Hello! Here's my introduction...

Hey everyone!

Just wanting to do a short introduction here! I'm a 22 year old Brit who's just moved out to the United States. I'm starting a new degree program and am living on campus, right opposite the gym! I've lacked a certain something with my weight loss goals before so I'm hoping having a bit of support, using the tools on this site etc will help. I've also read some of the Success Stories and you guys all seem AMAZING! Congratulations to everyone reaching their goals!

As for my goals... the last time I got weighed, I was about 166lbs which for someone who is only 5'4" is not brilliant. I know exactly how I got to that weight too! When I was a teenager I didn't eat very well... would opt for convenience over health and had a bit of a weird phobia of certain foods... usually salads (how convenient!) I've always loved fruit but didn't eat enough of it in my daily intake. This bad diet combined with a few serious sports injuries meant that I wasn't eating well and had little exercise. I'm a vegetarian, so that helps in cutting out a lot of fatty foods etc. but I really just didn't bother too much about health or fitness. I then got to my first university at aged 18 and 'enjoyed' a combination of intensive soccer training four times a week and a diet consisting of beer and little else. I lost a lot of weight, and ended up weighing around 133lbs. I then got injured again, and have piled the weight back on.

My situation now... well I need this to change. I don't feel fit or healthy and I don't feel particularly attractive to my partner which is big motivation for wanting to put these changes into effect. I've been in the States since 11th August 2012 on my own and have to wait until November 16th to see my partner again. By this time, I want to be a lot closer to my ideal weight and feel a lot better about myself. I'm not interested in having the perfect bikini body or being perfectly toned etc. I just want to get to a healthy, maintainable weight and have a more athletic tone to my body. I'm in a happy committed relationship and fitting the 'attractive' stereotype according to magazines or whatever is not on my priority list. I don't really care how anyone else perceives me but my partner. So that's my main motivation

In terms of goals, I'm hoping to change my diet habits and my rough target weight is around 133lbs. I'm not 100% focussed on the actual number namely because I'm built in an athletic way and am quite physically strong, have a lot of muscle etc and I know that weighs a lot. I just want to tone up and lose some of the extra fatty bits. I've made some great changes in my diet already: I'm not drinking alcohol anymore (this is not a full on permanent change, I'm just taking a break for two reasons. One, it will help my diet goals. And two, my partner is in the process of giving up smoking so for the hardest few months of that venture, I wanted to give up something too in order to support her, give us both something to complain about missing, etc!! A show of solidarity!). I'm also eating a lot more fresh products, including salads, so i'm pleased. I'm also enjoying eating things that make me feel like I've just done something good

Finally, in terms of exercise, I've set up a graduate soccer team at my university and we're hoping to play twice a week for about an hour. We're in small 5v5 teams so it's really intense on the cardio! I've also got myself a gym buddy so we're going to hit the gym a few times a week. I'm also walking quite a lot which is great!

So that's me! Sorry if this is a bit of a long intro... in summary I'm starting at around 166 and hoping to be a lot closer to my 133 goal by mid-November! I look forward to getting support from you all and offering my encouragement and support in return!