20th times the charm?

symplestytches

hello all,

I've been trying to lose weight off and on for the past 4 or 5 years, and have managed to lose maybe 23 lbs. I seem to always get stuck at the 165/170 mark then gradually go back up again as life interferes. Well, I've proven to myself that I can do a lot more than I give myself credit, as I'm completely my AA in an I.T. program at my local community college. I literally did not have time to focus on losing weight in the past year or so since I work overtime and go to school during the evenings, and have to fit an internship in the middle of all this, not including the running/maintaining of my household. Thankfully I don't have human children to care for (yet) but I do have 5 pets, 3 of which are high maintenance, and a husband to boot. Anyway, I had gone to the doctor's last year, and they decided that my blood pressure was way too high and now I'm on meds to control it, but they don't help as much as the doctor would like, and I'm trying to get it to go down by losing the excess weight that my body is carrying so that I don't have to go through more rigorous testing for my heart. So here are the reasons I'm here:

1. lose weight so that blood pressure can be better managed, hopefully without medication
2. to be able to look into the mirror & not be grossed out by seeing the fat dimples
3. to prepare my body for one day having children & to be able to keep up with them

Currently I try to get in at least 40 min jog/fast walk during the work week, and at least an hour on the weekends. I am calorie counting and trying to make sure I don't overeat, and that I eat plenty of veggies/fruits. Once school is done (june 11th!!!!!) I will be able to amp up the exercise regime to 1 hour in the mornings before work, and the 40 minutes during my lunch period at work.

Anyone got any other ideas to help me lose this weight and get down to 125 lbs?

p.s. - sometimes I feel like this weight thing should be treated like an addiction, like an alcoholics anonymous group or something!