So ready to be here...
 

Hi all! I'm Stella, I live in Portland, and I can't even tell you how glad I am to have stumbled across this community.

I'm 25 and since adolescence, I've bounced all over the "Overweight" BMI range. Through high school and a year on exchange, I dealt with (relatively minor) depression by binging, eating up to 5000 calories in an evening. Luckily I was also fairly active, and my highest weight was about 180, at age 18. Over the next 5 years or so, I very gradually shed about 25 pounds, not through any particular plan, but just by getting happier and more active and eating better.

Then in the last year or two, I've regained about 10 pounds. The "no particular plan" plan clearly isn't working anymore. After Thanksgiving this year I started logging my calories on Fitday, and that made a huge difference for me. Before, I just did my best to eat a balanced diet, and not eat when I was already full. But if I failed, I wrote off the whole day as Bad, and inevitably ate more. Having an actual record was great, even if I didn't have a specific number of calories I was aiming for. I lost about 5 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but stopped logging (and exercising) over the break and gained them all back by early January.

Then I found you guys!! Y'all are both inspiring and informative. In the last week, I've started going to the gym every day before work, and aiming for about 1600 calories. Only down a pound so far, but I'm at the part of my cycle where I retain a lot of water, so I'm hoping for progress in the next week or so.

Hey & :welcome:

Jump on in & post where you're comfortable!

Best of success!

Welcome to you and myself! :-p Hello everyone. Looking forward to reading and sharing new thoughts and ideas here. Hope everyone day is going good. :-)

:wave: and :welcome3: to both you newbies. Good luck and much success on your new way of life

:wel3fc: This is a great place. When I'm not here regularly I stop losing.

Hey Stella! :wel3fc:

Total side note, but Portland is SO gorgeous! I loved it there both times I've visited.

You'll find a lot of FitDay users here, particularly in our Calorie Counters forum. You may want to head over and take a look there. We also have a thriving, active "20-Somethings" forum you might enjoy.

Otherwise, look around and post wherever. Can't wait to get to know you better soon!