First off I am a male and am 20 years old, will be 21 in about a month. A little background on me I was always physically active as a child, playing hockey for 9 years, doing traditional Shotokan karate and so on and so forth. I broke my tailbone on the ice the first time and went through A LOT of physical therapy to get back into game shape then proceeded to fracture my tailbone again, all in the wake of my father passing. This discouraged me to the point of giving up on my dream of playing ice hockey in college (which was a very real possibility). I fell in with a bad crowd, ran wild and stared using alcohol (along with other things) and food to comfort me. My best friend passed almost a year ago and i fell into an even deeper hole. For the first time in years i actually looked at myself in the mirror and was horrified. The bright eyed athlete was gone and was replaced with a barely recognizable, very fat person. As of 2 days ago i have stopped these bad behaviors and am **** bent on changing. I know exactly the work that has to be done because of my athletic background but i have no one in my life to support me. I found this site and am slightly embarrassed that it is geared toward women but i have to do something for some kind of support or i fear i will piss out. My main goal is health not so much weight loss because i know that with health, weight loss will come. I am a very motivated individual and hope that i find some solace here. I am done drinking and all of my bad behaviors, its time for a damn change because i do not want to look in the mirror in a few more years with an even larger mountain to conquer or worse not be around to conquer it. Well if you have read all of this you have a good background on who i am, why i am here and how much motivation i have. I am here to motivate and support others as well as deal with my own problems. Hit me up whenever ill respond in kind. Thank you for taking time to read and have a wonderful day!

Hello Brickbat!

There are alot of resources on the site available to you for accountability, recipies and general chat.

There is a Men's Corner that talks specifically about things from male perspective as well as funny threads and inspirational posts.

If you need help with counting calories, you may want to try myfitnesspal as it is pretty great and it has a community that helps encourage you and keep you accountable in the food area as well.

Happy trails

Aw man, you've had it rough, huh? I didn't know you could mess up a tailbone so bad. And then losing close ones after that...
I think quitting alcohol is your first big step, so good job with that. It's one of the worst things for you, y'know?
Yeah, the site's geared towards women, but it takes lots of dedication to join it being a guy. And you know what? I think women are more consoling than other guys are, and if you ever screw up it's okay to rant here about it, and others will help you out.
Well anyway, congratulations on your new found resolve and welcome!

Welcome and best of luck to you...