Current weight! Goals!

My weight has gone way up and down over the last 2 years. I tend to gain weight when I'm happy and I stop eating when I'm sad.

When I met my boyfriend, Dan in Fall of 2011, I weighed 145lbs and was pretty happy with my weight. (I was also miserable and dealing with a very messy breakup...so I wasn't happy.... but I felt sexy and confident. This ended up leading to more problems because the worse time to get attention from men is when you feel completely empty inside. I think about this a lot, because now that I'm in a healthy relationship, it'd be awesome if I felt as sexy as I did then. Also, career wise.... there are more opportunities for someone who is in better shape, but more importantly, someone who is comfortable in there skin. And clothes! I want my clothes to fit better!

SO. today I am 5'10 (hopefully that won't change...and I weigh 175lbs....which is the most I've weighed in a a few years.

My goal weight is 135lbs (hopefully that's what I'll weigh on August 15th).

My first goal is 160lbs by April 27th. My friends Jonah and Deanna are getting married on that day, so I figure a wedding is a good event to work towards.

This week, I'm going to cut down on the booze I love so much and really stick to my diet.

I'm using the four-hour body diet (which I highly recommend). It's highly effective when you do it right.....

My end goal is to feel good in a bikini by August 15th, because...no matter what...I'd doing a photo spread...

HUZZAH!

I'm currently 5'7 and weigh at 170 lbs, and I agree with you, @McGathy that I want my clothes to fit better as well. I'm Canadian, and my parents sent over a bunch of clothes which look amazingly awesome, but I'd look like a sausage trying to squeeze into those. I know that if I lost the fat on my body, I'd be able to fit them, and I aim to.

So I've got a big goal event, as well, that I've been looking to aim towards. For those of you that don't know me, I recently got a divorce from my British husband and am heading back to Canada in July. I don't know what weight I hope to be then, but I'm hoping that by that time, I can fit those clothes that were sent to me .

... a bit hesitant to mention, Erin, because you know him, but another goal of mine is an event happening in Victoria (which is VERY close to where I live in Canada). Whose Live Anyway will be there in September, and I'm hoping to get a picture with the lovely Jeff, but... not looking like a sausage in that picture.

Though that is a goal,... my main goal is July, because for the first REAL time in my life, I'm going to be single! And I'm 31! I want to at least feel confident and not so self-conscious about how I look. Focus more on how on earth I am to go about dating. If only I lived in LA, Erin, you could have helped me out with dates there, like you're doing for Dustin (To be honest, I'm a little scared to be entering the world of singledom ).

Talia

I've always struggled with food, and my weight. I eat when I'm happy, and I eat when I'm sad. I also eat when I'm tired, or when I'm stressed. Sometimes I eat in my dreams too, and wake up feeling fat and guilty.

I'm joining on a whim, but hopefully getting something good out of this. I'm 5'6 and 148. The heaviest I've ever been (holidays not withstanding). I've desperately been trying to lose weight for over a year now, but I just can't get to it. It's like I hate myself, but not enough to stop eating.

For a while my motivation to lose weight was cosplaying, but ever since I "retired," I haven't been able to find anything that makes me go "you should lose weight, or you'll look ridiculous" (or, as ridiculous as you can look at an anime/manga/comics/si-fi convention).

I'm not really shooting for a goal weight, but for a body-fat percentage goal: 30%. I know that sounds high, but I'm already made out of blubber.

I have a wide torso and huge boobs, so I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'll never look thin (I never did, even at my lightest, which was 16 lbs ago). I just want my clothes to stop saying "not today, sister," and have a body that could survive in the case of a zombie apocalypse.

So uhm... yeah... LET'S FIGHT AND NOT GIVE UP!~

SUPPORT GROUP, YEAH!

Halloween of 2011 - my last senior year of college (lol) - and I was alone in my apartment feeling miserable about my weight and myself. The year before I wore a dress I made out of newspaper and this year I was doing nothing. I loved feeling pretty and creative and having random drunk college kids take pictures with me. I told myself I had to make a change.

This was a few weeks after I stopped drinking soda so I had lost a bit of weight. I weighed in that night around 185 and I decided to make a change.

My lowest weight was at 150 or so last summer when I had no job so I could walk every day and no money so I barely ate out. Then I got a job and started back on fast food and very little exercise.

