Hello everyone! I have just found this site and I must say, I am pretty excited about it. Everyone seems so nice, and I've been looking for something like this for a long time.
Just a little background information about me: my name is Meredith, and I am 18 years old (I'll be 19 in about a month). Right now I weigh about 255, and my heaviest weight ever was about 280, a few years back. I started eating vegetarian a couple years ago and instantly lost a few pounds just doing that, and I also lost about 10 pounds over the course of my first year of college, just from having to stick to the rigidity of the meal plan at school and having to walk around campus a lot. But since I've been home for the summer, I've definitely been slipping--eating more, and not being as active. It worries me to think that I might undo all the progress I've made recently, so I think that it's time for me to make a REAL effort and start exercising and everything... The only problem is, I don't know where to start! Ideally, I'd like to lose about 100lbs. I'm 5'9", so this would be more than enough weight to put me at a healthy size.
I'm sure I might seem pretty young to all of you, but I feel like my weight keeps me from so many experiences. I've always been happy and had plenty of friends, but while my friends were having all of their "firsts" in high school or over this past year (first kiss, first boyfriend, etc), I've had basically no interaction with the opposite sex. Of course that I know that it's not
entirely because of my weight, but I know that it plays a part in the fact that no boys have really been interested in me--especially since being heavy makes me very insecure about my looks, thus I have less confidence. I guess that even though I'm young, I'd really love to lose some weight before I graduate from college, so I'll really have something to look back on from the "best years" of my life. It can't be too late!
Also, my username comes from the fact that I love to act (just as a hobby, not as a potential career, hehe), and I feel like my weight also keeps me from getting a lot of the roles that I'd otherwise be considered for. I specialize in musical theater, which means lots of dancing, and somehow the choreography always calls for the girls to be lifted by the men--no one's been able to lift me for at least 10 years! It's embarrassing and disappointing not to be able to participate in the things I love. But I feel like, if I lose this weight, I WILL "be a star."
So, there it is. I guess I'm throwing my hat in the ring. I don't even know where to start! But I'm glad that I can (hopefully) count on the support of the people on this site. Wish me luck!
Cheers,
Meredith