12-Week Challenge Let's get to know our Players

My Perspective

Lori:

I need to get ready for work, but I have a quick comment about something you shared above. I did not see the show about the woman who weighed 285 pounds, but I have been there. You wrote that she was not giving it her all because she only lost 33 pounds in 6 months. That is not necessarily true. I was only 30 pounds lighter 6 months into my journey, but I went from a size 28 to a size 22 in that time. And I was giving it my all. I was giving all I had to give at that point in the journey. It is painful to live and move when you are hauling around that much extra weight. Standing on my feet for longer than a few minutes at a time caused my joints to ache and my feet to go numb. Working out was not fun, but I did what I could! Put on a weighted vest and try working out. Then imagine what it would feel like to be hauling around an extra person all the time. I also had a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. One does not just wake up and decide to eat her way up to 260 pounds because food tastes so good. In my opinion, focusing on nutrition and exercise to the exclusion of dealing with your heart is a recipe for temporary weight loss. In my case, I spent the first part of my journey dealing with the spiritual and emotional facets. It took a long time to get to the point where I could focus on weight loss. It is a journey, and I commend anyone for taking steps to improve his or her health no matter how long the journey takes.

I just wanted to share my perspective. I realize that you have not been morbidly obese, and I do not expect you to know what that feels like.

Blessings,
Heather B.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV).
 
I'm Charlotte, age 38 too, and not for long as well. I am also a SAHM for the moment. We have been married for 18 years. Will be 19 this year. Have two children, 17 and 15.

I have never had a weight problem. Always been slim and was recommended to gain weight also during my first pregnancy as I only weighed 103 when I got pregnant with DD. Gained 40 pounds during my pregnancy and then DH pointed out I had cellulite on the back of one of my legs. This bothered me ALOT as I could always eat whatever I wanted and not have a problem. I worked out in the early 90's to Tony Little and still ate whatever I wanted and got nowhere. My quads did respond some and looked better, but that was about it. I grew up eating junk. My mom was good at serving alot of different green veggies, but I lacked alot of protein and ate too much crap in general. Skipped breakfast, ate french fries only for lunch and dinner was the only healthy thing I ate while I was in my teens. After getting married, continued to skip breakfast and just didn't think about nutrition...let my tongue do the thinking kind of thing. Ate bad...donuts, chips/dips..whatever thee desired. Started noticing changes around early thirties (pouchy tummy, bigger hips and legs and fat on back of arms and back, etc.) Hubby helped to point these things out too and I thank him for that and now he wishes he didn't in a way!!!!! I will never be told again by anyone that I am "out of shape", "uncoordinated" or have "fat legs"! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! I discovered Cathe one day and never looked back. So here I am.

My goal is to reshape/sculpt my legs while still building upperbody mass. Lots more cardio to do, but eat more to try to keep the balance I want. So far it is working! I am on my 4th week of my toasty rotation and will continue with this rotation as I have already lost 1 inch in hips and thighs.

Charlotte~~

Charlotte~~
 
Hello all - here's my story:

I am 36 years old and happily married for almost 11 years, one DS who is nine and just absolutely wonderful. We have owned a bar and grill for 10 years now and I work as a secretary in the nearby school. I have been very active all my life and was voted the most athletic female my senior year. I have always been 'fit', but on the heavier side. Throughout the years after high school the weight has just crept on 10 pounds at a time just about every year. I am 5'6" and weigh 191. I have been on and off Weight Watchers for five years and finally feel committed to the program and getting weight off. I'm very excited for this challenge because I think of all of you before I grab something I shouldn't or don't feel like working out and now I do the right thing.

Nothing exciting - pretty normal :)

I love reading all of your stories, too, it's fun to get to know everyone.

Take care and good luck in the Challenge }(

~Marcia~
 
ok, I decided to join in the challenge considering that my wedding is 3 months away, July 22 to be exact.

I'll post my goals etc on the other thread, and tell you all about me here :)

I am 23 (24 in July) with 2 dogs and a fiance. They all act like children (just kidding) :)

I am a new teacher, I teach high school earth science.
I have struggled with anorexia in highschool college and excercise bulimia in college. I have never been officially treated, but go to therapy when I can (and have insurance, etc)

My ultimate goals are to love myself the way I am, and to be strong and fit so I can be a great mom one day. I know I can get there, it will take some hard work and some deep reflection at times to keep me on track.

I'm up for the challenge!

Great to hear all the other stories too, that is what motivated me to join the challenge.


good luck all :)
-Tina
 
this is a great thread!! it is definitely fun to get to know everyone. i really appreciate all the ladies on the cathe forum because i have no friends that are into fitness, so i can't talk to them about working out or nutrition.