Currently I'm at about 156 - I haven't weighed myself in a few weeks so I may be wrong. I'm less concerned with the number now as I am looking and feeling better. I have no boobs but all of the thighs/butt with plenty to spare. I want to be able to shop for jeans without wanting to cry. I have always struggled with that, right down to 4th grade when my friends made out "talent show dress code" consist of jeans and my mom bought me mom jeans with an elastic waistband. I was made fun of.

A lot of worst moments came from being called fat in school. I didn't even get teased a lot but I always felt like I should be getting it, thus putting it on myself.

I don't have a goal weight - though my WiiFit suggests 140 - but I'm looking to set reasonable exercise/weight goals so by the end of April I'll feel like I've accomplished something. Losing as much as I did between October - Last July felt amazing. I miss that feeling.

Hello fellow terribles.

I'm an indecisive 6' 0" weighing 326 lbs. I'm in treatment for depression, which has always had a big impact on my weight gain. I have to head to work so I'm going to figure out what my goals are later. Something a little more tangible and positive than "not be so fucking fat."

I'm 5'7'' and right around 195. I've gotten to the point where my clothes are getting tight enough to be both uncomfortable and a little embarrassing. My long term goal is to get down to at least 165. Officially my "ideal body weight" is 155, but I don't know if my body type will ever actually allow that. My short term goals are to start walking and stop eating snacks. My diet is usually pretty ok, but I eat WAY too many snacks. They get me with their deliciousness.

Hello!

I'm 6'2" and 342 pounds, and I've been fat all my life. Not THIS fat, but it's something that I've just become so used to, and trying not to fall back into gaining weight again has been super difficult.

It's hard for me to point at any given thing that stands out in terms of me feeling terrible about my body. I've never felt good about it, and I've always felt like a horrible, unattractive blob. It's just kinda become ingrained, I guess.

My first goal is to be down below 340 by April 15th, and my extra bonus goal is to be at 337 or 338. Usually I just lose a pound a week but maybe if I can take this seriously I can do even better.

In terms of dieting, I basically just count calories on my phone's Livestrong app, but I still kinda eat like an asshole. Like, if I have yogurt for breakfast and a frozen dinner for supper, I can eat a pint of ice cream for lunch and be under my calories for the day, right? I think there's a better way to do that than this, but I haven't found an easy way to keep track of how much fat I'm eating so it's not like half my diet.

I also don't exercise as much as I should, but I might be light enough to start WiiFit, so that might be my thing.

Edit: Fuck it! I'm gonna be in with Erin, too. On August 15th, I'm gonna try and pretty myself up and post swimsuit pictures, just to give myself the extra motivation.

Doc Aquatic wrote:Hello!

I'm 6'2" and 342 pounds, and I've been fat all my life. Not THIS fat, but it's something that I've just become so used to, and trying not to fall back into gaining weight again has been super difficult.

It's hard for me to point at any given thing that stands out in terms of me feeling terrible about my body. I've never felt good about it, and I've always felt like a horrible, unattractive blob. It's just kinda become ingrained, I guess.

My first goal is to be down below 340 by April 15th, and my extra bonus goal is to be at 337 or 338. Usually I just lose a pound a week but maybe if I can take this seriously I can do even better.

In terms of dieting, I basically just count calories on my phone's Livestrong app, but I still kinda eat like an asshole. Like, if I have yogurt for breakfast and a frozen dinner for supper, I can eat a pint of ice cream for lunch and be under my calories for the day, right? I think there's a better way to do that than this, but I haven't found an easy way to keep track of how much fat I'm eating so it's not like half my diet.

I also don't exercise as much as I should, but I might be light enough to start WiiFit, so that might be my thing.

Edit: Fuck it! I'm gonna be in with Erin, too. On August 15th, I'm gonna try and pretty myself up and post swimsuit pictures, just to give myself the extra motivation.

Counting calories gets you nowhere significant. You may lose weight, but maybe what you're burning is muscle, rather than fat. I was eating about 1100 calories a day when I was at my lightest, but I also had a 36% body fat percentage D:
It's all about balance.

