, nastiest food i could find!

Why did i do that (you might ask)? Because of many many different reasons.. frankly i think it was because this is how i was taught from a young age, this is how we handle stress and emotions. I learned that it's not proper to talk about your feelings.. or god forbid, express your emotions! You have to shove them down with a piece of cake and a smile!

Anyway.. onto the reason for this post.

If you are out there and need to lose a lot of weight.. just like i've got to.. i think we need to have a place where we can discuss these issues with each other and try and work through them together. Because, let's face it, people who are morbidly obese (yes.. i hate that word too) have uniquely different issues to work through and deal with than the average person.

Losing weight, for people who have this much to lose, have to deal with so much more than the formulas to figure out how much to eat.. and exercising. It's more complex than that. We have to deal with years and years of poor eating habits that have to be unlearned, we have to deal with the emotional torment of just being this size, we have to deal with the harsh looks and comments from strangers or from loved ones, we have to deal with our emotions for the first time in our life because we aren't shoving them down our throats anymore..

this is the hardest thing ANYONE has to deal with.. but, from my experience, things are different for us bigguns. :)

also, for those of you who don't know me very well.. (because i've kinda been in hiding and not posting much and there are so many new people out there) i started out in january weighing 324 pounds. I now weigh 232.5.. i have lost 91.5 pounds so far. I am not telling you guys this to get kudos.. i got those yesterday. I'm telling you guys this because i want anyone out there who is struggling with knowing they have, what seems to be, an insurmountable amount of weight to lose, that there is hope.. it IS possible.. you CAN do it.. but it's hard.. and you will hurt.. i know this because i've been there.. i've done it.. and i'm still dealing with it.

so.. come on in and share your stories.. i want to hear them and i want us to support each other until we are all at our goal weight!

Well I'm completely new at this and so I'm gonna give this a try.

I'm 23, and 5'9",I hit my highest weight ever at 320 this past May, I'm down to 298 (fluctuates sometimes) but it has not moved. I'm a mild smoker (no more than 4 a day unless drinking, which is rare). I'm a full time college student. I have done several other diets and they've all failed.

I used to work out constantly and then I just stopped, I completely lost all motivation, my mom says she'll go with me, but I don't want her there. I feel embarrassed at what I've let myself become. I also have a huge contusion on my leg from a car accident 5 years ago and I don't want anyone seeing it.

My goal weight is 125, and I want to get there with the quickness, but I know it's just not happening anytime soon. So any advice would be great!

Ashley

Well, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.  I've been at this since the end of January.  I've only lost 44 pounds so far,( sw 260 cw 216 gw 127,) but I accomplished one of my mini goals today. I broke the 15 minute mile on the treadmill.  When I started walking on the treadmill in March I it took me 22 minutes for a mile.  I've been shaving time off very slowly, and today I did one mile in 14:44.   I know not a big deal, but it is something I remember from highschool fitness tests...we had to run the mile in less than 15 minutes to pass...and I barely made it every time.  15 years later I did again, finally.  I'm only 5'3.5" and so the extra 88 pounds really makes me slow, and out of shape, but today I proved to myself that I'm at least in almost the same shape as I was in highschool. 

Laps

Is it too late to join? I have never posted on this site before or any other weight loss site. So, I am not sure how this works. All of the 42 pages of threads seem overwhelming. Is that just how things work?

Well, I have to say I'm glad to find this place. Here's the story, for those who don't mind my telling it: I'm a 26 year old surgical tech student from Georgia. I, like many of you, am and always have been an emotional eater, and always a "big girl" as my friends like to call me.

But recently, big has become out of hand. In my highschool days and first-time college days I ate alot, but was always active. Now, in these last couple of years I've become very sedentary besides school and my job as a local dj. It seems funny how you can just step on the scale and see the weight climbing and climbing, and lose the will to care about it. In this last year particularly, I've gone from 230 pounds to a now staggering 280. And the funny thing is that I don't think I would have tried to change it if it weren't for a couple of things:

Firstly, I met a wonderful man last year, the love of my life, and we are now engaged. In a way that happiness made me comfortable. And being an emotional eater, I realize now that "emotional eater" doesn't just mean I would eat when unhappy, but WHENEVER I had any kind of overwhelming emotion.

And then secondly, my friends and I share a deep love of rollercoasters. We have always tried to go on at least a few trips across the southeast and midwest every year to ride our favorites and the new ones that crop up, but this year was different. For the first time, my fear became real. I always worried that maybe the day would come that I would be too fat to get on a coaster, and that day came. I was devastated and embarrassed in front of not only my close friends but a large line of people I didn't even know, and hearing the gasps and snickers was possibly the worst sound I've ever heard.

So, the time has come. It's time to have the pretty healty body to go with the "oh, you've got such a pretty face" line I was beginning to think I was doomed to hear all my life. I only hope that my struggle will help others to be motivated to begin their own journey. I know we all can do it....it is possible. With the right support and a few simple changes, it can happen. And it WILL happen for me. I'm giving myself one year to lose at least 80 pounds. If it doesn't happen, at least I'll be on my way to that goal. If i do lose it, you'll see a very happy girl back here to tell you all about it. In the meantime, thanks for reading.

ophelia, I've felt your pain as well. I am a self-proclaimed rollercoaster addict. I went to an amusement park this summer and I didn't fit into the regular seats, so they had to bring me half way down the ride and put me into the seat for larger-bodied people. I was so humiliated, holding up the ride and all. I swore to myself that I would never go to an amusement park again unless I get down to 200lbs (at 254 now). Also, since I moved from my moms to live with my boyfriend closer to college, I haven't done any extracurricular activities really and have gained a bunch of weight.

{{{ophelia}}} same thing happened to me too.  when I have lost enough, i'm going back (it's one of my rewards).  Glad you're here :)

Thanks both of you, I appreciate the support.....I only found this site a few days ago and already I'm counting my calories and feeling better that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm glad to know you all.

Goodness me, I've been on a bit of a rollercoaster lately. My mother came to visit me for 3 weeks all the way from the Netherlands... We went shopping and I bought a pair of 18W jeans! WOO! I wore a size 26W in February. I look mighty fine ;) Now I just need to get rid of the flabby skin. Bah.

I was down to 243lbs before she came, I am ashamed to say I'm 248 right now. We've been eating out a lot and she brought me bunches of delicious Dutch treats. Oh well, I'm not too concerned, if I buckle down when she leaves next week, I should lose it rather easily again.

Last night I went to the cheesecake factory for the first time. DEAR GOD! That place.. wow. I had heard things about the portion sizes there but I didn't expect what they put in front of me. I had the thai chicken pasta, delicious, but I could only eat half. And then we had to have some cheesecake. You can't go there and NOT have cheesecake. I was aching on the way home. Today is fruit day LOL.

Sinful, the only word to capture my past two weeks.

lol....don't worry about it Cat, that's the point of this whole thing.....changing our lives so we can REALLY enjoy those times that we treat ourselves with food....you'll lose that weight again in no time....until then, think about all the great times you spent with your mother......THAT holds weight of a different kind!