The Newest Kiwi in Town

Kia Ora, こんばんは, buenos noches, and good evening, everyone! :laugh:

I'm here to share my story tonight. Hopefully some of you, even to a small degree, can relate.

To start off, I'm 17, and 211 lbs. Nobody ever wants to admit something like that, right?

Hi. I'm Andria. :happy:
I was born and raised here in Auckland, New Zealand (which is why I referred to myself as a "Kiwi"). Since I was about 10, I've had problems with my weight. I tried football (soccer), tennis, swimming, horseback riding, the works! But nothing ever seemed to truly keep me at a steady weight. That's when I noticed that, even though I had been exercising healthily, I was eating terribly! Popcorn, soda, chocolate, ice cream, etc. It was all so bad for you! Also, food is a sort of comfort for me. So that became an issue.
Instead of fixing the problem, I chose to ignore it. I chose to ignore the fact that I was quickly gaining love handles, back fat, arm fat, extra chins... I grew extremely self-conscious, throwing out all of my t-shirts in exchange for jumpers (sweatshirts?) and long-sleeves, even during the hottest of days. I haven't had a boyfriend in a very long time because I'm afraid that once he gets a good look at me, he'll run for the hills.
And you know what? I still didn't do anything about it.
Well now I'm different. I look at myself now and see someone else, not the person I used to know. Not the skinny, active, pretty blonde I used to see everyday, but an obese, lazy, self-abusive person that I will never call "me". So I'm going to change that. When I'm done with this, I'm going to look in that mirror, at that skinny, active, pretty blonde, again, and say "welcome back".
I joined this site to track my progress through a journey I know will be hard, but well worth it. I hope to meet others like me on the way, who are proud to say they're trying for a better them.

We can do this!