I never know what to say in introduction posts....but here's what I've got: I have been overweight since I was 8 years old. Around that age, someone close to me died and I think went into a depression that I self-medicated with comfort food and I guess it just never stopped.

I am now 28. A few years ago, when I weighed 280, I dropped down to 225 in 6 months using a combination of Adipex, caffeine, a 900-1200 calorie diet, and 1 or more hours of exercise a day. Of course this resulted in a mess of health problems and also, ended with me on blood pressure medication. I had numerous health concerns and ended up gaining it all back. Over the last couple of years, I've put on about 30 additional pounds. I say "about" because I am too scared to get on the scale at this point. I think it was the change from working/going to school (a lot more walking) to working from home that caused the gain.

All of my life, other people have told me I should lose weight but I never had a problem with my size/weight. Now I do. For the first time in my life, I am too self-conscious to go anywhere, I find myself googling things like "weight limits for horse-back riding" and I feel so sad. I also am starting to experience pain in my knees and other things. I'm not sure how/if I can dig myself out of this hole, but I hope I can.

So that's why I'm here. Wish I could have had a happier intro, but I look forward to talking with you all

Welcome!

Your story is pretty similar to mine, I am 27 and I have been overweight since I was about 9ish. I actually put the weight on because I became a veggie, back then no one every knew what to feed a veggie so it was basically pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta. I completely ruined my body with carbs, sadly no I cannot really eat pasta without gaining, so I stay away from it. I stopped being a veggie when I was about 14, which helped a lot! but I then started partying at the age of 15. I never really had a problem with my weight either.... I had friends, I attracted guys, I just drank a lot of alcohol and ate out a lot. This January I stepped on the scales at 323 I cried! That meant that I was too heavy for high ropes, sky diving, horseback riding and many other things. I started to struggle to fasten my belt on the plane (which was awful for a traveller). After seeing the weight on the scale It was a wake up call, My personality and health didnt reflect the image in the mirror, I am a bit of a fashionista! I love to travel! I love the outdoors! but I really needed to lose all the weight to be truly happy and confident.

I set myself the target of 1lb loss a week, I am not on a diet, I am on a life transformation I hate to call it a diet. I started with eating clean and then onto My Fitness Pal to control my calorie intake. Only now, 11 months later do I need to up the workouts, I have lost 39lbs (Should be 45lbs) but I will catch up with that before xmas.

Come and join us in the 20Somethings group, we have some cool challeneges that really keep you acountable