I am 36 years old, i currently work part-time(HR) and have two beautiful little boys. elijah, 5 years old and jaden 8 months! I've always had a job where i worked alot of hrs and did alot of traveling. When i got pregnant with first ds i unfortunately (well now fortunately) became a single mother. I started feeling guilty that ds was in daycare all day and once i picked him up from daycare he spent another 1-2 hrs in daycare at a gym. so i decided to workout at home, found cathe and fell in love, lol. I met my ds 4 1/2 yrs ago, and we just recently celebrated our 1st anniversary!! He's a wonderful man and we gave birth to our baby boy 8/21/05:) We are from NJ, however we relocated (going on 2 yrs) to winston-salem, NC. I am loving it!!!

I've always been one to be really good (at exercising and eating) when i have some major event planned. I don't know why but after being so good i will totally fall off. I hate when i do that because then it's like i am starting all over again. I am determined to not allow that to happen again and make sure i make exercise and good nutrition a lifestyle change. I struggle with sweets anything with sugar is my downfall. So that is a major goal of mine to conquer this awful sugar addiction i havex(

together i know we can all attain our goals and achieve so much more!
 
ok, here's my story!

I'm Gloria and 44years old. I'm married to a WONDERFUL man for 25years, going on 26 in September. We have one daughter, 23, and a grandson, whose 13months old.

I've always had a weight problems and at my heighest, I weighed close to 200lbs and at 5'2'...that's pretty bad. I was the QUEEN of yo-yo dieting...taking off 10lbs and gaining back 20lbs. Then, in February of 2002, I was diagnosed w/ high blood pressure. They put me on BP meds and I decided I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. I pulled out my ole Treadmill and starting watching infomercials. I REDISCOVERED the firm since I had bought vol 1-4 a LONG time ago during my yo-yo days. I got hooked and slowly starting running and firming. Then, I discovered cathe! TOTALLY hooked!

I'm 5'2 and a size 6 and about 133lbs now. I lost my weight over a period of one year. Running/firming and Weight Watchers took it off.

But, now, I'm at a standstill and go up and down about 5lbs. I need to get off this roller coaster and lose about 10lbs. I am counting you all to help me do this!!!! I need help w/ my eating ESPECIALLY during the weekends. that is my weakness BIG time!! My workouts are not a problem. I'm very good at keeping up w/ that. As a matter of fact, you have to convince me to take a day off!!! LOL..

I RAN A HALF MARATHON IN FEBRUARY!! woohoo for me...would love to run a full marathon someday!

enjoyed reading your stories...very inspiring...let's do this ladies!:):)

take care:)
Gloria
 
Hi ladies. I've read all your stories and wow am I boring. LOL

So here's my story. I never had a weight problem until after the birth of my first son. I always excercised for as long as I can remember. I power-walked at least 40 miles a week, took kickboxing classes and used The Firm videos. The thinnest that I ever was was when I was in my early 20's, met my DH when I was 25, had my son when I was 26 and was overweight for about 2.5 years. Finally decided that I needed to do something so I started doing WW and dropped 30lbs in 4 months. I did really well maintaining my loss, got pregnant and only gained 30lbs with son #2. But I only lost 10lbs of the pregnancy weight and he is now 6.5 months old. So here I am needing to lose 20bls to get me back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I've re-started WW (which works for me) and I"m looking for to this challenge.

Good luck ladies! We can do it!
 
RE: My Perspective

Well, the fact that she swapped knitting for going to the gym made me think she wasn't giving it her all.Besides for that, there was more to the show the what I wrote above. Just watching it made me realize that she wasn't doing the best that she could.
But your right, I have never been there and don't know what it is like.But watching made me think that she could have done more.She spent 1/2 of the time crying b/c she didn't want to workout with her trainer.Also considering that her goal was 68 lbs she to, admitted that she could have done better.
Lori:)
 
I mostly lurk here, but I have decided to do this challenge, i need something to keep me motivated. My name is becky I am 32 years old and single. I have had a weight problem most of my life, but was usually active but ate very badly. I discovered cathe 2 yrs ago and loved her i lost 30 pounds. but like heatehr i did too much too fast and got burnt out and my eating got out of control and gained some back.

I have managed to lose 5 lbs since february, but the last 2 weeks have been bad. I turned 32 last week and used it as an excuse to go crazy. Anyway I come here every day but never say anything, I worry too much what people think.

You guys are great and I know I can accomplish my goals having to check in with everyone

thanks
 
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