My name is Ashley and I just turned 29 years old. I am married and have 4 boys. I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so I am doing the best I can to lose this weight. This is not how I want to spend my life. So here I am.

I am hoping to learn as much as I can and give and receive as much motivation as possible. I have lost weight before, but I usually quit and gain the weight back plus some. I am close to 300 lbs now, and I don't want to let my self reach that point. I am proud of myself because I only have one more pound to lose before I am no longer in the 280's, which is an accomplishment for me. So here goes nothing.

Welcome, Ashley! I just wanted to say how much I love your handle/username!

Good for you for coming here and ready to tackle it! What are you doing to lose weight? Calorie count or a program of some sort (Weight Watchers, etc)?

Do you plan to exercise? Usually, weight loss is 20% exercise and 80% diet so exercise isn't really important for weight loss as it is for fitness. Even something simple as walking is great!

Just remember to start with small changes so you won't get overwhelmed and want to give up. Baby steps!

Again, !

Not doing any programs, mostly paying attention to calories and carbs. I track through the sparkpeople.com app on my phone, but I find it annoying to use sometimes, so I don't do it as consistently as I should.

The nice thing is that I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant with my last child so I kept all my information I gathered on that and recipes as well. My GD resolved itself after my son was born, but now it's come back as Type 2. Mostly because I got lazy and stopped eating like I should have been. So I am back to doing that and trying to get my blood sugar under control.

I am also starting s-l-o-w-l-y exercising. I am mostly doing about 10 minutes a day right now, because it's all I can stand. I hate exercise, I hate sweating, they both make me cranky and tired. So I am doing small stuff, like playing with the weighted exercise ball I bought the other day. I also got a 70lb punching bag for my birthday and I made it through 6 minutes on that today. I plan to do what I can with the bag at least 3 times a week and sneak in other stuff like walking when I can. I have to trick myself into exercising, because I hate it so much! lol

Awesome, it sounds like you know what you're doing. 10 minutes is a great start, honestly because it will all add up and you'll be able to build up to it eventually. I couldn't even do 1 minute on my elliptical when I first started and now I can do up to an hour. I still have to trick myself into exercising too, lol.

If you want, you can check out the 20-somethings under support forum/support groups and join some challenges. For me, it helps keep me motivated and on track.