I'd recommend having a nice, high-protein breakfast, which will leave you not feeling as hungry throughout the day, and have low-calorie snacks in-between meals. Also, you know what works? Seeing a nutrician :O I don't know how expensive they are wherever you live, though... it's good, because they teach you how to eat well, and you're not hungry throughout the day.

Many people recommend the 4 hour body diet (which you can download via torrent, harr harr), but I haven't tried it myself...

jujujulieta wrote:
Counting calories gets you nowhere significant. You may lose weight, but maybe what you're burning is muscle, rather than fat. I was eating about 1100 calories a day when I was at my lightest, but I also had a 36% body fat percentage D:
It's all about balance.

I'd recommend having a nice, high-protein breakfast, which will leave you not feeling as hungry throughout the day, and have low-calorie snacks in-between meals. Also, you know what works? Seeing a nutrician :O I don't know how expensive they are wherever you live, though... it's good, because they teach you how to eat well, and you're not hungry throughout the day.

Many people recommend the 4 hour body diet (which you can download via torrent, harr harr), but I haven't tried it myself...

I'll definitely check that out and try working on it after I go through the food I bought this afternoon.

The breakfast sounds like a great idea, too. My usual breakfast is just a thing of yogurt and that keeps me going for a while, but maybe adding an egg or two to that could be a good idea.

Doc Aquatic wrote:

jujujulieta wrote:
Counting calories gets you nowhere significant. You may lose weight, but maybe what you're burning is muscle, rather than fat. I was eating about 1100 calories a day when I was at my lightest, but I also had a 36% body fat percentage D:
It's all about balance.

I'd recommend having a nice, high-protein breakfast, which will leave you not feeling as hungry throughout the day, and have low-calorie snacks in-between meals. Also, you know what works? Seeing a nutrician :O I don't know how expensive they are wherever you live, though... it's good, because they teach you how to eat well, and you're not hungry throughout the day.

Many people recommend the 4 hour body diet (which you can download via torrent, harr harr), but I haven't tried it myself...

I'll definitely check that out and try working on it after I go through the food I bought this afternoon.

The breakfast sounds like a great idea, too. My usual breakfast is just a thing of yogurt and that keeps me going for a while, but maybe adding an egg or two to that could be a good idea.

Yeah, try a couple of eggs, but instead of cooking oil use like, PAM or something like that. Also some fruit. Avoid bad carbs (like bread, cookies, sugary cereal, and everything that's delicious in general), and drink water?

I feel kinda irresponsible giving you advice, given that I'm not a food expert, and what our bodies need is probably very different

jujujulieta wrote:
Yeah, try a couple of eggs, but instead of cooking oil use like, PAM or something like that. Also some fruit. Avoid bad carbs (like bread, cookies, sugary cereal, and everything that's delicious in general), and drink water?

I feel kinda irresponsible giving you advice, given that I'm not a food expert, and what our bodies need is probably very different

Fruit's kind of a pain for me. I legit have problems swallowing it (I don't know why, I love the taste of a lot of fruit but I have gag reflex issues I'm trying to work through with a lot of them), but it's something that I definitely need to get more of and less bread-y things.

And it's no problem! I mean, I'm sure a lot of this stuff is pretty universal (I should totally go with buying less bread-y carb-full stuff for instance) and it's cool to have someone to talk to about this that's actually interested in it. This sounds like a good topic for another thread, though, so I think I'll start that up.

For the majority of my life, weight hasn't been an issue. I ate what I wanted and did what I wanted. I was always under the "recommended" weight for my height/weight and was generally active and healthy. This continued into adulthood.
I never really worked out but when I joined the Army, I began working out quite a bit (obviously). Running 5 miles a day and doing an unimaginable amount of situps and pushups will get anyone into shape.
Everything was good until I got out of the Army. I'm not sure what happened but I lost that spark that kept it all together. I like to think it was growing up and finally have loads of spending money and being able to drive everywhere. But perhaps I just ate too much.
Currently, I'm 5'10" and 248 lbs. Before and during my Army time, I maintained between 175-190 lbs. This doesn't seem, to me, to be an unreasonable goal. The lower end, 175, is certainly a much more far off goal. So, if we're using August 15th for the deadline then my goal is 200 lbs. I can do it.

I sit here and complain about my weight and lack of exercise and general feeling of getting weaker and older - and do nothing about it. I eat poorly. I pass the gym in my apartment building with bitterness. I no longer where the clothes I wish I could.
All the tools I need to achieve my goals surround me. I just need to use them.

