Hey Everyone!! :) New to the site!

Hey everyone!
This is my first post on the message boards. I am new to the site starting on Monday. Here's my "story"..

I have always been under 150 up until around my 20's where it inched up to about 170 (get this I thought I was heavy then!!) Then I got pregnant with my son and had gestational diabetes which I didn't take care of properly and gained ridiculous amounts of weight. Ever since my pregnancy it seems to have just piled on no matter what I did. I must admit though, I have always just eaten whatever I wanted because I am a habitual/craving eater. I will eat whatever my body REALLY WANTS which is everything JUNK.

Then in August last year, I weighed about 245 and it had been the same for a long time. So then I quit SMOKING, and apparently the "poop" hit the fan after that right up until this year.

So early this year I got a scale and realized I was 300 lbs!!! (yes, EXACTLY 300) and I had always told myself "I will never get to 300" which was somehow a stopping point in my mind where I could not allow it to go any further. I then got Lyme Disease and proceeded to lay around the house whenever I wasn't at work as I was exhausted and in pain all the time!! (Knee and Ankle) So i couldn't do any exercise, hiking, or any of my fun outdoor activities. When I finally saw a specialist, she told me to avoid all sugar related foods and that is where my weight loss story begins. Since I cant eat any sugar might as well make the best of it right???

ANYWAY to make a looooong story shorter, My BFF found this site and was going on and on about how great it was one day and I decided to check it out and now I LOVE IT!! I am going with my BFF to the gym twice a week to start out sloooooooowly since my knee is acting up since starting, and I am going to do a bit of yoga and stretching at home to get my muscles ready to handle it, and I am basically trying to lose 100 lbs in the next year or two depending on how it goes. I'm sure it takes a while!! So far since stopping sugar, I have lost 6 lbs and am now 294 which IS lower than what I have been over the past 8 months!! So thats the first weight loss I have had in 10 years (yes my son was born 10 years ago and i was still gaining hahaha)

Sooooo Thanks for listening to my ridiculous story.. I hope to make great strides in my health and my weight using this site, and I don't know how things work yet such as the forums and "groups" (What is a "group"? is there an actual group to join or do you all just talk to eachother on the boards? don't get that yet)

Anyway thanks all, and add me as a friend if you want Thanks for listening and for your support!!

Patty