Hi! I don't usually do posts -- usually just lurk & learn, but I really want to lose weight and believe I get out of something as much as I am willing to put into it! So...I want to introduce myself!

I'm 43 yo stay-at-home mom, currently a size 18-20, and want to lose weight in a sensible, healthy, and organic manner. My family has a history of heart disease (father's side). The only effect of the heart trouble I can see right now is that I cannot consume much caffeine -- it makes my heart beat too fast and seems to jack up my blood pressure when I am under stress. I am not under a physician's care for that, but I have been on an anti-depressant (Effexior) for almost a year now.

I teach between 6 to 9 aquatic exercise classes a week -- mainly from the deck and I sweat a lot! Plan on cutting back on the amount of effort I am putting out on the deck and start to lift weights 3x/wk.

Have read the Schwarzbein books (her 1st book, SPII, and use the SP cookbook) and 'tried' the plan a few months ago for four weeks - but got sidetracked (and gained weight - went from size 16 to size 20!) Decided I have to get serious and start applying what I read. Not able to spend money on the assessment tools right now for adrenals & insulin, but want to get started anyway.

I should add that I hate diets -- I respond to being on a diet by either eating too much or not at all! I had anorexic tendencies in high school but when I went to college my coaches thought I had too much weight and ended up dieting for 5 years while swimming competitively (have always weighed a lot more than I look like I weigh). Developed hypoglycemia after college and had it for 10 years (and gained weight!) Took chromium supplements and my body righted itself -so no longer have problems with eating sugar and carbs. But I had put on 130# (from High School to having a baby 15 years later). When our child turned three I stopped driving a desk and became a stay-at-home mom. I got into teaching deep water classes (aquatic exercise) and lost a lot of inches since then (gone from size 22 to a size 16 clothes). I have needed to lose more weight for a long time, but cannot seem to get past the 230# pound mark and stay down. I like what Schwarzbein says about letting our body find it's natural state. Eventually I would love to weigh under 200 lbs, but right now I just want to get down to 225# and a size 16 to size 14!

Look forward to reading the previous posts and learning how to navigate my body into this new SP world!

Thanks for having such an incredible forum!

Hi Swim! Glad to have you here. Since I am doing Atkins I'm not really familiar with your plan but there is info on it on this site. Just wanted to welcome you and wish you the best of luck.
Lori

Welcome Swim! Hope this plan won't feel like a diet to you, it really should be a way of life - a healthy one at that. Good luck!