Good luck, everyone!


P.S. The worst outcome of being overweight, other than health outcomes, came from when I went to the Harmontown show in Portland. Afterwards, I got pictures with Dan and Erin. The Dan picture wasn't too bad (although, I seemed to forget how to smile on that one) but the picture with Erin drives me nuts due to my increased weight. It's a fine picture. Don't worry Erin, you take a great picture. But in my head it overshadows the memory of the picture. It brings back the frustration and self-consciousness felt while being in an uncomfortable skin that night.

I used to be super, super fit. Until I was 14, I was in a professional ballet company. Around that period, though, two things happened: 1) I horribly injured my knee while mountain biking; 2) I was diagnosed with a joint disorder called benign-hypermobility syndrome, which literally means that all of my tendons are very loose and that I dislocate joints incredibly easily—I also have a great deal of chronic joint pain and stiffness. It's awesome and I totally recommend it to everybody. My doctors told me in no uncertain terms that I had to stop dancing, period. So, I did. I was happy to get out of a system that pressured girls into eating disorders and gave unrealistic expectations on bodies. Once I got to high school, my physical therapist told me to start going to the gym to do weight training. In my senior year of high school, I was 110 pounds and most of it was muscle (I'm 5'4"). I was in amazing shape. My pain and dislocations had subsided a great deal. That was in 2008.

Now it's 2013 and I'm sort of surprised at how quickly a body can change. I went to school in New York City and though we had a gym, the knee I had injured while mountain biking had gone way beyond what it was supposed to. At the time, the doctor I saw said I was young and would heal; now, my doctor was considering the possibility that I had arthritis. When it rained, I was in excruciating pain and was rendered immobile. Exercising as I had before was impossible and surrounded by overpriced grocery shops and fast, free delivery, I went from 110 up to 140. I hated how I looked, none of my clothes fit and on top of it, I couldn't do anything about it. Gaining weight isn't just an aesthetic issue for me; it makes my joint problem worse. Muscle keeps the joint tight and happy; fat is the opposite, and the extra weight means I'm in more pain.

Since then, I had knee surgery and moved to California and in the process dropped 10 pounds. I've been working out much more steadily that I have in four years, but sometimes it's hard for me to stay motivated—I'm still recovering from surgery and with my bad joints, I frequently have to take time off. I want to lose weight not just because I'd like to feel strong and athletic and sexy again, but because I want to get back to the things I did before my knee screwed up my life: I used to be a great downhill ski racer, but haven't in three years. I'd like to be able to pick up something heavy without my elbows popping out of joint. I'd like to be able to cut down on my use of NSAIDs and generally be in less chronic pain. Even though 130lbs at 5'4" is far from "overweight," it's overweight for my body.

My goal is less of a number thing—since I'll be weight training with the goal of building muscle and losing fat, my weight won't reflect health. I'll know it by how I FEEL. Having been at opposite ends of the spectrum, I know how healthy feels and I know how unhealthy feels, and I need to get back to where I was in 2008. So my goal is to lower my body fat percentage safely, positively and healthily. I don't want to get angry at myself or fatalistic, but challenge myself while adopting a healthier diet.

My name is Andrew and I just ate a slice of carrot cake for breakfast. I'm 5' 9" and currently weigh 185. When I weigh this much I can definitely see it in my face and stomach most. I used to be on the 4 hour body diet and went down to 170, which was nice. I've since gotten lazy, and poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and massive amounts of antidepressants don't help the situation.

My goal is to get back on the 4 hour body diet asap, or at least a low-carb alternative, and get down to 165.

Nice to meetcha!

Hello! Like many of you before me, I have had body issues pretty much my entire life. When I was an infant, I had surgery to repair pyloric stenosis, leaving me with a large and deep incision scar on my stomach. This scar now plagues me by making me look like I have rolls under my clothes no matter my weight. As a fat/chubby kid, I have early elementary school memories of taking polaroids of myself, exposing my stomach and making a food journal that I hid under my bed. Body issues along with depression and anxiety turned into bulimia through my teen years as a competitive all star/high school cheerleader.

