Hello!
Looking back on past attempts at weight loss I find the one thing I've really lacked in the past is a community of support and inspiration. I've been reading the forums for a few days and really think this is a place where that is in abundance so I'm looking forward to becoming a new member.
My name is Sarah and I'm 26. I've struggled with weight for years and also struggled with previous attempts to lead a healthier life. I used to get on track and then other life circumstances would take a turn for the worse and everything would get put on hold. In the last few years I had a neck injury that took nearly two and a half years to properly diagnose during which time I was told not to do any strenuous physical activities. Pain led to depression, depression led to more eating, and it was a vicious cycle for awhile. I'm happy to say depression no longer takes a toll at all on my life and hasn't for several months now. I still go to a chiropractor for my neck, but things are much better and it doesn't stop me from being active anymore. Two and a half years ago I weighed 235 lbs. Recently, two months ago I weighed 274 pounds. I would see photos of myself and think, "That's not me...". It was a real eye opening experience and I made steps to start changing my life, but it took until three weeks ago for things to really start to click. I never want to loose the determination to keep doing so.
Three weeks ago I joined a gym. I've only missed going 1 day since, on Thanksgiving. Right now I'm down to 254 lbs. I can't wait to see that 250 marker and then never see it again. I'm still struggling with maintaining a healthier diet and counting calories. I've never been really bad about junk food, heck I can't even eat fast food anymore, but it's all about eating way too much quantity of healthy foods for me... which makes is not so healthy. Going to the gym actually is something I find myself enjoying more and more, but I'm struggling trying to find the proper balance of cardio, weights, and swim aerobics. Right now I'm my weekly gym plan 2 days swim aerobics and alternate weights and cardio each day, but sometimes I don't know if I'm doing too little or too much since it's all been self motivation and self taught learning the weight machines. It's a smaller local gym so I don't know if they even offer personal trainers.
I really hope to learn more and discover a new community here. Thanks for having me.
Greetings
