This is my first post, but I'm really excited to be a part of this forum. I'll try and give the quick version of my story... I've always been overweight... like since I was eight years old. I hate that my parents let me eat whatever I wanted and never taught me any healthy eating habits (don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful childhood and love my parents more than anything, but in this area they were lacking). Needless to say I continued those bad habits well into adulthood. Now as a 31 year old married mom to four beautiful babes I'm ready to make a lifestyle change. I was on the right track in 2010, when at 300 lbs I did Atkins for five months and got down to 220 lbs and a size 14 (I'm tall and thankfully proportioned well!)... but gained it all back in 2011 becoming pregnant with my fourth child then breastfeeding the year after that. As of January 2014 the scale read 310 lbs, and I knew it was now or never. I'm tired of being fat. I'm tired of not feeling sexy. I want to get healthy. I began the Atkins diet again around January 15 (that's the only diet I've ever tried and it worked very well for me in 2010) but after the yoyo ups and downs on the scale for the first four weeks (and my best friend that's a trainer yelling at me that it's super unhealthy!) I switched to counting calories. I got the myfitnesspal app and never looked back. I keep my calories at 1500 per day, and have started to do two miles of cardio as well (my goal is to lose 2-3 lbs per week). I love being able to have cereal, oatmeal, fruits, granola... things that were a no-no doing low carb. As of today I'm nine weeks into my "lifestyle change" (I don't like the word diet as you really do have to change your life and the way you look at foods) and I'm 20 lbs down, now weighing 290 lbs. My goal is 165 (that's what all the sites say a woman my age, height and body type should weigh), although at 220 lbs back in 2010 I was a size 14 and very happy. I think I could get down to a size 10 or 12, but no smaller than that, as I have a large bone structure and don't like the look of "rail thin." Sorry this didn't end up being so short lol, but I really am excited to be here and looking forward to sharing my journey with you!

Hello! I'm still pretty new around these parts myself but wanted to welcome you and let you know that there are lots of people on this forum that will be pulling for you.

I did Atkins 2003 and lost about 100lbs. I was never able to stay/get back on the wagon until this year. I tried and failed so many times on Atkins, the program stopped working for me. I had to switch to a different more restrictive program. I am putting in a tremendous amount of work this time and it is working so far. I try to post daily to the " daily accountability" thread. Support is a whole new ball game for me and I think it is really helping me to stay focused. It sounds like you have a lot of fortitude which is always GREAT. Keep going!

Good luck with your progress. : )

Hi! I'm new too. Welcome and Good luck. We sound similar in our approach. I too am counting calories (1200 to 1400), working on 2 miles of cardio 5x per week's, 15 minutes of weights 5x per week, and next week I am adding crunchies and reverse crunchies. I am exactly 4 weeks into my lifestyle change today and am down 19.5 lbs. I am looking to get down to 175 which will still put me the overweight category, but it is what I weighed in highschool and can't imagine being smaller..... Who knows, maybe my goal will change! I do eat a meal of my choice a week. I also have kids, 3 actually, my youngest is a little over a year old. I am here, and willing to take this journey with you!