Today I turn 27 years old. I celebrate the day of my birth. I morn the loss of another year I wasted of my youth being overweight and unhappy. My early childhood that I can remember I was not overweight, but from probably 8 to 13 I steadily gained. I spent my teen years uncomfortable in my own skin. From the day I turned 13 to the last day I was 19 I spent almost the whole time weighing 200 + pounds. My whole adult life so far I have been obese to morbidly obese. I didn't know what I would look and feel like as a skinny, healthy teen and I don't know what I'd look and feel like as a healthy, skinny adult.

I'm tired of just accepting that I can't get the weight off and I'm stuck like this. Because that's not true. I am what I am because I let myself be this way. If I choose to change, and become what I've always wished to be, then I can do it. I have to find the will power and drive to get it accomplished. My mind is set on changing my life. Not just "dieting." I'm not going to eat right for a couple weeks, decide I deserve a break, get off track and end up staying off track. I've done that a hundred times in the past. Food is not going to be what it's always been to me before. Food will not be for comfort, it will not be because I'm bored, it will not be for entertainment. The food I eat will be fuel for my body. It will do what it's supposed to do, keep me alive and help me first become, then stay healthy. Exercise will become my friend. I will start with just walking if it's all I can manage to get myself to do, but someday soon I will be able to run and will love it.

A year from now when I celebrate the day of my birth, I will also celebrate my new body and the healthy lifestyle that helped me achieve it.

Happy Birthday! You can accomplish what you want to! Keep at it and don't give up!

Happy Birthday!

You can do whatever you set your mind to, just stick with it. Even when it gets hard

Happy birthday! You and I share similar stats. I turned 29 in August and it was really a wake up call for me. I just couldn't handle the thought that I was fat through all of my 20s.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

And I'll be turning 29 in December, barfy, and I don't want to be like this anymore.... I totally understand.

Happy Birthday! The same thing happened to me when I turned 31. I didn't want to spend my 30s as fat, unhealthy, and unhappy with myself.

I'm working to be fitter and healthier in my 30s than in my 20s.

Good luck!

Happy Birthday. And what a wonderful gift you are giving to yourself. I'm excited for you!!!

Do you have a game plan in mind on how best to make this happen? What's your mode of attack? I look forward to hearing of your progress.

Thanks everyone. I had a great day.

Robin, I'm basically just going to start eating a lot more clean. Tons of fruits and veggies, whole grains, fish, chicken, some turkey, healthy fats. No more red meat, I'm going to cut out most of the evil white stuff. I don't want to keep track of things like counting calories. It's never worked for me in the past and I obviously wouldn't be doing that for the rest of my life. This is a lifestyle change. My husband and I are going to do this together. For me to lose weight and get healthy, for my husband to lower his blood pressure and improve his health as well. I'm feeling very motivated right now.

Eliminating the white stuff and ADDING in the healthy stuff sounds like a great place to begin. However I will caution you that those things have calories too and lots of them.

Initially, switching over to healthier foods just may produce a weight loss, but at some point it may not. Because healthy calories add up too! In order to shed the pounds, a calorie deficit is a must. Counting calories is also a very good way to gauge the *value* of things, on just what's worth it to eat and what's not.

As far as calorie counting and adhering to a calorie budget for the rest of your life, lots and lots of us do look at that as part of the lifestyle change, something to indeed do forever. Just like we budget our money forever.

Luckily after a short time, you get to know the calories of everything and it's just as automatic as brushing your teeth.

Of course it's a personal choice.

I'm excited for you as you discover just how delicious healthy foods can be. Adhering to a healthy lifestyle is a great way to live, though you will have to work past those first few weeks as you lose the old habits and incorporate the new. Essentially a detox period. There will be some uncomfortable moments, but they're temporary. Once you push past them, there's a wonderful world waiting for you. I look forward to hearing good things from you. Keep us updated.

Exactly! You have to read labels and look at stuff to really learn what a serving is and what it consists of. There were so many foods that shocked me - like a serving of chicken is 3 oz. I always assumed the whole breast was a serving. Not so. A breast is more like 2 - 3 servings. Even if you don't specifically count calories forever, it might be helpful to track things at first while you learn what foods are more calorie dense.

I understand what you ladies are saying. And it's not that I'm totally ignoring my calorie intake or anything. I'm just not going to focus on it the way I have in the past. I'm not going to count every single calorie and refuse to go over a certain amount.

This is really just for now since I'm cutting out almost all sugar. I want to totally change the way I look at even a cookie. I want to get to the point where it's highly unusual for me to have a cookie one day whereas in the past it was pretty much unusual for me to not eat at least one cookie a day. Know what I mean? I kind of look at it as retraining my brain. I want to learn to crave things like fruit, instead chocolate and sugar.