Looking for friends and support!!

Good for you Clarissa! At 18, you're getting a great early start on getting healthier! My change began with my diet. I switched out all my snacks. I used to eat a lot of candy and ice cream and potato chips, but I got more health conscious and realized that there are healthier snacks out there... AND THEY AREN'T BLAND VEGETABLES!!! I started eating things that were lower calorie by far and low fat. Some of the things I snack on are:

Aged White Cheddar Rice Popcorn: It's called Pirate's Booty. You can get it from Costco in a huge bag for $3 - $6 depending on if there's a sale.
Fiber bars: I personally like the chocolate ones. I found the brownies to be very bland, but some people like those as well.
Apple Chips: Bare Fruit makes these baked apple chips. They are so sweet and crunchy! I love them.
Honey & Oat Bars: Nature Valley makes these and they are soooo good. I was skeptical at first, but they are awesome.

I stopped drinking soda and juice and switched to water and gatorade (when I exercise).

My step mom really inspired me first. She was in the 200-300 lbs range, and she got on a weight watchers points plan and started going to Curves and lost about 100 lbs. She inspired me to keep trying.

At my house, everybody got on the "Gym" train after that, but my fiance and his brother go to the gym near their work (a long commute away) and I end up having to go by myself at the local gym (and dropping the baby off at the child care to do so). Unfortunately, my results on going to the gym have been quite the opposite as my fiance's. So having a gym buddy clearly is a better motivation than going alone. Nonetheless, I am trying it alone.

Several of my friends are what some might call "gym rats." It's hard looking at other people and seeing their results, and saying, "Why can't I do that?" But I learned that the reality is, it's a lot of hard work that you have to DEDICATE your time and energy to do. If you want to look like those people, you have to eat right and exercise it out. Abs are made in the kitchen, so I figured I'd start there. But I love that they are disciplined enough to go to the gym and maintain their shape. Nothing wrong with that! Maybe one day you and I can be just as disciplined as they are.

Good luck on your journey. I hope we can keep in touch to stay motivated.

your doing GREAT feel free to add me

Feel free to add me if you'd like. Good job on the weight loss so far!