Hi guys!
I'm new to the site and new to the whole weight-loss-diary-sharing experience. I signed up about 2 weeks ago and have slowly been reading through some diaries and have found the exchanges between all the members to be so positive, powerful, and meaningful. I am truly inspired and I hope to add to the culture here and come away feeling stronger and more supported.
I suppose I should start with the basics. My name is Shannon, I'm 33 years old and I live in Canada. I'm roughly 5'7 and I currently weigh 168 lbs. I have been carrying a degree of extra weight since my teenage years, but started to pack on the weight in my 20s. I'm a stress eater and grew up in a household where portion control was not taught, let alone enforced. All of these things (and more!) contributed to my unhealthy relationship with food and ultimately with myself.
My weight loss journey officially began in April 2018 at my highest weight of 235 lbs. Within the first 8 months I lost 50 lbs and I couldn't have been prouder of myself. Later that same year, in early December, I decided to finally quit smoking cigarettes. Terminating my vile addiction to nicotine is one of the best things I could have ever done for myself. However, it seems as though I have been struggling with my weight loss among other things ever since.
Throughout 2019 I stalled out at 180 lbs which was to be expected given the tobacco or nicotine (I'm not sure which) had really messed with my metabolism. I also regained a good 20 lbs in the summer of that year because I was mentally struggling a great deal with a family member's health. Prior to quitting, smoking and eating had been my "coping" mechanisms of choice and I must say that facing my issues has been a hard thing for me to do with just a good diet and exercise, but I am trying.
By the end of 2019 I was able to get back to the mid to low 180s and recommitted myself to my journey. I had made it my goal to reach 166 lbs by the end of February. Well, unfortunately, I was too ambitious and things didn't go as planned. I stumbled quite a bit and also started baking as a new hobby (which I love to do, but don't do much of because of my propensity for overeating/binge eating & for the fact that I live with other over eaters). Despite all of the struggles and hardship, I finally reached my goal of 166 lbs on June 10th. It was a phenomenal feeling.
166 lbs is the lowest I have been able to reach at this time. My initial weight loss goal was 150 lbs (which I cannot wait to hit!), but I'm hoping to ultimately be able to weigh somewhere between 130 and 140. I use the myfitnesspal website religiously (I'm not really much of a smartphone aficionado, aficionada? sp? pedantic?), I weigh nearly every morning, I strive to do 30 mins to an hour of cardio every day (but I don't always make it out of the house) and when I'm in the swing of things; full body workouts 3x a week.
As it stands, I feel like I'm stuck losing and regaining the same 10 lbs (yes, 10) every month from monthly shark week binges. I'm struggling emotionally & mentally between COVID-19 and all of my other personal problems. I should mention that I am in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend of 3.5 years who lives in New York and it's been difficult to be apart (we haven't been together since December) and I amunable, unwilling to rely upon my previous coping mechanisms. There's much more to my story, but I wouldn't want to a) bog you nor b) bore you with the details all at once.
Thank you so much for your patience wading through my rant. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort that goes into it. I hope you're doing well and I look forward to sharing more with you all again soon.
I'm new to the site and new to the whole weight-loss-diary-sharing experience. I signed up about 2 weeks ago and have slowly been reading through some diaries and have found the exchanges between all the members to be so positive, powerful, and meaningful. I am truly inspired and I hope to add to the culture here and come away feeling stronger and more supported.
I suppose I should start with the basics. My name is Shannon, I'm 33 years old and I live in Canada. I'm roughly 5'7 and I currently weigh 168 lbs. I have been carrying a degree of extra weight since my teenage years, but started to pack on the weight in my 20s. I'm a stress eater and grew up in a household where portion control was not taught, let alone enforced. All of these things (and more!) contributed to my unhealthy relationship with food and ultimately with myself.
My weight loss journey officially began in April 2018 at my highest weight of 235 lbs. Within the first 8 months I lost 50 lbs and I couldn't have been prouder of myself. Later that same year, in early December, I decided to finally quit smoking cigarettes. Terminating my vile addiction to nicotine is one of the best things I could have ever done for myself. However, it seems as though I have been struggling with my weight loss among other things ever since.
Throughout 2019 I stalled out at 180 lbs which was to be expected given the tobacco or nicotine (I'm not sure which) had really messed with my metabolism. I also regained a good 20 lbs in the summer of that year because I was mentally struggling a great deal with a family member's health. Prior to quitting, smoking and eating had been my "coping" mechanisms of choice and I must say that facing my issues has been a hard thing for me to do with just a good diet and exercise, but I am trying.
By the end of 2019 I was able to get back to the mid to low 180s and recommitted myself to my journey. I had made it my goal to reach 166 lbs by the end of February. Well, unfortunately, I was too ambitious and things didn't go as planned. I stumbled quite a bit and also started baking as a new hobby (which I love to do, but don't do much of because of my propensity for overeating/binge eating & for the fact that I live with other over eaters). Despite all of the struggles and hardship, I finally reached my goal of 166 lbs on June 10th. It was a phenomenal feeling.
166 lbs is the lowest I have been able to reach at this time. My initial weight loss goal was 150 lbs (which I cannot wait to hit!), but I'm hoping to ultimately be able to weigh somewhere between 130 and 140. I use the myfitnesspal website religiously (I'm not really much of a smartphone aficionado, aficionada? sp? pedantic?), I weigh nearly every morning, I strive to do 30 mins to an hour of cardio every day (but I don't always make it out of the house) and when I'm in the swing of things; full body workouts 3x a week.
As it stands, I feel like I'm stuck losing and regaining the same 10 lbs (yes, 10) every month from monthly shark week binges. I'm struggling emotionally & mentally between COVID-19 and all of my other personal problems. I should mention that I am in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend of 3.5 years who lives in New York and it's been difficult to be apart (we haven't been together since December) and I am
Thank you so much for your patience wading through my rant. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort that goes into it. I hope you're doing well and I look forward to sharing more with you all again soon.
with LaMa. I think you'll find most of us have similar issues & that is why we are so supportive of one another. I hope we can help you gain back some of that self-esteem. I think anyone can diet and/or lose weight, but it's the head we have to work on mostly. Cate, says speaking for herself......