Hey!

My name is Amanda and I'm 16. I've struggled with my weight my entire life since elementary school.

My highest weight used to be 248, then I lost about 90 pounds and was down to 157. I started binging for months and months and went back to my old weight, adding on a few more pounds. My highest weight now is 252.

I started my new diet on the first of the year. I fluctuated in my calories, but overall I've lost 6 pounds this week.

I'm ready to diet again, but this time I hope to change my habits for life.

Here is a few pictures of me at 160. I'm 5'5". As you can see, my chest and butt don't really carry most of the weight as I wish they would XD

Hi Amanda...I just signed up a couple of days ago here as well...so far it's great here. Anyway, welcome!

Hi Amanda -- It's frustrating to have failures and yo-yos like that. I try to learn from those experiences. Why did I fail before? What am I doing now to ensure I won't fail again (that's hard!).

What kind of plan are you following? Same as before, or are you trying something different this time?

I wanted to lose weight at 295, but my overall goal is my long-term health. Now that I've lost a lot, I am trying to focus on fitness and worry less about the scale.

Well, I basically count my calories and try to exercise everyday although I do skip a day or so. If I feel like it'll be more stressful to take my walk I just decide not to.

I like to count my calories but I am known to get obsessive about it and won't eat something because the calories might be a few over what I am looking for.

I am really emotional and my calorie number can make me upset if I do bad on a day.

I'm doing what I did last time, but I am hoping that I learned something from the months that I have binged, and that is basically that it isn't worth it to go back to being big. And that I'm much happier with myself when I am smaller.

I've only dieted once, but I couldn't get on track until now. I just decided to do it.

I am also very very self concious at school which motivates me to get on my diet. I walked into my new class after the break and the entire class is made up of girls who are all about 120 or so...and one looked at me when I came in and said "Ew...". I tried not to let it bother me, but I got very upset and depressed.

So that's why I'm back onto my dieting, and I hope I can change my habits.

Amanda -- Good luck. If you like, you can join us over on the calorie counting forum -- it helps to have support from others!

It's here!
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=172

I have found that I have to think about nutrition as well as calories, but that was something that I did over time. Do you feel satisfied on the number of calories you're eating a day? Many of us find it's a balancing act to eat enough not to get too hungry but enough to lose. I personally never ate a tiny number of calories -- that's a binge waiting to happen for me, and I don't think it's good for my health to eat too little.

I tend to get a little bit hungry later on in the day, but I had some yogurt with sprinkles at the end of the day to make me feel better and to not deprive myself.

Hi Amanda,

I am a gamermom! What are your fav games? We are World of Warcraft gamers here. (Purr is my WoW level 60 mage).

I have a son who is 14 who is a gamer also. He's working through a bunch of games now. I think I might start him on the forum..he needs to lose weight also. What games do you play? We have PS2, Wii, Gamecube, GBA, DS here Lord of the Rings online is coming out at the end of March. Ha ha I wish there was a user interface where I would have to actually run and jump to get my toon to run around the game. I got the Wii system for my son so he could get a little bit of a work out playing.

I've struggled with weight every since 6th grade. Hopefully, this year I'll get to make the lifestyle changes I need to do.

I hope by this time next year we look like our game avatars!

Welcom Amanda and congratultions on your plan to improve your health as well as your appearance. You are wise to do it now, trust me the older you get harder it is. Loved your pictures you look like you have a good sense of humor that will help you in all areas of your life.Amanda, I am emotional eater as well I know how tough that can be. I was raised with the attitude "Have a cookie you'll feel better" That is a lie and only results in gaining weight.Good luck.