I've had weight issues my whole life. During the teen years I bounced between sizes 8-14, around age 19 I started really packing on the pounds.
By age 24 I had put 272 pounds on my 5'8 frame!!! I was (still am) an emotional eater. I was sick of looking that way, feeling lethargic and having a lot of acid reflux from all over the food I was eating.
So I put myself on a low cal diet basically *trying* to follow the food pyramid and eating healthier stuff. I also started walking 3-6 miles a day, which is something I have always loved. I bought a $1 notebook and kept track of my calories on that. It's AMAZING how the cheapest weight loss tool ever is one of the BEST! I highly advocate this to anyone because you really don't realize how many calories are in what you are eating!!!!
In the span of 6 months I took off about 50 pounds, by February of 2004 I was down to about 220. My significant other of 6 years and I separated and I was a wreck!! I lost more weight from not eating due to being so upset!! I was also going to the gym a lot to help cope with the stress.
Around June of 2004 I got down to about 180 (a healthy size 12) and stayed there for a bit.
From June 2004 to December 2007 I did yo-yo between 180 and about 205.
At the beginning of 2008 I started losing more, I think a lot of it had to do with getting more exercise. My fiancee and I are very active, we were doing a lot of vigorous hiking and snowboarding.
By May of 2008 I was down to 158!!! I could fit in most size 8's and even a few big 6's!!! I was ecstatic!! I was doing 400 crunches a day and even got back into the bikini!! I maintained that weight for a few months, but than the pounds started creeping back on!! Long story short.... Here I am at 177 and wearing some tight size 8's!
My short term goal is to get back to 160. That's the highest weight I'm supposed to be at for my height and I feel that I look very good right around there. I would like to *try* to get to 150, but I'm not stressing that right now.
I know what I need to do to get there:
A.) Break out the notebook again & starting holding myself accountable
B.) When I go out to eat I need to eat more Salad and less Pasta!! I love CARBS!!! I'm quasi-vegetarian so it's hard to find stuff to eat. I'm not a salad dressing fan so if I can eat salads I'll have success.
C.) Starting going for my lunch time walks again! I've been slacking lately because I'm depressed about the crappy job market. I feel fortunate to have a secure job, but I'm "under" employed so I think eating has been my "outlet" for comfort in terms of that. Also, the walks will help my minor back/neck stiffness
D.) Not eat so much junk on the weekends!!! I look at weekends as pig out time and it's NOT ok! I need to control this!!
I'm hoping to explore this site and find weight loss buddies!! Thanks for reading!
YOu might want to check out the Vegetarian Forum, Featherweights (for those looking to lose the last few) and Maintainers, where we are all about keeping lost weight lost.
Welcome to the forum! I'm still pretty new. I was vegetarian for 8 years. I still eat mostly vegetarian. I also suggest the whole foods forum. I'd focus on foods that fill you up. Eat a good breakfast. Steel cut oats are really filling. I add dried apple slices and nuts to mine. It's amazing at how much better I eat the rest of the day if I have a good breakfast.
Restaurants are hard. I have a hard time eating salad at a restaurant. A lot of the time, the salad dressings are worse for you than eating the pasta. Maybe you could get pasta and a salad. Eat all of the salad and only some of the pasta. Save the rest for another day.
95 poounds gone, trying to lose the last bit!!
I was (still am) an emotional eater. I was sick of looking that way, feeling lethargic and having a lot of acid reflux from all over the food I was eating. 
I'm glad you found this site it is really motivational to my weight loss and lots of others, so hopefully it can be for you too!!