Like Erin, I didn't really "let myself go" again until I was finally happy in a serious committed relationship. While I had gained weight as I slowly shifted to a sedentary lifestyle, I ballooned to a massive 230lbs.

To my knowledge, I am currently 190. My goal is 120. I am only 5'2 1/2" with tits, not just boobs. I have a medium to large boned frame for my height, so I've always worn my weight well. There comes a point where dressing your body shape can no longer hide your weight, and I'm still beyond that.

I have had recent success with losing weight over the last year, but I've gained 15lbs back after a tonsillectomy and the holidays. I had met with a WONDERFUL nutritionalist, who really taught me a lot about food and what my body needs. He broke down what to eat every single day, and it worked. I lost a healthy 2 pounds a week (meaning I wasn't losing muscle mass nor retaining water.) I'm tired of not wanting to leave my apartment because I'm uncomfortable in my body and clothes.

My Goals:

Follow my meal plan strictly.
Drink all my water, every single day. (Following my nutritionalist's guidelines of 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water per day. 160lbs = 80 oz of water daily.)
Weigh in weekly (when my new batteries for my scale come in.)

July 20 - Bride's Maid in my cousin's wedding. I would like to be at 162-165.
August 15 - 140 lbs
November 8 - 120 lbs (Final goal weight, if I can make it without cheating!)

After downing two snickerdoodles and four ginger cookies with little to no prompting on Monday (thanks to an office birthday party), I looked disparagingly down at my little collection of chub and decided that a photo spread with me and my milky-white rotundness would act in adversity to electronic and tangible approval from others.

I'm 5'10" wearing three pairs of thick socks. Monday evening I weighed 203lbs. I'm 34 which means that simply flirting with the idea of a chinese buffet raises my LDL by 2 points. I'm married, have a (nearly) 4 year old son, a pregnant wife & lovah, work 40-50 hours a week in front of a computer screen and go to school part time twice a week. My gym has never seen me but I manage to play soccer with a club team once a week (as a goalie, so I don't run much).

My goal is to drop below 180, which seems to have been my plateau on earlier attempts at getting sexy. I plan on doing this through reducing portion size and calorie intake, more fruits and veggies, no more booze or soda, no more eating out, and running. Thursdays are my "cheat" days where I get to have one meal that is less restrictive.

My biggest adversary is keeping motivated. I've managed to eat well since Monday night, including taking it easy on "cheat" day, and have played two soccer games, but have NOT started running.

I've already taken a sincerely unflattering "before" picture in a pair of hotpants as motivation - which will probably only see the light of day if I can accomplish my goals.

I stepped on the scale this morn without a stitch of clothing on or food in my belly and it looked to be around 197lbs. Even though that is 6lbs less than the last Monday, I would put the real number closer to half that (I weighed myself at night last time). So let's say I probably lost 3 lbs since last week.

Diet has been good. I ate three meals that were not part of my "diet" during the week, but modified them so that there was no bread or cheese or cups of heavy whipping cream. No booze or soda. No candy or desserts. A lot more meals made at home rather than by a visually upset teenager behind a deep fat fryer. I'm having some tough cravings around friends - have been handling those with chewing gum, Mandarin oranges, or 8oz. of Gatorade.

I did not start exercising outside of the two soccer games I played last week like I had intended. Additionally, I do think I've hurt my wrist during said soccer games. Enough so that doing any exercise involving lifting or pushing are out of the question, at least for a bit.

How is everyone else doing?

I'm 5'7" and currently weight 157 pounds. This is the most I've weighed in a while. My top weight when I was 16 was about 165, at which point I lost about 30 pounds thanks to Jenny Craig. Unfortunately right now I live in Alaska where there is no Jenny Craig and I wouldn't be able to afford it even if there was.

I have several issues with weight loss right now, the biggest of which being that I am an emotional eater. When I'm stressed with nothing to take my mind off of it (i.e. also bored) I generally eat the most. I have had some huge problems in my marriage recently and am contemplating divorce, which is very stressful for a lot of different reasons I won't get into (aside from the usual reasons).

Another big roadblock to my weight loss is, as I said, living in Alaska. It is very hard to get fresh produce and even harder to get fresh produce that is still edible. I laugh when people talk about eating seasonally because if you eat seasonally in Alaska you don't eat produce about half of the year. On top of that, produce is very expensive.

