In one sentence: I want the mental image I have of myself be the same one I see in the mirror.

I’ve always loved to read the success stories in fitness magazines. They gave me hope that someday I too could be a success story. And in the back of my mind I’ve always wished that there was a missing key that I’d find that would just click and I’d loose all the weight and get down to a normal weight. But I know that it’ll take more work and discipline than that daydream.

Stat wise, I’m a woman who just turned 30 and am 5’9″ and 330lbs. It seems like such a long journey to cut that number by half. As I’ve lost over 100 lbs 5 years back but have gained it all back plus 50 more. I don’t want to backslide again, and have years of hard work go down the tubes. It’s a journey that I really want and need to take. I’ve built me a deep rut and it’s hard to claw myself out of it. And I know my weight is holding me back from experiencing all I can of life.

I really want to go to a regular store and buy an insanely cute and sexy outfit (as right now I’m pretty much topped out of the plus sized stores and really can only buy clothes online). I want to be able to super cute boots and have them fit over my calf. I want to be able to fit into seats on planes and at movie theaters. I’d love to go out on a date (as being fat really isolates one from the opposite sex, especially as an overweight girl). I want to do more than skate around in practice, but to be able to skate a full roller derby bout and keep up with the other girls rather than being the bench coach. I want to go kiteboarding and do a triathlon and go snowboarding. I want to be able to live life full out rather than just sit on the sidelines and cheer others on.

As always another awesome episode, again many thanks for the continued effort that goes into the show.

I will add my story to the mix…

My name is Kyle, I am a 22 yr old college student who is currently employed in the criminal justice field. Growing up I was one of the growing majority of kids who did not have a nutrition plan whatsoever implemented in their life when arguably the most important habit forming behaviors are developed. I come from a family with parents that are obese, and 2 out of four grandparents that passed away from cardiac related issues at a young age. Diet and nutrition consisted of diet soda and limiting pizza carryout to 1-2times per week lol.

I love playing sports, and this is probably the only thing that kept me from getting into such a rut with my weight when I was younger. However every ‘season’ of sports I went through a very dangerous cycle of weight gain and loss, at one time going from an all time high of 245lbs down to 182lbs (I am 5’11″). I played varsity football 3 out of 4 years in high school for a very large school in our area, I played on the offensive line because of my size. Gaining weight at a rapid pace to remain competitive, no matter what the cost, was always pushed by the coaches.

When I moved on to college I took an interest in becoming a Police Officer. I was lucky enough to have family members who were police officers themselves that could lend a helping hand in preparing me for the physical demands of a police academy. I took an interest in maintaining personal health, enrolling in nutrition classes, wellness classes, etc. to try and change my thinking as it relates to food and exercise. Through implementing running and a regular resistance training regiment, I was able to go from 240lbs now down to approx. 205lbs.

After months of hard work, preparing for the entrance testing for a large department here in the area (ahem the motor city) I took a blow below the belt when I went for my pre-academy eye exam and was diagnosed with glaucoma at age 22. After submitting all of my medical records to the state licensing ‘body’ I was ultimately told that because I had glaucoma and there is no cure…I could never be a police officer.

Because my glaucoma was uncontrolled with medicine and drops, I had to have a rushed surgery in both eyes. In this procedure, a metal ‘shunt’ is inserted into your eye, and aids in relieving pressure in your eye from fluid build-up. As a result of the surgery I have been limited to lifting things only if they are extremely light while I am healing. Lifting too much weight causes the eye to strain and then as a reaction the eye deflates…this is very painful and happened to me the first day after the surgery in my right eye when I was making my bed! lol.

To get to the point of this story…now more than ever because I am in a ‘healing’ state and still cannot resume a normal resistance training regiment (3months post-op), I have come to understand the EXTREME importance of nutrition. This has become foremost to me in my efforts to not only maintain a healthy weight but to be ‘healthy’ in general.

I came across the Fitcast a few months ago and have come to love the show and appreciate the wisdom of some of the ‘superstars’ in the industry . Leigh your nutrition information has been very insightful, and it would be awesome to be able to learn just that much more of what you have to say!

I will be returning to school in the fall to pursue another related field, and hopefully returning to the weight room as well. My goal is to reach a solid 190lbs. I have a long road ahead but I am excited to learn more and more as each day goes by and increase my understanding of fitness and nutrition!

Please don’t take this as a sob story haha…everyone has there own individual challenges from day to day and a big kudos goes out to everyone who has shared there story in this thread.

Thanks! Have a good one!

I am 5’10″ and 218lbs, as of this morning, I have been up to 226.
I need to follow a plan and someone to answer to; right now I answer to myself and he lets me slack.

My workout routines are consistent in the fact that I go to gym 4-5 times a week, but my workouts are not. The intensity changes and I never seem able to follow a routine.

This is more evident in my nutrition.
Most of the time when I am not “dieting” it is always a question of what is for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow and lack of a plan always makes you gain weight.

