Hi everyone! This is my first post here. I've hit a plateau and had a little setback in my exercise and weight loss program, so I thought signing up to this forum might help get things back on track. It's good to be here! 
To start, I'm 26 years old and female, 5 feet 6 inches tall. I've been overweight ever since before I can remember, and after hitting my heaviest weight of 273 pounds, problems with depression, and finally being disgusted with looking at myself in the mirror I've decided to do something about it. I was at 273 when I started back in December 2007, and today I'm at 241. My goal is 150... which means a total of 123 pounds to lose. After I get to 150 I'm going to re-evaluate and see if I have goals past that. And I WILL get to 150; I've never wanted anything more in my entire life.
I don't really have a timeframe for that, besides wanting to feel attractive and have a defined body with little flab by the time I'm 30.
Nutrition-wise, I'm eating 1200-1400 calories a day, and trying to stay away from most processed things, especially sugar. My diet is mostly lean meats and fresh vegetables and fruits, and whole grain breads and pastas, although I do delve into canned or frozen things when money is tight. I do a lot of my own canning, so I can know exactly how much salt or sugar is going into the things I preserve. I keep a food journal which goes everywhere with me, even to restaurants. And I like to think I'm an excellent cook, so I'm looking forward to sharing some of the recipes I've developed!
Fitness-wise, I do cardio 4 times a week and weights twice a week- one set of circuit training, and every Wednesday I take a class called Body Pump at my gym. I check in with a trainer once a month for measurements, etc.
My obstacles- I think the biggest is mental. I've dealt with depression and social problems, and I have days where I'll get to the gym, and for example if there are too many people in the weight room I can't do anything there. I know it's mostly nonsense but my mind convinces itself they're staring and thinking I'm disgusting, so I just skip the weights sometimes. That's actually a big step up from barely even being able to get out of bed. I know I got this way from being an emotional eater, and I'm an emotional eater because I'm fat, so sometimes it seems like a self-perpetuating cycle. My mental problems take up a whole separate diary though, so I'll spare you.
I also have physical obstacles. I have a hormonal problem that raises my blood sugar (hence the obsession with avoiding processed sugars) and makes me retain weight more than normal. I also developed plantar fasciitis in my feet, which was upsetting because I was so proud of bring able to jog without being winded for the first time in my life- so finding out I was too fat to even be doing that without messing my feet up was a serious setback. But I've started doing more biking and learning to rest/stretch my feet when I need to, and hopefully that's under control.
Anyhow- thanks for reading (sorry if it's a bit long), and any support or advice anyone has is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
To start, I'm 26 years old and female, 5 feet 6 inches tall. I've been overweight ever since before I can remember, and after hitting my heaviest weight of 273 pounds, problems with depression, and finally being disgusted with looking at myself in the mirror I've decided to do something about it. I was at 273 when I started back in December 2007, and today I'm at 241. My goal is 150... which means a total of 123 pounds to lose. After I get to 150 I'm going to re-evaluate and see if I have goals past that. And I WILL get to 150; I've never wanted anything more in my entire life.
I don't really have a timeframe for that, besides wanting to feel attractive and have a defined body with little flab by the time I'm 30.
Nutrition-wise, I'm eating 1200-1400 calories a day, and trying to stay away from most processed things, especially sugar. My diet is mostly lean meats and fresh vegetables and fruits, and whole grain breads and pastas, although I do delve into canned or frozen things when money is tight. I do a lot of my own canning, so I can know exactly how much salt or sugar is going into the things I preserve. I keep a food journal which goes everywhere with me, even to restaurants. And I like to think I'm an excellent cook, so I'm looking forward to sharing some of the recipes I've developed!
Fitness-wise, I do cardio 4 times a week and weights twice a week- one set of circuit training, and every Wednesday I take a class called Body Pump at my gym. I check in with a trainer once a month for measurements, etc.
My obstacles- I think the biggest is mental. I've dealt with depression and social problems, and I have days where I'll get to the gym, and for example if there are too many people in the weight room I can't do anything there. I know it's mostly nonsense but my mind convinces itself they're staring and thinking I'm disgusting, so I just skip the weights sometimes. That's actually a big step up from barely even being able to get out of bed.
I know I got this way from being an emotional eater, and I'm an emotional eater because I'm fat, so sometimes it seems like a self-perpetuating cycle. My mental problems take up a whole separate diary though, so I'll spare you. I also have physical obstacles. I have a hormonal problem that raises my blood sugar (hence the obsession with avoiding processed sugars) and makes me retain weight more than normal. I also developed plantar fasciitis in my feet, which was upsetting because I was so proud of bring able to jog without being winded for the first time in my life- so finding out I was too fat to even be doing that without messing my feet up was a serious setback. But I've started doing more biking and learning to rest/stretch my feet when I need to, and hopefully that's under control.
Anyhow- thanks for reading (sorry if it's a bit long), and any support or advice anyone has is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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