No great story to post ... yet. I just have to pipe up and say how EXCITING this thread is. Inspiring!!

This one was not as scary as the play, but still a terror inducing moment for me!

Going in the wave pool at 6 flags! I was surrounded in tanned girls in string bikinis (which weren't very practical for an amusement park if yo ask me, even less so for the tidal wave pool!!!!) and there were lots of good lookin boys around too! but I came out from the sanctuary of my t-shirt and went in.

Once I was in, it wasnt so bad. An odd fellow with hardly any teeth struck up a convo. Always an adventure.




~*Shannon

At my heaviest and... I had just taken what was to be my honeymoon alone (a cruise) and was dancing every night and found myself at age 25 huffing and puffing and so sweaty that my hair was matted to my head so I knew I had to do something...

I came back here and started karate as my exercise. I was so out of shape I ripped every muscle in my stomach and it hurt to stand up straight and breathe. The room was all mirrored and my teacher was GORGEOUS and I would sweat so bad my makeup would roll down my face and I was so humiliated about how I looked but I kept up with it AND continued exercise in one form or another for the next 10 years....

It was so worth it.

Next.....

Today I got on a bicycle first the first time in probably a dozen years. I didn't go far -- perhaps half a mile and back -- but just getting up my nerve to do it was great. I've been thinking about bicycling ever since the weather turned nice, but I've worried that I forgot how to ride (I did not) or that I could not balance at my weight (I could).

One more thing I don't have to wait until I get to goal weight to do! I can ride a bike now if I want to, although if I am going to do it regularly I need to buy a new bike; my bike is historic -- 25 years old, rusted, and the brakes don't work very well. I was surprised the tires even held air when we pumped it up. It's the old-fashioned women's kind with fenders -- I don't even think they make them anymore -- and the fenders were rubbing against the tires. I'm thinking about treating myself to a new bike this spring.

What an incredible thread! Here are four things I am proud of myself for doing while over 300 lbs., regardless of size:

Gaining YMCA Fitness Instructor Certification...

Bringing my own chair to class when the only chairs available were too small. The professor snickered, but I got 4.0 at end of term...

Traveling through northern Europe (3 weeks) and working in Britain (2 months)...

Finally, doing something apparently 90% of slender women fear - Going swimming in public wearing my TWO PIECE SWIMSUIT! (it's very cute, a bra-like top and a swingy short skirt bottom)...

XOXO Monika
(The brave, the tattooed, the belly buttoned pierced)

Go swimming (in my own pool) with other people.

Couldn't find a suit that fit so swam in shorts and a tee shirt.

This summer I have a suit, so watch out !!!

Well, I used to love roller coasters (key word used to). So last summer we took the kids to a local amuse. park and I got on the rollercoaster with my daughter. I paniced(sp) about getting in the cart and not being able to put the safety bar down. Well when we got in and the guy came to lower the bar it wouldn't go down (yikes). He told me to lean up a bit and it went down under my belly. Well....... as the ride goes into motion as we are climbing gravity and the force of the ride are making my body stand up. The bar isn't even holding me down cuz the fat part of me is my belling and the bar was resting on the top of my thighs. This ride was going about 90miles per hour and I was literally standing up. All I could think of was oh God please don't let me die like this in front of my daughter. It will scar her for life. We needless to say I'm here. Kind of put things into perspective. Next time if it doesn't fit I will just take the embarrassment of having to get out of the line. Did I say next time. I must be crazy.

I think my graduation this December was pretty hard. I was in the first row and one of the first ones to go across the stage in a huge football arena, cross the stage, pose for the picture, and act as if I wasn't extremely self-conscious by waving at my mother and daughter. I wasn't the heaviest, I was probably the second heaviest there.

Now that I'm on Atkins 3 weeks now, I went and bought me a glove and threw balls with my 6 yr old baseball-whiz-of-a-daughter. I know people are still thinking, "oh, my god, she really needs to excerise", and I know I can't move around as much just yet, but I'm happy to be able to do it and looking forward to when I can run and catch the ball more. But, we did this in the front part of our yard and not the back, hidden away.

Another thing for me is eating in full view of others, before I was very subconscious about that, figuring that people would be saying, "Goodness, look at that fat girl eating junk, no wonder she's so big." Now, I'll eat and say, "If they don't like it too bad cause I know I'm losing and that's all that matters."

Wow! I'm so impressed!
Mine is a little less TA! DA!
I returned to school last fall (I'm 35 and last fall I was 120 pounds overweight) to earn my bachelors degree. I was so scared because I was afraid:
1. the younger students would ridicule me behind my back
2. I wouldn't be able to fit in those tiny chair/desk combo things

Well, I idid it. And I'm still going today. At first, it was all I could to SQUEEZE into the chairs, but with my recent weight loss there is a little more breathing room!
I still get nervous, but day by day I'm working towards my goal and increasing my self-esteem.

I'm going to blow the dust off of this thread!

3 months ago, at 257 pounds and 35 years old, I joined an adult ballet class in a beautiful studio here in Japan. I outweigh everyone by at least 100 pounds, but most women in that class are more like 100-120 pounds. They are mostly mothers of middle school children or grandmothers. So, mid forties to early sixties. The older ladies have been doing this for decades. Anyway....I've never had any dance experience but have always wanted to try ballet. However, the older and bigger I became, the more laughable joining a ballet class became. But, I was invited my doctor and I went one time....and loved it!!! I go once a week and honestly count the days until I can go back.

I encourage all of you who think you're too big to follow your desires to go for it!!!

Wow....there are lots of things I could write about!
-Went on multiple mission trips while in college (airplane seatbelts anyone...)
-Climbed to the top of some Native American Cliff Dwellings in AZ.....I thought I was going to die, but I did it anyway.
- Moved overseas and lived in West Africa for 6 years

Cut my hair.

Did it yesterday. Cut off 10 inches of hair to go back to the above the shoulder bob I wore ten years ago, and I'm so glad I finally did it!

I had the ridiculous fear that I was now too fat and/or too old for that style. Nope. It looks and feels so much cuter than long princess hair.

Turns out it's the 100 extra pounds that's making my look fat, not my hair! Who knew???

Ladies, don't buy into the myth that fat girls should never have short hair!