So- Here I am.
To be frank, I have perused the website a bit before I decided to write anything down.
I'm 21 (22 in five days!) A baby to some of you I'm sure. I'm a senior in college, A Music Major. I sing, I am quite sociable, and I like to eat and sleep.
I was hesitant to join this forum for a weird reason... I am almost 200 pounds and Thanksgiving just happened. And by Thanksgiving, I'm not talking delicious homemade gravy and stuffing, I'm talking family.
I tried to find a family thread but I couldn't find one (granted I wasn't looking that hard). So I'll mention it in my intro. I was cornered by my mother and my much thinner sister (of whom is only five years older than me) and I was informed of how I can go about losing weight.
I've wanted to lose weight for a long time. I was my skinniest in high school (165lbs) and after a few bad relationships I gained it all back and more.
Now I'm in my first healthy relationship and I want to have a healthy body to go with it.
Here's my hesitation- I can't tell if I want to lose the weight for my new Boyfriend (our 6month is in a few days) or if I just want to get my mom and sister off of my back, or if I am simply in a mental space to lose weight.
I always hear that you can't lose the weight for someone else- it has to be for yourself or else you'll gain it back... Well I lost the weight in high school for myself and I still gained it back...
I'm looking for support and I'm more than happy to give some in return. I'm not trying to lose as much as others on this site, but I need to try something different. The weight gain is pressing on my mental health and stress in college isn't helping one bit.
Any advice or places to start would be appreciated.
I'm 5'6" and 198 pounds... Trying desperately not to crest the 200 mark...

Hi scribblewriter7! I wouldn't worry too much about why you decided to lose weight. The answer is likely a combination of your family, your boyfriend, and yourself. It's true you should be losing for yourself, but many of us have something external that triggered us to start. For me, it was my daughter's upcoming wedding. If I were comfortable at this size, I wouldn't bother, but I'm not, so the bottom line is that I am losing it for myself, and I intend to keep it off. I am already planning for maintenance, because as you discovered, maintaining your weight loss is even harder than losing weight. As for where to start, I calorie-counted for years and I yo-yo dieted for years as a result, because I couldn't keep it up long-term. However, some people can. Some people have been quite successful at counting calories for years. Others have done well with Weight Watchers. Others have success with programs like Atkins. This time around, I am doing a low-carb diet called The Slow Carb Diet, only I'm doing a modified version of it. I have a carb sensitivity, so this diet works for me. I don't count anything and I have one cheat day a week, so this diet is something I feel I can do long-term. And I think that's the key. You need to find what weight loss plan best suits your personality, your time constraints, your budget, your body. Sometimes it takes experimentation to figure it out. I wish I could come right out and say, hey, my diet will work for you, but I don't know that. We're all different. Check out the Diet Central section and read about the different plans and if you see one you like, try it. That's the best way to start! And by the way, I don't think there's a family thread here, but this one might be helpful: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...ould-send.html. Good luck on your weight loss and maintenance journey!

To be successful at weight loss it's best to have a long list of motivators and not worry about if they are 'right' or not. I want to lose weight for my health, but also because my husband deserves the best wife I can be (he's never asked me to change, but that makes me even more determined to improve myself), and yes, I'm jealous of my skinny sisters and sick of my mom talking like I have one foot in the grave because of my weight.

The list goes on, but I assure you, a lot of my reasons are silly, some are shallow, and some I would even say some are borderline idiotic (i.e. I hate wearing giant underpants).

So don't worry too much about figuring out the one reason you want to lose weight, just know that this is something you've decided to do. Now, I do recommend keeping a long list of reasons as motivations, but don't try to decide which are worth or not. Because it may be the silliest reason of all that gets you through the toughest times.

It's great that your mom and sister want you to lose weight, hopefully you can enlist their help. And there are tons of threads about families, especially around the holidays, and especially at Thanksgiving ... for many people it is the most diet unfriendly holiday.

So welcome and good luck! You will find people of all ages here with all sorts of weight loss goals and all sorts of strategies. You will find a great support network!