Hello everyone!

[Adarkestfairy]

Hello everyone. I am hoping to get some much needed support and meet some wonderful people on this site.
I am 32 years old. I have four children, ages 10,9,6, and 2. I work full times as a CNA. My husband left for Basic Combat Training at the end of February. Since he is making such a huge commitment to make our lives better, I finally have the motivation to make myself better for him. I know my husband loves me no matter what size I am, but for once in my life, I WANT to be thinner.
Simply put, I am fat. I have never denied that. I could come up with tons of excuses as to why I am, but honestly, I just like food. The last time I was under 200 pounds was when I was 16. That weight was lost being very unhealthy. I was not eating and taking speed to help with weight loss. Because of that, I have promised myself this time I would do it right.
I started my diet and exercising at the end of February. I weighed myself when I started. My weight then was 236. I try to go to the gym 6 nights a week. I admit I skip now and then because I am tired. I cut out regular soda and only drink water and diet soda. I have not had fast food since my husband left and won't until he graduates. (that day I will cheat on my diet, it will be another 16 weeks after that before I see him again) My weight has been going up and down since I started. I gained back 5 pounds two different weeks. Today I weighed myself in at 210 pounds. I am hoping to lose another 10 pounds before I see my husband. (May 6th) Ultimately, I would like to get down to around 160 pounds. Which is still considered overweight for my height (5 feet) but would be a number I would be happy with.
Sorry I rambled on. That's me in a nutshell.

 

[Flumes]

Welcome Adarkestfairy!

I hope you achieve your goals.

I also admire you with looking after four kids, trying to lose weight, all the while having your hubby away and doing it on your own. Awesome.

Best of luck...you have the motivation and drive to do it.
I found coming back here everyday and checking in has kept me focused on watching what I eat. Now I think twice about the extra calories or the unhealthy snack.

Hope to see you around alot! You can do it!

 

[Harold14370]

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your weight loss so far, and your decision to lose weight in a healthy way.

I am a little bit concerned about a couple of things you wrote. You mentioned that you are cutting out the soft drinks and fast food, and that's good, but you didn't say much about your diet otherwise.

If you started your diet at the end of February, then you have lost 26 lb in about 7 weeks. That works out to 3.7 lb a week, which I think is pretty aggressive. Especially if the 5 lb gain in those two weeks wasn't just water weight, because the weekly weight loss was even more in the other 5 weeks.

I'd recommend you aim for a loss of about 1% of your current weight, or about 2 pounds per week. There is a sticky thread that tells how to figure your calorie requirements to do that.

 

[Adarkestfairy]

Sorry, rambled on in my intro. As for diet currently, I am trying to keep my calorie intake to 1000 or less. Yes I know, this is not a recommended number. I try not to count too closely and allow myself one day every week where I just don't pay attention. Granted I don't binge on those days, but I'll eat things I normally wouldn't eat any more. (such as pizza) To break down my weight loss so far... Week one- down from 236 to 226 pounds Week 2 down to 221 Week 3 back up to 226 Week 4 down to 220 Week 5 down to 216 Week 6 back up to 221 Week 7 down to 216 Week 8 down to 210. I assume the first week was only so high due to the fact I cut out the junk food and started exercising. I would really like to lose another 10 pounds in just under 3 weeks. Other then that I am happy with 2 pounds a week. I know it will take awhile to figure out how to balance eating and exercise... that's the main reason I came to this site.

 

[Iain1974]

1000 calories seems a bit low.

You could comfortably eat 1800 calories/day and be moderately active and still lose weight.
Overall you're down 26lbs in 8 weeks which is great but with a more moderate calorie deficit you'd have more energy for your workouts and life in general which may be of benefit.
Remember - cut calories to drop weight but lift weights to gain figure.