Hey y'all! My name is Amanda, I'm 28 years old, and I'm very, very overweight. I'm about 250 lbs right now, and at 5'5, I'm positive I should be about 100lbs lighter than what I am now. I've been between 220 and 250lbs for about seven years now. I used to be incredibly active when I was younger, and now I just can't seem to get my body or health where I want it to be. I played all sorts of sports in high school, and while I ate unhealthy foods, I never ate a whole terrible lot. When I got to college, I stopped exercising and started napping, drinking and eating a lot more. Cue near-instant weight gain.

I used to hate my body...had a full-fledged eating disorder [compulsive over-eating]. Ate all the hateful feelings away until I was so full, all I could do was curl up and try to sleep. I was depressed, angry, bitter...it was a horrible, horrible time in my life. I've mostly recovered from those feelings, but it does seem to rear its ugly head whenever I get stressed or upset.

Anyways, I figured community support is best and I've been lurking here on and off for a while. Thought maybe I'd give being active a shot.

Hi, glad to 'meet' you

Welcome! Good luck on your journey. You can do this!!

Thanks, guys! Really appreciate it.

Welcome!
I find the challenges helpful for keeping me on track. Don't worry about joining in late, just jump in

! You can do it!

Yay! Glad you stepped out of the closet and aren't a lurker anymore!

and good luck! jump in and stay active, I find I stay on track alot more when I come here everyday

Me too, Goddess. It's kind of liberating, actually lol.

Thanks, Beloved and Mccull. That's kind of one of my first goals, pixikat. I want to start the habit of accountability, and I'm terrible at keeping a blog or journal [mostly because there's no one to read it]. Myfitnesspal is a little better, but only a few of my friends are on there with me so there's really not a lot of feedback.

Accountability can be key! I find a food journal is, as well, but not everyone needs to track as carefully as me. Welcome to the crew!

Welcome and good luck on your journey!!

Welcome and best wishes to you!

Welcome! I had to re-remember something that I used to know but let slip, and that is: Having hateful and negative feelings about myself is so, so counterproductive. Nobody that I know has been able to shame or hate themselves into being fit or losing weight.

It was only when I decided to quit beating up on myself, quit calling myself names (in my head), and quit hating my body that I was able to start taking care of myself again. I knew this four years ago, but I kinda forgot it and just recently remembered it.

It sounds like you are already aware of this, so congrats! I look forward to reading about your success!

Welcome! This is the place to be for all the support you need. I have been here off and on for four years and it is one of the major helps in my weight loss.