Search the Community

Hey, newbie here! I was told about this website by a friend of mine, and thought "You know what? This is what I need." I have tried weight loss in the past, but although I would occasionally talk to some of my friends about it, I never had a full support system. After reading through the stuff this website offers, I am convinced this is the support system I need. So, here's my backstory (sorry if it's wordy): I am always been overweight, although a few months ago I was made aware that at one point I was probably smaller than I gave myself credit for. This was when I tried giving one of my old pairs of pants to my brother. He is also overweight, but not as bad as the rest of the family; I was sure he was smaller than I was before I gained weight and yet, the pants were too small for him. Here's me when I was 20 (I'm 27, now): Don't ask me to do that move anymore, I can't. Three years ago (going on four), I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and Dermatomyositis. As Dermatomyositis is a rare one (about 1 in 100,000 people get it a year), the short description is my immune system suddenly decided my muscle tissue looked appetizing. In order to curb this, I am currently taking Imuran. However, the first medication they had to put me on was Prednisone. In the three years I was on this, I gained over a hundred pounds. For anyone who doesn't know, Prednisone has (among a MULTITUDE of side effects) the effect of causing weight gain ON TOP OF increased appetite. During my time on the Prednisone, I attempted weight loss ONCE, and lasted two weeks. During these two weeks, I lost five pounds; yay, right? But then, I was weak, and fell right back into my habits. Last year for Animaritime (local convention), I thought "screw weight perceptions, I'm gonna cosplay Harley Quinn!" And I had a blast! People loved my portrayal despite my weight. This year (end of June), I cosplayed her again, though with a new look. Again, great feedback. However, in February, I had kicked the Prednisone completely. Also, sometime after that, I had decided to cut out pasta and rice from my diet completely. Also, for the past year, I have been truly ENJOYING water. The last time I drank soda, was because I used part of a 222ml can of Sprite for a recipe, and drank the rest. Now, as I was going over my photos post-con, I noticed something: In pictures from this year, I was noticeably smaller than last year. I posted pictures from both cons side-by-side to FaceBook, and my friends agreed that yes, I had definitely dropped some weight. Over the past two weeks, now (or is it closer to three?) I have been gradually cutting how much I eat in a day, and I make sure to stop eating after six o'clock at night. Also, even if it's just walking, I make sure to do at least a half-hour's worth of exercising a day. Although one of my favourite exercises that I used to do years ago that I've started picking up again (I can only do about ten minutes worth of the set) is a ballet conditioning DVD that I bought some years ago. You can find the whole thing on YouTube if you're curious (I did not post it), just type Element Ballet and the video is just under an hour. So, I'm hoping that with the support system of people on here along with tips offered by the webmaster I'll be able to melt the fat off more easily. Maybe in a year or so I'll be able to wear Harley's unitard? Here's the comparison picture of my two costumes from last year and this year (years indicated at the bottom):