Hi Everyone!
 

Greetings from the east coast. At 16, I tipped the scale at 252lb, then lost about 50lb over the next five years. During grad school, I lost another 50lb in five months because I couldn't afford food or transportation. It was not a healthy loss - I didn't learn to change my eating/exercise habits, and I had no muscle to speak of. My weight's slowly crept back up to 195lb, despite efforts to lose. I refuse to breach 200 again.

My goal weight is 175lb. While I loved how small I was at 152, I had little muscle and I missed my curves. I'm hoping that I can stick it out this time, which is why I joined this forum :)

Welcome aboard! I wish you good luck!

Welcome! It's difficult to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but not impossible. I used to research how to do just that and there are some decent articles out there.