Hi everyone!

Fifty pounds overweight here. 34 years old and all this extra baggage kinda snuck up on me. I have had the most horrible eating habits since my mother stopped feeding me when I moved out at 18 and it all went down hill from there. I have smoked for 17 years, I barely exercise, and the nutritional content of my food was almost non-existent- my favorite snack was Cheez-its and I would EASILY polish off a pint of Ben and Jerry's before bed probably twice a week. Massive carb addict. I had tried multiple times to quit smoking using the nicotine patches, but it never seemed to work.

This past Sunday, my boyfriend and his adult son were on Skype for the first time in a couple of years, and his son happened to mention how much weight it looked like we had gained. I knew I had been gaining weight, but I guess that was the actual moment I decided something needed to be done. I took Monday to finish off the last of my ice cream (hey, I had a goal but I couldn't let it go to waste!) and on Tuesday I started my very first diet EVER. Remember, I was in complete denial about how big I had gotten and just assumed I would lose weight "someday". I got in touch with the BF's son (did I mention he just happens to be a personal trainer - too bad there's so many miles between us) and got a meal plan started.

Tuesday was tough. I went through some serious sugar withdrawal headaches, my stomach was a mess and I kept having these weird hot and cold flashes, but I stuck with it, my only cheat being that I ate one flour tortilla with my chicken at lunch. I ran out of cigarettes in the morning but decided it was too late in the day to put on a patch, so I decided to try and make it to the next day with no nicotine. Wednesday brought an even worse headache, but my stomach seemed to adjust a little better to the huge influx of vegetables and my cheat that day was 1/2 c brown rice. That's when I decided I was going to add a small amount of carbs every day that was not already included in the food plan. By Thursday I was feeling better overall, and didn't feel like falling asleep at 3 pm like every other day of my life. Friday went well and by today, I seemed to have an overabundance of energy so I actually went to the gym for the first time in about 10 years. Five minutes on the elliptical (most torturous device ever) almost killed me so I went to the bike and rode 8 miles. I feel great! My sugar cravings are still the strongest but I'm able to power through them. I haven't smoked or used a patch since Tuesday and I don't think I'll need to. The water and veggies are taking care of that. I'm mainly posting on here for support - if I have someone to be accountable to, I'll be more likely to reach my goal. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to have great news to report over the next few months!