I used to post here as a member of the Turtles, but I haven't been around in long time.
About 9 years ago I started a quest to lose weight. I had been overweight since childhood, and never really tried to take weight off. I started just by increasing my activity level in August 96, and by December 98 I had lost 83 pounds through exercise, a car accident, and Weight Watchers. With a loss of 83 pounds I was 180, and wore a size 10/12. I'm 5'9" and large framed, so my body looked right. I maintained that loss (more or less) until 2001, when life went to **** in a handbasket (pardon my language).
In the years since then I have regained that loss, along with 31 friends (OUCH). Now I find myself at 289.0 pounds (I've lost 5 pounds so far). I am keeping up my activity level but trying to temper it for a heavier, more cumbersome body. The ironic thing is that I have a Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology (the science of human movement) and I'm halfway through a certification for Physical Therapy Assisting. Activity has never been hard. Food is and always was, and probably always will be, my challenge.
Right now I'm following Weight Watchers Flex Points, and experimenting with Points and how many my body needs. I've been doing this for nearly 4 weeks (tomorrow is weigh-in) and I'm not being frustrated or downhearted about it. Instead I'm looking at it scientifically, and tracking numbers and trends and seeing what happens when I change a variable. Sounds cumbersome, but it works for me.
Anyway, after a year or so of therapy I've got a handle (of sorts) on my emotional factors, and I'm ready to get this done. I've read back through the posts to about...mmm...April or May of this year. You seem like a talkative, friendly bunch, and I hope you'll have me.