Hi everyone!
I'm new to this lifestyle, and to this site. I chose to join in order to share my journey and participate in other's journeys as well-triumphs, struggles and stories. Also, because I definately some support sometimes and doing this all on your own is hard and quite lonely, as I've come to figure out.

A little about me-
I am 21, and I have been "overweight" since I hit puberty around the time I was 11. I have always been athletic and enjoyed sports, but when it comes to actually being active on "purpose" it is a struggle. Instead of the "freshman 15" it was most like the freshman 40-although I am not exactly sure how I much weighed or gained because I avoided scales like the plague. The other thing that really helped me deny the weight I put on was my love of sweatpants

About a year and a half ago, though, I was weighed at the hospital ER and about died when I looked at the number-217! Still, even then, I never really deliberately tried to lose weight. Before I knew it, I was a size 18. Fastforward to January of this year- after battling a MRSA infection (acquired from a family member) for a little over a year, I was at the end of my proverbial rope. I couldn't shake it-no matter how many antibiotics or homeopathic remedies I tried it just kept coming back. Finally, after so much research and no help from the medical community, I decided to cut back on sugar as a last ditch effort. After finally getting a doctor to listen to me in April 2011 and getting prescribed an actual "decolonization" protocol along with trying my best to limit sugar (aka: NO MORE SODA!) I have been MRSA free for 5 months.

In the process of fighting this infection, I ended up going from 217 to 192, just by cutting back on sugar-it was never really a "diet" per se, but after enjoying all of the compliments (OMG WOW! YOU REALLY LOST WEIGHT!) I decided to buy a scale and commit to getting healthier. I've never been a counter of calories or dedicated to a specific excersize program, just making better choices. Now though, I've decided on a goal weight and paying more attention to amount of calories I consume.

As of today, I am 182 pounds and am celebrating! I'm excited to have joined the community and looking forward to the support, accountability and sharing in others journeys as well!

Wow! congrats on your weight loss to date. Best of luck on your weight loss journey!!!

Wow that is so amazing, congrats on your achievements so far

Welcome and congrats! Hope you like it here, everyone's super friendly and helpful

wow thats amazing what are you doing/

Congrats on the awesome weight loss! It's been just melting off! Good luck on the rest of your journey.

Thanks everyone

@losingdaybyday

Really, I am just making better choices. I don't drink anything except water and maybe a gatorade here and there, fortunately it wasn't hard for me to quit drinking pop I just decided one day to stop and I did. I'm eating a lot more fruits and veggies and I eat oatmeal with 1 tbsp. of brown sugar for my first meal of the day, everyday (I eat a double serving-1 cup instead of a half a cup boiled in water.)

I had to pretty much stop baking-much to my neighbors dismay because I couldn't just eat 1 cookie, so I removed the temptation lol. Anything sweet is my downfall

I eat regular dinners, whatever that may be (tacos, spaghetti, ect.) I just eat smaller portions, a lot smaller and I make sure to have 2 glasses of water w/ dinner so I get more full without as many calories.

The hardest thing for me is to not eat at night, I am very much a night owl so I am still working on that. I have found that if I eat a whole cucumber with pepper or cantaloupe or apples at night it helps me wait out the hunger pangs.

I like to do yoga at home, but need to get better at being more consistent. When it isn't an inferno outside I golf and ride my bike. I tried the "30 day shred" buy yeahhhh.....I couldn't walk, literally, for 2 days lol.

I need to be a lot more consistent with excersize though, maybe ya'll will light a fight uder me