Hi I'm Jen and after waffling back and forth for a few months I finally committed and joined. I have always struggled off and on with weight fluctuating between a size 8 and a size 12 in juniors for years.

After a big life change last year I found myself binge eating in ways I never had before. A few friends remarked that I could eat more then the guys at the table and I laughed it off. I sailed past a size 14 in women's and ignored the warning signs. I had never had a huge issue losing weight and told myself I would lose it easily. I'd always been in fairly decent health and this was just a speed bump I thought. I forgot about the fact I was now dealing with back issues that popped up due to a sedentary life style and my extra pounds.

I found that eating became my hobby. I use to enjoy cooking for myself and friends but now I ate out mostly. I was tired and slept more often then anything else. I tried a few exercise dvds that were to advanced for the current shape of my body and got frustrated or lost interest as soon as I realized I physically couldn't keep up with the people on the dvd. I told myself I was happy and avoided looking in the mirror. I started buying large clothes since nothing fit. I'm firmly a size 16 and have noticed my shoe size went up by 1/2 size too. I look in the mirror and I know I'm not happy. My stomach looks like I'm pregnant and I have enough extra fat on my frame to be having twins. My bmi is 30 %, my weight was at 196 and is not 189, and I'm always tired.

Its terrifying to admit I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed multiple times. I want to do this, I want to lose weight, I want to be proud of the body I see in the mirror. I'm hoping I'll be able to rely on the forum members here for a little motivation and some tips on a healthy way to lose weight and get interested in exercise.

Thank you for being here.

First off

Lots of us have been where you are. I sure have. And yes, it's dead scary. But you know what? You decided to make a change. You decided to come here and talk to people and admit that you need some support to get through this.

You'll find that support here. Join some threads. Post whenever you need to. Maybe start a free blog on this site. Trust me, it helps. I kept slipping up until I joined this site. It's been fantastic. Not one slip up since I joined.

In short, you can do this. And all of us here will help you get to your goal.

Hi Jennie,

I am new here too. The forums are great help and the people are really nice and caring. They have been or are in your same place and looking for the same thing. if you are looking for interesting information or are trying to keep on track, go to the home page here and peruse their articles. Some of them are really good.

Look forward to seeing ya around.

Thank you everyone. I have taken the first steps and I'm looking forward to sharing my progress. It feels so much less intimidating with everyone here and reading the stories that are so much like mine!

I am happy you joined! Im new at this too and just reading the forums makes me feel better about everything! We can do this together and continue to give each other encouragement, the first step was joining and now the next is keeping up with it and being proud of every milestone reached no matter how small it is!