Hi, thanks for the encouragement....

I am starting to feel better since excercising more.

I understood what you are saying about therapy and all.

I am going to see how I feel after I lose some weight and start gaining my self esteem back, before I contemplate therapy. I really think I just need to feel and look better physically. We'll see. take care, thanks, Gina

I just started the meat & egg fast today I've kind of been losing and gaining the past 5 pounds the past 2 months, it feels like.
So far.. I've had no appetite at all today, I had eggs and bacon for breakfast...and we'll have ham for dinner tonight. How is it going for you?

Hello!

thanks for writing , I dont know where New China is in Michigan? Wow, and I thought I knew mostly about MIchigan, lol.

I added you to my yahoo messenger list, maybe we can chat sometime. I just started the meat and egg fast today to "jumpstart" my low carb diet.

I hope to chat with you soon, Gina

Hello Gina!!! You have deffinitly came to the right place for support, I found this place, while surfing almost a year ago, and the support has been awesome. I can relate to the way your feeling, however, have developed the attittude, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and that everything happens for a reason. You sound like a terrific mother!!! I have two sons, one is twelve the younger one will be three in April, and the week after I gave birth to the youngest, I found out my husband and best friend were caught in bed, their affair was a year and a half, long, long horror story, so I wont bore u, however. It has been years almost and he and her are together, and I have moved on, both of us our happy, the boys are happy and I even talk to her a few times a week, and all of this due to a lot of support from this site. Life is what u make of it.

I learned to love life again and have fun while loosing the weight, I have lost quite a bit since starting and now have to get my rear in gear again!!!!!!!

Take Care!!
Erica

Hi GinaLeanne,

I also had a beautiful figure, an hour-glass figure. I was thought to be very attractive. I finally had to face what was making me depressed. It wasn't hormones, it was financial stress, etc. It was simply being overweight. There is not payoff for being overweight, for me. I did see an endocrinologist and he told me that I can't process carbs like someone with a normal blood sugar metabolism. That explained why some diets did not work for me or only worked to some degree. I had to work on my motivation. I tell you, all diets will fail without the proper motivation. It will help to make a list of positive things losing weight will do for you, stuff like "I'll get lots of looks from men," whatever. No one has to see it except you.

Hi Gina,
Judging by all the replies from all these wonderful people, I dont think you should be sad anymore as you have just made and found so many new friends.

Secondly, I strongly believe in the philosophy "that what does not kill you, makes you stronger." You are a much stronger person as a result of what you have been through. You should take each adversity in your life as a learning experience. You now know who your true friends are.

I also believe that despite our suffering, we still live a privileged life and we have so much to be thankful for. So we should never give in to self pity, we should guard ourselves against self pity.

Many years back I read a story about Victor Hugo the famous French Thinker and Writer which goes like this -
When Hugo was exiled from his beloved France, he spent 18 years in the Channel Islands(Belgium). For a man, who was of noble birth and enjoyed Royal patronage, exile was worse than death. Every day at sunset Victor Hugo would climb to a cliff overlooking a small harbor and look longingly out over the water towards France. Each day when he finished his meditations he would pick up a pebble and throw it into the water. The children who knew him asked him once why he threw a stone in the water each day. Victor Hugo smiled gravely and said: "Not stones, children, not stones. I am throwing my self-pity into the sea." It was during those 18 years of adversity he gave the world his greatest works and most profound insights.

Wow, thankyou for the encouragement, I appreiate it.......I was going to write in your journal, yet you dont have one, I hope to talk with you again sometime soon, Gina

Mornin' Gina!
Hope you're having a great day!

thankyou , you are so right................

almost a month ago I wrote this........that night I prayed......I prayed that I could quit smoking and lose some weight so I could get my self confidence back...
I can say that I have not had a cigarette, and I have already lost 8 lbs and lots of inches.

I am writing this so someone else may see it and know that you have to start somewhere and trust that you can do anything if you have faith in yourself ......and Love yourself enough to care again......

I told my daughter tonight that I am losing weight and inches, she sounded surprised.....My daughter looks like a model, she has modeled several times, she is thin, like I used to be....sometimes when we are young we tend to forget that people get older and change, yet they still need encouragement.

My daughter does not understand the pain that I have been through and she probably never will.

I want to say that this site has helped me focus more on what I want........the journal has helped me to focus on what I eat and how often I excercise....everyone here is kind and they care enough to help out if you have a question.

thank-you everyone!!! Gina

Hey GinaLeanne,

Just wanted to welcome you here and let you know that you are not alone. I read your first post and I can understand the feelings you have. I am here to let you know, if you really want to escape this self-imprisonment, then now is the time to take action. You have taken the first steps by not only coming here but realizing you want to change. So the rest is only applying the principles of whatever plan you begin your journey with and don't consider it a diet but a way of life. Toss the term "diet" away and think of this as an overhaul of your eating habits. Once you establish good solid eating habits, the weight will come off over time and don't expect too much, too soon. Accept the small victories and allow your life to evolve around it. You will have the extra energy and mood to do things you haven't done in years or the first time. I promise you, if you come and give it 100 percent effort, you will get 200 percent reward in return.

I have a great support team of great ladies that I call my "angels". They offer not only helpful advice, the laugh when you need it most, and simply good times. This shouldn't be a chore and so why treat it as one. We would love to have you be a part of it and there are a few, including myself, that have reached goal, but we stay to help the others make it to the goals they set for themselves. We are a team and we won't be done, until we all make it to the finish line one day.

Well sweetie, good luck and if you ever need us, just come by and pull up a proverbial chair. You can vent, share your success and failures, and we will shoulder your fall, every step of the way.

Take care,
GREG

Hi GinaLeanne.....
I noticed this post is about a year old but I thought I would reply to it anyway.
Boyyy...do I know how you feel!
You know......I used to think there was noone else in the world more screwed up than me. My life has been a trainwreck. And on top of it all it's harder to cope when you feel like crap physically. So I decided to get my life back on track in four areas: financially, mentally, emotionally and physically!

1)I decided to pick up my studies where I left off oh, 10 years ago. I now have only 1 year left to get my Master's in clinical psychology.

2)I'm going to lose 50 pounds. I plan on starting Pilates but NOT until I lose the weight! That's just putting too much on my plate and Pilates I've heard is alot easier to start when your skinny.

3)I'm not spending money (only on necessities like diet food, heh!) That used to be a HUGE problem for me but now I save almost every spare dime I can get my hands on and it feels good watching it pile up!

4)When all of the above finally come together I think the emotional aspect of my life will follow suit. Everything will pull together.

I wish you luck GinaLeanne! Keep posting!

Welcome GinaLeanne.....

Big hug to you... There's lots of groups around here for support...

Life is sometimes cruel.... Ultimately you are in charge though... Grab the reigns and create yourself happy. Find some motivational material to keep you in a positive zone... something like "the Secret".... and recognize that you are all powerful in your life... feeling powerless is a myth that you have talked yourself into believing.

You have and continue to create yourself healthier and thinner....

Hug

Timothy