Hi Briannajoy!

I wish when I was your age I would have felt the way you did. Back in my early 20’s I was about 220 lbs….Hmmm….I would have only had about 50-70 pounds to lose, but I was not in the right mindset, and here I sit at age 36, at 314 pounds….what I’m trying to say here is that you have made a conscious decision to take control, and that is the most important thing.

I started out at 350+ pounds last May (01) I have gotten down to 314 by attending TOPS. I stopped going in January and gained back to 321. I had been plateaued for about 3 months….I was eating low-fat, and it just wasn’t working. I had to really work my butt off and felt very hungry…. I have been low carbing 2 ½ weeks and am back down to the 314 mark. This seems much easier, the carb cravings are down a lot more this last week….

After reading a lot of these posts, I see that I’m not the only person in this boat…and it is helpful. I also realize that I can’t look at the whole 150 pounds I want to lose at once. That just seems impossible. I think the “I’ll take one day at a time” approach works well in this situation. Also, something I learned from TOPS was “mini-goals”. My first mini-goal is to make it under 300. I have had 5 lb mini-goals when I plateaued, just so I could feel successful. That feeling spurred me on, and helped me keep focused and feeling positive. As soon as I lost that feeling, I gained back 10 pounds. At least I was smart enough to not see all of the weight I had lost, gained back.

I live in Washington too! Big town of Montesano! I work in Olympia though……good luck! I’m going to start a journal in here…have you started one? I think it is a great idea….also, in your photo, you look a little like Donna on “That 70’s Show”…I don’t know if you watch that or not!