Hello! (Felt like I should introduce myself...)

Current weight: 188 lbs, at 5'5".

I'm currently a graduate student, and am often working 10-12 hour days. Earlier this year I realized that I had pretty much stopped cooking and was relying on either frozen pizza or ice cream for dinner and eating out for lunch more days a week than not, which needs to stop.

I was about 215 at my highest in high school and lost ~20lbs four years ago, maintaining between 190 and 195 consistently between them. While that is a feat in and of itself, and being under 200 is a major ego- and self-esteem-boost, I know that I'm not at my goal (or even a healthy weight, I'm currently about 8 lbs over the cutoff between 'overweight' and 'obese' according to my bmi) yet, and so I'm working on watching my calories and exercising again.

The first time I lost weight, it was fairly easy, as I was getting all of my meals in a dining hall that always had decent choices available, so the only real change I had to make was getting in the exercise. This time around, I'm in what I've dubbed the "real world", with the fast easy choices (above mentioned pizza and ice cream and eating out) fitting in my life a lot easier than the healthy choices, and more severe time restrictions cutting into my workout time.

Tracking calories has already been an eye-opening experience (like looking at the label on the pudding cups at the food court, and realizing it was a 600 calorie choice [had whipped cream]). Here's to getting to my goal, whatever that may be!

(My long-term goal has always been to reach 150, but lately I've been feeling the need to reevaluate that. Somewhere between 135 and 145 is probably ideal for me, as I've got a larger frame.)