One day I asked my husband how much he thinks I weigh. He told me "Oh, you're about 180, 185 pounds" Jeeeez, he would just die if I told him how much I really weigh. He doesn't have the slightest clue.

The few others I've told can't believe I weigh as much as I do. I carry it pretty well, thanks to the expensive underwear that holds everything in place!!

I never used to disclose my weight, like it was some top secret information.

Now I am happy to tell everyone that I am 301! I am losing, and my weight is a badge of pride.

Even at 301, I don't look like it. I never have. I have big legs and am big boned. I never have looked as large as my weight. Most people (before I started TELLING people my weight) would guess that I was 50-60 pounds lighter.

Somethings are just difficult for me to believe nevermind asking anyone else to fathom my shortcomings!

Hubby & I are one & he is very supportive, but also concerned about my health, which has not been an issue to date (that I'm aware of).

I'm comfortable with this, but then I don't discuss much of my personal life with many people, thus the word "personal" still has meaning & value.

I agree that people will tend to praise you for your accomplishments...at the same time wonder how you ever got to be that way. Tis human nature is all.

I would agree with that sentiment, tangible.

I know a lot of people have wondered that in the past for me, even close friends.

I had a really good friend (we are no longer, but that's another story) that thought that I really wasn't sore all the time - that I was just lazy. He couldn't figure out why I wouldn't get much done sometimes. I know deep down he thought that I was just lazy, and that's how I got fat. As he got to know me better, he realized that I wasn't lazy.

Then you always get these people that try to "remind" you that you need to lose weight. Like I didn't know that!

The way I look at it is this: I am on a journey. I had to be fat to become thin. I am exactly where I should be in my life. In order to become the person I will be (a superhero ), I must conquer my weight RIGHT NOW and once and for all.

Because of that, I am not ashamed of who I was. I want everyone to know what I have gone through and what I will go through.

Anyway, sorry to get off in a rant. I am just very serious about taking this weight off, once and for all. I want EVERYONE to know it. My e-mail signature at work says at the end: "79 pounds lost and counting".

I like this forum and had to post my experience with "going public" with the weight issue.

last year when i first started atkins i posted in someone elses journal. I thought I was introducing myself, telling the person how much i enjoyed reading her journal and posted my beginning stats etc....I don't know if i offended the person or if she was trying to be kind but my post was moved to what was supposed to be the start of my journal. NO PROBLEM right????

Imagine my surprise a few days later when not only my boyfriend but a couple of other computer using friends tell me there is another (insert screen name here) on the computer. I asked "why whatever do you mean" and they told me if you go to a search engine and put in (again insert my screen name here) a page comes up that shows my screen name, where i live, my weight stats, and my body fat %! I almost had a stroke on the spot. I never did check to see how to get it removed and don't know how it got out there but assume you can still find it!!! i can smile about it now but i was pretty ticked at the time.

As for telling people how much i weigh......only the nurse in my doctors office knows for sure. I am 5'6" but hour glass shaped with big rear end, smaller waist, and hefty on top so most people who have dared to broach the subject guess me around 200 not 300. So what you say is true. People don't realize what 100 + over looks like. THANKS FOR LETTING ME FINALLY TELL THIS STORY KELLY

Hi Kelly,
I had to smile about your story... it is good that you can laugh about it now. I don't have a problem with sharing my weight,... now my measurements... that is a whole 'nother ballgame! I am a bit more private with that. Right now I have not taken my total measurements since February, so it will be interesting to see what is the same, & what is different.In one month's time then, I had lost 35", hope that happens again! I know that I weigh about 25# more than I did then... give or take a few lbs. I am psyching myself up for my induction,which I plan on starting on the 20th... Did keeping a journal help you out with your dieting before? I am just not the best on keeping up on the durned things... any suggestions on that? The hard thing doing the lc woe this go around, is I have to feed 2 kids, as the is just 11 mo. old & our son has to be fed due to cerebral palsy... but I will give it my best shot... g' luck with everything Kelly!