My biggest reason behind wanting to lose weight is acting. I recently got back into it after doing very little in college and I've realized how much I missed it. It's my calling. But I know my current size 10-12 frame makes it hard for me to get decent parts, even in God's Butthole, Alaska. I also want to finally reach a point in my life where I feel comfortable with my body, not because I think it will help in other areas but because it's something I've dealt with my whole life and I feel like it seeps into all other areas.

So here are my goals:
1200 calories a day
Drinking lots of water
Couch-to-5k running plan

By my birthday (August 17th) I'd like to weigh 142. I feel like this goal is almost too easy, but a mistake I've made in the past is pushing myself to lose 2 pounds a week consistently. I also plan on gaining some muscle mass so I have to take that into account.

By October 1 I'd like to reach my goal weight of 120-125 (lower range of healthy BMI).

Thanks for starting this forum Erin!

I'm about 5'5" and weigh around 190 lbs. I've lost about 6 lbs in the last 3 weeks. I started working out at a gym that I really like, in a group fitness setting where I am accountable to someone other than myself, and I've changed my diet so that it's healthy yet satisfying.

Despite all of the recent changes, I've pretty much always been overweight. It didn't really bother me until high school when I decided to do something about it. At my best, exercising daily, my sister forcing me to go to the gym after a terrible day at school, I weighed about 160.

Since going to college, I've definitely put on significantly more weight. The stress from deciding what to study, realizing that I haven't spent any time being a kid, and being on campus hasn't helped at all. Depression and anxiety has caused me to take a medical leave from school for at least one semester (probably two) and focus on me.

My goals are not very concrete yet. Just getting to a happy place would be great. While using this time to work on myself emotionally would be ideal, I think adding a physical element will allow me have goals that I can actually see. I'm planning on revisiting that soon.

I've had a cold the past few days, so my plan this week is to get back on track and go to the gym every other day as soon as everything clears up. Oh, and not to go overboard while visiting friends this weekend. We're going to a fair...Funnel cake, you will not ruin this for me.

Hello, my name is Weston. My current weight is around 180-190lbs depending on the day. I see myself as much bigger than I may be. My therapist believes I have body dysmorphia and I am inclined to agree. I have always been a bit chubby or big throughout my life. MY eating habits for most of my life haven't been horrible, but when your grandmother feeds you homemade chicken pot pies and pizza whenever you want that cannot be good in the long run. I also grew up wanting to be a sumo wrestler and be the first kid in my class to weigh 100 lbs.

Now that I am older, that desire to be bigger has turned into self hatred and a healthy lifestyle. I have to change. If I want to be happy, I need to get myself together mentally and physically. The self hatred and negative body image has bled, over the years, into other facets of my life. If I am to be the person I want to be, I need to get on a better path.

I have tried gyms but I find them suffocating and I get very embarrassed being there. I don't know how to talk to my friends or family about this problem, as they give me mixed signals about the topic.

I do not have an ideal weight, but I want to be in a place where I am not waking up everyday hating the vessel I have to trudge around in everyday. My current goal is to lose 10 pounds before the end of the month and my trip to LA/Lake Tahoe. I am having a friend reunion of sorts (similar to the ones seen in horror movies) and I don't want to feel gross or resentful around this old friends. Also wedding season is coming and I have a wedding DJ gig that I would like to be comfortable for.

My plan right now is to walk everyday, try to use my rowing machine everyday, continue on this iphone sit-up routine program and get back into doing tai chi and yoga a couple times a week.

I'm 5'2" 1/2 and I weigh 173. This is in the obese I section of the BMI scale and my long term goal is to weigh 134 putting me in the healthy weight category for the first time since I was 13. I work as a nanny for a nutritionist and she's helped me, as well as becoming a bike commuter (biking 12-17 miles a day) has helped me get down from what I'd accepted as my normal weight of 205, so I feel very empowered right now.
My goals for this program are;
Protein powder for breakfast everyday (it's hard for me to eat in the morning)
Gym at least 4 times a week focusing on weight training (cause I get my cardio in by biking, but if I have more time, also elliptical, I've been soon this for a while now, just gotta keep it up!)
7 hours of sleep a night
8 glasses of water a day
Physical therapy stretches everyday so I can get back to running (I broke my ankle in December and still have a noticeable limp and a lot of pain which makes exercise, even biking, difficult)
Goal weight by Aug 15th: 150

It's awesome to hear of so many in similar situations, and I hope we can all kind of release some of those negative feelings together and overall, begin to feel happier about ourselves. I've missed my exercise for the past five days, and was busy trying to do the 30-day squat challenge. Made it to day 15. Rather than start over, I'm going to continue on from where I left off and just get back into my challenge + cardio.

