30 years old, 150 to lose.. Help me say bye to the old me!

My name is Jen, and I'm a recovering fat person. This is my path towards being a healthier, happier version of me.

I have always been overweight, even as a toddler. My single-parent mother of two did the best she could.. giving me opportunities to be a cheerleader (2 years), baton twirler (7 years), soccer player (2 years), lacrosse player (1 year), tennis player (4 years of high school) and softball player (9 years of community and tournament play & 6 years of school play). I was an active child, yet I still thought I was fat from the moment I understood what "fat" meant. I wore sizes 13-18 in my later school years. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be the 180 I thought was really fat! Despite the active lifestyle, my knowledge of nutrition was severely lacking. My mom, working two jobs, fed us a diet of pre-packaged and fast foods. I would often eat only once or twice a day... usually never breakfast.

After high school, I became sedentary. I no longer played any sports and became obsessed with computers.. learning, chatting & video games! I would wake up and spend the entire day on my *kitten* in front of the computer. TV didn't rot my brain, but computers did contribute to my fat butt. I went from about 180 when I graduated high school to about 260 in a few years. I can't even remember the in-between times as I was gaining it.

At 260, I tried a few diets. I lost 20 pounds on Weight Watchers, but when I stopped counting points (thinking I could just do it on my own), I gained the weight back plus more. I lost about 30 pounds on Nutrisystem, but when I grew bored and tired of the carboard-tasting foods, I gained the weight back plus more. I tried various weight-loss pills, but nothing ever stuck.

At some point 260 turned into 320. Again, I don't really remember being in-between. It's like I just woke up one day and the scale said I weighed 60 pounds more.

When someone asks me what me favorite food is, my immediate response is pasta. A friend of mine started doing the Slow Carb Diet (aka 4-Hour Body) about a year ago. He had over 100 pounds to lose and starting doing really well with it. He suggested it to me and I tried it... for two days. I felt like crap not being able to have the carbohydrates that I realized I was eating once a day or more. I tried to just cut back a little bit on my own, but it didn't really pan out.

Fast forward about a year.. to February 2013. My boyfriend and I were about to celebrate our 2-year anniversary when he got deployed overseas (active duty military). For the 3-4 months he's gone, I have unlimited time and opportunities to get my body back on track. I have no excuse that "I have to cook for both of us" or "I don't want to go to the gym today because he has the day off and I want to spend it with him". So I started Weight Watchers again the moment he left. Being held accountable for my actions is important for me. Sneaking bites here and there is a slippery slope for me, and tracking foods will help me prevent myself from slipping.

Not only did I start counting points on WW, I also started eating healthier. I replaced a lot of my meats with veggie-products. A staple was veggie burgers! I also finally tried carb & calorie-free shirataki noodles (Miracle Noodles amongst other brands) as a replacement for my regular high-carb pastas. I actually enjoy them! I went from 317 to 305 in just 12 days!! And then...

Nothing. I continued to follow WW. I continued to exercise about 3 days per week. A month and a half later and the scale didn't budge in a good way... I actually ended up gaining 5 pounds while coming in under my WW goals, but eating out more (I was on vacation). Talk about frustrating and disappointing! I tracked everything that went into my body for 2 months and the number just went up!

I had a chat with the friend I mentioned earlier who did the Slow Carb Diet. About a year later, he is almost to his goal weight. He lost over 100 pounds, even taking a few months off in the middle, and without doing hardly any exercising throughout the year! He looks great, feels so much better and insists the lifestyle change is super easy.. and even much cheaper than eating poorly! I read Tim Ferriss's "The 4-Hour Body" (again) that explains the Slow Carb Diet and it just makes sense to me. I'm a very logical person and his numbers convince me. I decided to try the SCD again.. thinking that it'll be easier this time since I'm already eating loads less carbs than I was when I tried it a year ago. (Basic idea is you cut out white carbs & eat loads of protein and veggies for 6 days, then you have a cheat day in which you can eat anything.. Rinse and repeat.)

My friend suggested that I actually take a week to eat whatever I want.. It'll get cravings out of the way and it'll shock my metabolism and all the other scientific junk when I start the diet. Yesterday, the last day of the Old Me, my weight was 315.

I'm here not only to hold myself accountable for what I eat and how I exercise, but because I have heard excellent things about the MFP community. Motivation and encouragement mean a lot to me.. and the lack of them in the past definitely led to my many failures. I want to proceed on my journey to lose about 150 pounds surrounded by like-minded individuals, celebrating milestones and spreading encouragement so none of us give up on what we so desperately want and need. Please add me so we can move forward together.