Well hello!
Long time reader, second time poster!

I have been inspired to become an active member of this community by all of the amazing posts made by incredible women (and one man. I'm not sure how many other men there are on here!)

I am an almost 22 year old student living in Canada and have struggled with my weight since I popped out of my mother's womb. She has struggled since she had my sister at the age of 30. I am a compulsive overeater and think I might be addicted to weighing myself.

My highest weight was 240 lbs on November 30, 2011 when I started Weight Watchers. This was a big wake up call because I hadn't weighed myself in months. I've since left the programme but I lost my first ten pounds or so on it. I only had my body fat percentage measured in January, so it was probably higher before. It was a whopping 49% meaning that I was literally half fat half woman.

Another wake up call came when I saw Dawn French's transformation. (She is a lovely British comedian if you don't know who she is). She is a very short woman so she looked a lot heavier at her biggest than she was I'm sure. According to the papers she has lost over 7 stone (98 lbs) and now I can finally stop cringing every time I watch a panel show and they mention her name because I know they're going to make a joke about her weight.

A couple of weeks ago I got down to 198 lbs and was thrilled to be at a weight I hadn't seen since I was about 15. The scale quickly betrayed me and I am now 204 ish. I am happy to say however that my body fat has decreased to 38.1% and I am not looking back.

I would like to make some friends who are in the same position as me being a young adult trying to lose weight. I know how difficult it can be if you're an emotional eater or if your friends don't understand or support your goals.

Wow, you are the third CANADIAN I have welcomed today. We have a Canadian Thread in the Support Groups Forum. Drop by sometime for a visit. We also have a 20-something forum here with other young folks.

Keep in mind that sometimes water-weight fluctuations happen regularly, esp if you are younger and hormones play a part in that too -- so your weight can move up and down 3-5 lbs or more on any given week, esp if you are holding water. After about 3 weeks, you should show a real loss.

PS ~ and btw, you can still have some chocolate each day, esp if you make sure to limit it to 1-2 small squares of the purest dark chocolate you can find (70-85%). That should take care of your desire for it, yet help you to stay on plan too!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! And that's crazy about the number of Canadians joining in just today. I have also been religiously following the 20 something thread and hope to post there soon.

Oh water weight is the bane of my existence but sometimes I need to be reminded about its effects. Thanks!

To be honest I really dislike dark chocolate which is the problem. I just need to suck it up and either eat that to stop the cravings or just stop eating chocolate altogether.

Hey!! Welcome fellow Canadian! I'm from Toronto! You'll find so much support on this forum from everybody! I'm kinda new here myself, and I have made a thread in the 20-something section, a back to school challenge! Even if you aren't going back to school, maybe the timeframe of August-September is good for a first goal? We'd love to have you over there!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/20-s...e-anybody.html

Whether of not you want to join us, good luck! I love chocolate way too much. In some ways I'm fortunate in being too broke to buy any XD. There are alot of Canadian's on this forum too

Thanks so much, spiritualflow! I've commented on the back to school challenge thread and entered my details into the spreadsheet. This is really exciting!

Haha, I know how you feel about not having the money to buy chocolate. I just buy it anyway because I am silly like that.