Hey all!
I’ve been reading here for a while, and just made an account to jump in, and start posting. Sorry for the formatting (mobile).
Basic stats: 33, Female, 167cm (5’6”). SW: 127kg (279.4lbs), CW: 120.9kg (266lbs), GW: 80kgs (175lbs). Not actually sure on the goal weight; but whatever looks good/feels good.
Plan: using CICO with MyFitnessPal, a food scale, and tracking my daily weight with the Happy Scale iOS app. I also have been reading here and seeing everyone’s posts, and they’ve been really motivational and incredibly helpful.
Why I’m writing: I’ve been overweight my whole life, and had a rough time with it. Some emotional issues, some trauma, some bad luck, but mostly irrelevant to what I need to do on September 17, 2018. Why I became/remained overweight isn’t super relevant to me at this point in my journey. My weight loss mission was sparked by a fairly recent (May) move to the Netherlands, and finally being unable to bear the stress of being so visibly overweight in a place where people are predominantly normal-sized (well, with respect to weight. Dutch people are TALL!) . I’ve read a few threads here over the past few weeks about people treating fat people differently, and they really have hit home for me. I moved here because I married an amazing Dutch person whose job is now located here (we were together in the US prior to our move). I am learning Dutch, but at 33, no one is ever going to mistake me for a native speaker. It’s hard for me. I can’t make certain Dutch sounds. I have a hard time hearing the announcements on the train. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a one-man improv skit when the train conductor starts saying something over the loudspeaker and literally everyone reacts appropriately to whatever was said, except me). I really feel like random people are meaner to me than normal because I am fat AND because they think I’m not very smart (because I don’t always understand what they’re saying, or they do the irritated/condescending English-language switch), which just really devastates me sometimes. I am absolutely trying!
But, it’s hard. I didn’t grow up here. I look like a circus clown on a tricycle when I try to cycle around my city. I can just say it plainly: I’m having a hard time adjusting. My old job doesn’t exist here, and would require me to go back to school for years, and speak fluent Dutch (health care). So, after a few months of trying to figure out how to manage adult life as a new expat, I decided that I was going to tackle my weight: something I absolutely can control. It doesn’t mean I want to give up, and move back to ‘merica, especially since my spouse is the best, and our life together is seriously amazing, but it does mean that it’s hard for me some days to make sense of what to do as a 33 year old with the functional skill level of an average Dutch 16 year old.
That said, it’s definitely not all bad. My spouse is doing it with me (and kicking my butt, with 7.5 kilos lost to my 6.1), but we’re doing it together. And we support each other when we’re having cravings, or going to bed a little hungrier than usual because we’re out of calories for the day or whatever. So, like the meme, I’ve got that going for me which is nice.
I’m happy to see that MFP has a decent selection of Dutch foods in its database, so no real troubles there. If anything, Dutch food labeling schemes (usually kcal per 100g rather than the American per container/ per “portion”) turned me into a MFP super user with weighing out my food and then selecting the “1 gram” serving size, and adjusting from there. By the way, let me take a moment to plug the utility of a food scale. It really helps me know how much I’m eating/adding into a dish, and it has absolutely been one my best tools so far. Spouse was a little leery of my demands that we download 2 apps and buy a food scale, after I Reddit-researched, but I think our respective weight losses speak for themselves!
Anyway, this has gotten kind of long, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here for this forum. The “get-started” FAQ is awesome, the regular posters (u/funchords, you’re my internet-advice uncle, and you don’t even know it!) the awesome content/advice/stories/sticky threads that you all contribute to— its all great. I’ve stuck with thing for seven weeks now, and honestly feel like I’m doing great. Measurements are going down, I’m like a toddler discovering a mirror when comparing selfies for “face gains,” and I’ve discovered some really good new foods (zoodles/courgetti are amazing, and I have made the most amazing “pad Thai” with them! 10/10 would recommend!). Happy Scale helps me not freak out over menstrual cycle weight changes (does anyone else gain a kg or two while ovulating?!), and I’m just really psyched to keep going. So, that’s all from me— just grateful that everyone is in this together, psyched that you all are crushing it, and looking forward to contributing more as time passes!
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