Hi Elle
Same boat here, I am nearly 28 and been fat since the age of 9. I started in January at 323 and now I am 281.6
41.4lbs down so far. I have had my ups and downs, but the journey has 100% been a learning one.
I started with the My Fitness Pal app, and started tracking what I was eating at first before starting my diet. It then gave me an idea of just how many calories I ate on average. Then I pulled them down to 1500 calories and the weight started dropping off, I stuck with that for about 2 months before I hit a plateau and then went down to 1400 calories and going to the gym (curves) 3x a week. In September I realised that I was going really really slow on weightloss, at that point I had lost just over 30lbs and had to start looking into MACROS, learning about what they were and how fueling my body the right food was just as important as calories.
I only went to the gym for about 3 months, I then moved back home and had to cancel my membership. So the first 40lbs have been lost with diet alone. In January I will be getting a membership to the gym at the end of my street and will hopefully be going 3-4 times a week to up my weightloss.
Keep in touch! It would be great to hear how you get on. Btw get yourself into the 20-something group
we have some good challenges on the go