Thanks for the welcome! In February of 2010 I went to the doctor's for something completely unrelated to my weight, but I remember weighing in at 344 pounds. You would think that would be a total wake-up call, but it wasn't. I had kind of a learned helplessness - I didn't believe that it was possible for me to lose weight.
But I started making small changes. The first thing I did was go from drinking 2-3 Mountain Dews per day to 2-3 a week (I drank my last soda in May 2010, and I do miss my Mountain Dew terribly!!) I did a little bit of exercise.
By my birthday in June I was over 30 pounds down just from those small changes and was feeling a little psyched. From there, I dove in. I focused on portion control - I didn't count calories.
Since that time, it's just been diet and exercise. I lift weights, I became a runner.
In April of this year I had surgery to remove my excess skin on my abdomen around the sides and the butt/back.
This was August 2008:
And this was Saturday:
My life is totally different now!
I vacillate since hitting goal between total confidence and total terror