Finally Getting There - Operation: Short-shorts

Hi. My name is Kim and I'm a 31 year-old single mom to a rambunctious 4 y/o girl. I've always been overweight, so my battle with weight loss has been a life-long one. I hit 200 lbs (and size 14) in high school and I remember how upset my mom was. In college, I worked out a lot (mainly so I could check out the hot guys playing basketball), but I always ate crappy food, so my weight stayed the same. When I started working, I would go out and drink a lot, so my weight steadily crept up. By 24, I weighed 235, and I decided to try the Alli diet. My job kept me on my feet all day and I was always running about, so combined with the diet, I lost weight quickly. I dropped back down to about 200 and was almost to a size 12 when I found out I was pregnant. I quit dieting and was less active. I ate junk food and ballooned back up. After my daughter was born in Oct. of '08, I weighed my highest weight ever - 265! At 5'4", I was big - size 22 to be exact. I was also depressed, suffering from post-partum and image issues. My husband was a competitive powerlifter at the time, so he bought me a weight set. I set my sites on changing my diet and he vowed to help motivate me to workout. Slowly, I began to lose weight again. I signed up for some local weight loss competitions in my area, started taking nutrition classes and by March of 2010, I was down to 185 and a size 12. My husband and I divorced the following Feb. and my daughter and I moved up north to be by my stepmom and two sisters. My family loves to celebrate and get together for dinners, parties and drinks, and my sister and I love to go out, so since I've been here for about a year, my weight has fluctuated. Since leaving Texas, I've gained 10-15 pounds, so my New Year's resolution was to lose it all once and for all. I have a fairly muscular frame, last time I was checked out, I'm about 130 lbs of muscles. A healthy body fat percentage would make 155-160 my ideal weight. I really don't care what I weight, so long as I look muscular and fit. I'm tired of pudge and jiggle. At the moment, everyone in my family is on a mission to lose weight, even my middle sister, who weighs a whopping 131 at 5'2" and could really only stand to lose about 5 lbs. lol For her, I think it's more about toning up and eating healthier (which I'm able to provide an abundance of information and motivation to help her, and she and the others keep my focused). I'm a huge fan of the paleo diet (because I've had good results on it), but cutting carbs tends to make me really cranky. I have hypothyroidism, and I'm not currently on my meds, so I have to work hard enough as it is to control my moods and temper without the added stress of a carbless diet. When I started my current diet at the start of the year, I made lowering carbs and upping protein the primary goal. I try not to eat carbs with dinner, and I eat my dinner early, so that I can burn more calories before bed. I eat 90% unprocessed foods and I rarely eat out. I don't eat fried foods and I try not to drink my calories, other a cup of OJ with breakfast. I love coffee and wine, and I know not to keep to ice cream in the house, because when it's around, I have no self-control. I've been working hard at portion control, and that's where MyFitnessPal has helped the most. I'm also a member of nerdfitness.com and Fitocracy (if you want to find me on fitocracy, my name is artex1024). I'm always looking for more people to help co-motivate and I find that the bigger the community of like-minded people, the more success you have. I'd like to hit my goals by Spring so that I can strut about in my new short shorts and I'm also planning on starting a weight-loss challenge in my community in the spring/summer.