New. Confused.

Rbacchiega

So...I've been lurking around here for a week or so, posting here and there but I really am committed this time to losing weight, getting healthy. So I figure an introduction to the community is in order.

Hola!

My name is Randi, I'm 27 and I draw on people with needles. To be honest, I'd never really worried too much about how heavy I was. I mean, I don't look that bad...right? wrong. After seeing a photo of me in a dress at a rockabilly weekend in Australia I was, for lack of a better term, disgusted. Is my booty really that big?! whoa. So I've decided to do something about it.

I used to play sports every day of the week for hours a day. I represented team Canada in fast pitch when I was 14. But I wrecked my shoulder the year after and lost the drive to compete. I stopped really being active but didn't stop eating whatever I wanted. Therein lies the problem.

Fast forward 13 years and here I am, 27 and 176lbs. I've got a big frame, or big boned or whatever you want to call it, and I've come to terms with the fact that I will never be "skinny"...which is fine, I want to be fit. I want to loose the chub in the stomach, back and thighs. My last trip to Australia I met and fell in love with a man who's been my inspiration. He constantly says he loves me regardless, but I want to look good next to him. Or at least feel that I look good next to him. I'm moving there in June and we're planing on starting a family, so I want to get fit and healthy and get the body all in order.

For the first week of this thing I was doing the 1200 calories but eating back what I burned....however doing some reading I've decided that that is just too few. So I'm now going for the TDEE-15% to start, and see how that works. 1600/day sounds like a much more reasonable number I think. Before I started I was legitimately sedentary. I sit to work, I sit to paint flash, I sit in front of the computer or tv to relax, so that's what I've used as my TDEE (1950) Now however, I have been working out an average of 90 minutes/day for the last week.

Anyways, I'm rambling.
-R