[sjahns]

Hi everyone!
I'm new to this lifestyle, and to this site. I chose to join in order to share my journey and participate in other's journeys as well-triumphs, struggles and stories. Also, because I definately some support sometimes and doing this all on your own is hard and quite lonely, as I've come to figure out.

A little about me-
I am 21, and I have been "overweight" since I hit puberty around the time I was 11. I have always been athletic and enjoyed sports, but when it comes to actually being active on "purpose" it is a struggle. Instead of the "freshman 15" it was most like the freshman 40-although I am not exactly sure how I much weighed or gained because I avoided scales like the plague. The other thing that really helped me deny the weight I put on was my love of sweatpants

About a year and a half ago, though, I was weighed at the hospital ER and about died when I looked at the number-217! Still, even then, I never really deliberately tried to lose weight. Before I knew it, I was a size 18. Fastforward to January of this year- after battling a MRSA infection (acquired from a family member) for a little over a year, I was at the end of my proverbial rope. I couldn't shake it-no matter how many antibiotics or homeopathic remedies I tried it just kept coming back. Finally, after so much research and no help from the medical community, I decided to cut back on sugar as a last ditch effort. After finally getting a doctor to listen to me in April 2011 and getting prescribed an actual "decolonization" protocol along with trying my best to limit sugar (aka: NO MORE SODA!) I have been MRSA free for 5 months.

In the process of fighting this infection, I ended up going from 217 to 192, just by cutting back on sugar-it was never really a "diet" per se, but after enjoying all of the compliments (OMG WOW! YOU REALLY LOST WEIGHT!) I decided to buy a scale and commit to getting healthier. I've never been a counter of calories or dedicated to a specific excersize program, just making better choices. Now though, I've decided on a goal weight and paying more attention to amount of calories I consume.

As of today, I am 182 pounds and am celebrating! I'm excited to have joined the community and looking forward to the support, accountability and sharing in others journeys as well!

[NEMom]

Wow! congrats on your weight loss to date. Best of luck on your weight loss journey!!!

[SL333]

Wow that is so amazing, congrats on your achievements so far

[Michi702]

Welcome and congrats! Hope you like it here, everyone's super friendly and helpful

[losingdaybyday]

wow thats amazing what are you doing/

[xxkaleidoscopic]

Congrats on the awesome weight loss! It's been just melting off! Good luck on the rest of your journey.

[sjahns]

Thanks everyone

@losingdaybyday

Really, I am just making better choices. I don't drink anything except water and maybe a gatorade here and there, fortunately it wasn't hard for me to quit drinking pop I just decided one day to stop and I did. I'm eating a lot more fruits and veggies and I eat oatmeal with 1 tbsp. of brown sugar for my first meal of the day, everyday (I eat a double serving-1 cup instead of a half a cup boiled in water.)

I had to pretty much stop baking-much to my neighbors dismay because I couldn't just eat 1 cookie, so I removed the temptation lol. Anything sweet is my downfall

I eat regular dinners, whatever that may be (tacos, spaghetti, ect.) I just eat smaller portions, a lot smaller and I make sure to have 2 glasses of water w/ dinner so I get more full without as many calories.

The hardest thing for me is to not eat at night, I am very much a night owl so I am still working on that. I have found that if I eat a whole cucumber with pepper or cantaloupe or apples at night it helps me wait out the hunger pangs.

I like to do yoga at home, but need to get better at being more consistent. When it isn't an inferno outside I golf and ride my bike. I tried the "30 day shred" buy yeahhhh.....I couldn't walk, literally, for 2 days lol.

I need to be a lot more consistent with excersize though, maybe ya'll will light a fight uder me