I try to set up a diet and follow it but make a gray area I always stretch, have one cheat meal that leads into a cheat weekend…

I need to a have a eat this or choose to be fat plan.

I am willing to send pictures, logs, video, I promise no nakies – although they would work will as an appetite suppressant.

To me seeing my abs would be like when Kevin got his case of PB2, orgasmic.

Based on their posts their are others on this list that need this more than me, but I think I just had to write this down to stop fooling myself.

I am about to make it harder for you Leigh heehee.

First I wanted to say thanks for the chance.

I have been struggling with my weight my entire life. I don’t really know why I had such issues with eating. My mother and I were both overweight, while my sister and my father were like sticks. We all ate the same food but I guess my sister and my dad just moved more. I was picked on in elementary school for being “the fat girl” but once I got to highschool I got friends that didn’t judge me, and I just hid in the background. When I got to college I decided I wanted to feel better about myself so I started WW which went well for a little while. I lost about 20 pounds then I just stopped losing, I went to Southbeach and lost about 10 more pounds then no more. Within the next year I gained it all back. I just figured there was something wrong with me and it was hopeless. I finally stubbled upon Leigh’s blog and she said things that clicked with me. I always thought I had some kind of a fat gene and my sister was just lucky, but it never occured to me that she may have just moved more, she was so social and played sports…that stuff really makes a difference. I am now in a situation where I have bought a food scale and am counting my calories, I have lost 10 of the 30 I put back on and now I really just want to get it done and I know that Leigh’s books will help.

Thanks for listening and Goodluck to everyone!

I moved to a new city where EVERYONE walks, which would have been fine, if I could participate. I tried working with a trainer to help, but there was not much she could do with someone who could not bear weight on one leg, and she was a far cry from a Jonathon Fass (if you know what I mean). Luckily, I did pick up health insurance and finally got to see a doctor about that bothersome foot. Well after many tests and endless battles with health insurance, I had to have surgery, physical therapy, and a whole lot of recovery. When I went into surgery, my weight had ballooned up to 245 lbs (I’m a 5’6’’ female).

After recovery, I decided I was too young to take walking for granted, (I was 21 when I first fell). I began a diet and got all the way to 180 lbs, that was two years ago. In the last two years, I have gone from 175 to 185 at least 10 times. I’m not tired of dieting, but I’m tired of fighting the same battle with the same pound over and over and over. I want to get to 150/160, but I sometimes fear that may not be possible. Worse yet, endless dieting cycles have left some food issues that I am also now struggling to overcome. I refuse to stop fighting, I dream of the day when I no longer feel stuck inside a body. In the podcast, Leigh mentioned losing weight and then having the ability to put food and weight on autopilot and getting on with your life. I can’t wait for when that day comes!

Anyhow, thanks for the great work, listening to you guys is great.

My family and friends think I’m nuts as they think I’m trying to lose “weight”. I have no support in my fight to lose “fat” and I just feel so alone and isolated trying to wade through all the different programs and opinions in the fitness industry. I want to be proud of my body and feel confident in my own skin. I need help to lose 10 pounds of fat. I want a flat stomach. I need guidance on how to accomplish this. I simply don’t know how to do this on my own.

Thanks for the consideration.

I’m not expecting to become anybody other than me, but at the same time I AM changing. I can’t say I know what all the changes will be but I know the ones so far are good and so are the ones to come. I’ve lost the sleep apnea and my blood pressure has dropped. I’m learning how to cope with life’s everyday stressors and moods in ways other than eating.

Of course like many other folks I want to change what I see in the mirror, but the transformation I am hoping for goes beyond that. II want to find out who I am when being fat is not my defining characteristic, to find out what I do when I quit putting my life on hold, to get more of my life and energy back instead of my state of constant tiredness that I didn’t even know I had sunk into.

I think I’m within 20-25 pounds of my goal and maybe closer. Since I’ve never been thin or even average weight, every step on this journey is a step into new uncharted territory. So I can use all the knowledge and resources I can get.

I’m listening like crazy: to people’s personal stories, forum conversations, my trainer and nutritionist, and comments from experts like Leigh. I’m reading and trying to understand both the science and the nitty gritty practicalities. And (more slowly and awkwardly but steadily moving forward) I’m getting the behavioral stuff ingrained and getting a handle on the psychology of it all.

In spite of what I’ve learned and am learning I still feel incredibly ignorant, and since so many people say things get harder as you near the end stage I’m not about to rest on my laurels. I am going to succeed. I will beat the statistics and keep the fat off, but to do that I need every bit of an edge I can get.

Leigh’s ebooks look like a wealth of knowledge and expertise that could really help me get a solid understanding of how fat loss and maintenance work. I plan to read every section, even the ones I don’t think apply to me, so that I really really get it. I don’t want to do things by accident or because somebody tells me to. I want to do things because I UNDERSTAND what I am doing.