i agree...it is always good to be able to laugh about things that before would have made me nuts!

i tried to keep a journal back in december when i was on atkins for a few weeks but wasn't very faithful about it.

this time around i am trying harder. working this 2nd job doesn't leave me much time to do it daily but i am trying. i know taking measurements works for a lot of people but i am not doing that...it would be one more thing for me to obsess about along with the scale

the first time around i did really well on atkins (check out my journal if you have time) but got sick of meat after a few weeks. this time around i am adding more salads and not restricting myself as much. if i want something on weekends when i eat out like fried shrimp, i eat it but don't eat the whole thing. on sunday afternoon anything in the house that is breaded, coated, or carb related goes in the trash. There usually isn't much since i live alone. Slowly my desire or craving for this stuff is waning. this morning i had a "cheat". i was running behind and forgot my bacon strips so i went to the snack area at work and bought potato chips (my weakness, along with bread) and ate 1/2 the bag. i didn't feel guilty about it because i was counting the carbs and didn't have any thing else to eat with me at work...but in about 40 minutes i got a headache and got really grouchy..almost like a depression came over me!! now let me preface this by saying i am a pretty happy gal.... it is just one more bit of evidence that i am addicted to carbs and they DO have something to do with altering moods.

ok i will stop now cause i know that this isn't really on the subject. good talking to you and good luck.

Very interesting thread.

As for me - when you grow up with my looks, being vain about anything isn't a viable option. Plus, if you are going to be involved in light aviation, keeping your weight a secret is not an option.

So I've never been too hesitent to tell people my weight. It was always surprising to me that, even at my heaviest of 384 pounds people were shocked to find out that I was more than about 275 pounds. As others have noted, most people just have no idea how much weight can be carried on a frame and appear to be much smaller than it is.

I had a couple of gals - not overweight by any means - that were going to go flying with me and I told them that I needed to know their weight for weight and balance calculations. They refused. I told them that the center-of-gravity of the airplane had to lie within a range of only seven inches and that it would be highly dangerous to be out of that range. They refused. I told them that I couldn't proceed with the flight unless they told me. They refused. I told them that I only needed them for those calculations and that I considered it confidential information. They refused. I cancelled the flight. They were amazed and thought that I was just pulling their leg in order to trick them into telling me their weight. I told them that I don't play those kinds of games and that the flight was cancelled. They offered to tell me their weight and I thol them that I had informed them of the consequences, that they had made their decision and that I had made mine. The flight remained cancelled. The real reason that the flight remained cancelled was because, even though I don't play those games I didn't put it past them to play those games and I didn't trust them to tell me the truth. We were going to be near max gross weight and I needed honest numbers.

But, other than that one time, I've never had a passenger - male or female - be more than just a bit slow to tell me their weight.

Now that is, in my books, just *plane* (pun intended) ridiculous, to be SO VAIN about their weight, that they would jeopardize their own safety, and that of others on board. I don't blame you for cancelling any flights for that reason. you were well within your right to do so... hey just a thought.. I have never even been on a plane... so how about when I reach my goal... that you be the pilot & I'll bring my family up for a ride? We are just a state away & my family lives in Colorado (Ft. Collins & Loveland area), so a little detour might be some extra incentive p.s. I promise you that we would give you our actual weights heheh

That works for me - one of the real joys of being a pilot is when you take up someone that has never been up in a small plane before.

I read hubby the reply... and he just rolled his eyes at me He met me when I was heavy, (altho 35# lighter), and he has never had a problem with my weight. He says that he fell in love with what was inside, and doesn't mind the out. I tell him that he has never seen me smaller, so how can he tell me that he doesn't want me smaller?
So all I can say to your post wbahn is---
Can't tell that I am excited about this future plane ride... can ya? heheh Hey more incentive than what I have can't hurt ya know? Thx~ you definitely put a smile on my face~