I've been facing that all too familiar feeling of guilt every morning when I know I missed yesterday and the day before, etc. But I'm going to try to stay optimistic and just jump back to where I was. I'm sure I'll have 'blips' like that in the future, and I just need to try not to be too hard on myself. In terms of my diet, it's far from great, yet a huge improvement compared to what it used to be. It's pretty carbtastic, but I remember at my worst, I could eat an entire packet of cookies in one sitting, THEN reach for a packet of chips or two... or three. Ugh. Terrible! Pop and candy was a HUGE problem for me, but I've managed to cut those out in the past year, and I've really come to enjoy drinking lots of water now.

Nowadays, I'll be happy enough to only have 3 cookies (which, when compared to how I used to be, is an awesome achievement). I've definitely turned things around when it comes to my diet. It's just that exercise I need to get into the habit of.

Well, it's great to feel like I can come here for support from others. It's great to virtually know you all

Hey everyone,

I'm a Scotsman living in New Zealand and I'm looking to effect major changes in my body weight.

I'm currently 145kgs (325lbs) and at 5ft 10inc not on a good track...

The sad thing is I've done it before. A few years back I lost 36kgs and got my weight down to under 220lbs - but put it all (and more) back on again.

I did it last time thanks to months of hard exercise and eating nothing bad, hence why I put it all back on again.

This time I'm going to be more measured and lose it more slowly with the ultimate goal to do a triathlon.

I will do this by exercising and trying out the 5:2 fast diet.

Good luck to everyone with their goals and thanks Erin for opening this place up.

Hello I'm from Guatemala.

I'm 5' 6" and currently weigh 185 lbs. In 2010 I committed myself to working out and eventually got down to 155 lbs and started feeling great and stopped working out and started eating as well. I certainly have issues around emotional eating and it's also hard to resist temptation of junk food. Drinking lovely beers doesn't help either, all items to be mindful about.

I had already planned to start working out in April so this fit perfectly to my plans, another incentive and a place to keep me honest. Last time I did it by running everyday and watching my food intake, so that will be my plan again, I started last week and I'm keeping a log of all my runs to keep me honest. I will also try to go swimming twice a week too.

With diet I'm mainly just trying to eat healthier, with less carbs and not drink any calories unless it's beer (limiting the number of those). Drinking water during the day is good so as to not confuse thirst for hunger.

I'm planning on taking a before picture when I go swimming although unsure about posting it. But it'll be good to have it.

Good Luck to Everybody

Hi everybody! Perfect that I found this on the night I had a mini breakdown over my weight!

I'm 5'3" and around 130-135. I know I am not overweight and I don't consider myself to be, but I attend a college smack in the middle of Pasadena and Silverlake where every girl looks like they emerged from an American Apparel porno...err...advertisement. My group of friends, for example, has three girls other than me who are all perfectly flat and can wear any clothes they want. I have a baby beer belly (despite my lack of drinking) from probably my lack of exercise over the past few years combined with my love of cake.

For most of high school, I was in the 110 range. I played basketball through my sophomore year, and then quit to focus on school. Once I stopped basketball, I didn't have the motivation to continue exercising on my own...so that was probably my downfall. Now that I'm at college and have free access to a gym, I've been trying to make good use of it, but it's hard to keep a good workout schedule while having multiple assignments to also be working on! Damn this schooling thing.

I went shopping with my mom yesterday and was trying on shorts in my normal size range, 6-8, and none were getting over my hips. May have just been the brand or the fact that I was at a thrift store (just going to tell myself that) but it freaked me out. Not being able to fit into my usual size plus having to deal with friends who are strictly size 0 combines for a rough time getting dressed in the morning.

I want to get down to 120 by the start of next semester at the end of August. Good luck to everyone else!! Really glad to see others being so open about this stuff.