I honestly can't thank all of you enough for your kindness and your very, very generous words. I am truly touched by them. I looked at this Goal forum so many times when I first began, and it was so motivating and inspiring for me to see all the amazing stories of success - and it is such an enormous honor that my experience could make someone else feel the same way. But here's what I have learned after 14 months on this forum: we ALL have amazing stories, no matter where we are in our weight loss journeys, and we are ALL incredibly strong. It takes so much strength just to start (I know, because I never thought I had enough strength to start at all), and great determination to continue day after day. I am proud of every single person here who begins this battle and keeps up the fight, whether just at the start of their journey and facing what feels like a long road, or at maintenance and determined to stay there. I am proud of all those who fall and slip but get back up and keep going or start again. It can be HARD at times, but we are worth all the work and effort; we all deserve the very best we can give to ourselves.
To the many of you who commented on my attempts to conceive and desire to become a mother - thank you.
We have gone through two rounds of IVF (one fresh cycle and one frozen embryo cycle), and both were unsuccessful. Some days I handle it better than others, but it is another fight that I am unwilling to give up - I will keep going until we are out of options, and we're nowhere close to that yet. We'll be starting another frozen embryo cycle later this month, and I am hopeful.