22 years old, 257 pounds and with ADD. Hi, and help?

Hi :-)

I'm a 22 year old Mum from NZ, I'm a full time student (BA) and I work a couple of days a week as a visitor host at a gallery. I have recently been diagnosed with ADD inattentive type. I need some encouragement and advice, and so this is my story and info:

When I was growing up I ate very healthily and was active. My mum used to grind her own wheat to make bread, we had farmkill meat, fresh eggs, fresh milk etc etc. Portion sizes were controlled by the fact that the only thing available except at meal times was fruit and veg. When I hit 16 and started going to high school (was homeschooled), I started eating lollies and chocolate and pies in addition to what I was served at home, and skipping breakfast. I did 2 hours of cardio a day, and that kept my weight at 67 kg until depression and anxiety hit the next year. I steadily gained 15 kg a year until last year, when my husband and I got pregnant, and I only gained 6 kg during the pregnancy because it was rough as guts. My weight 3 weeks after leaving the hospital was 124 kg. I gained that 15kg a year weight from eating irregular meals, eating things like a block of chocolate a day and packets of lollies for 4 years of my life. It was all stimulation seeking ADD eating, and now I am on meds, I am able to eat 3 meals a day without snacking. I don't have an appetite suppressant side effect with my meds but they actually work, which means that my impulse control is now at a good level, and so if I feel like chocolate, it is possible to say no now. And I do.

Thankfully because I am young, my cholesterol and blood pressure and insulin levels are all ok, even during pregnancy I didn't develop diabetes (got tested 3 times, drs couldn't believe that a fat pregnant woman was actually not diabetic).

it's been a month on meds and I have lost 7 kg. I could have lost more but I am TERRIFIED of eating too little and then screwing up my body. I've been generally eating 1500-1750 calories a day (eating back exercise calories as well) and walking briskly for 2x 30 minute sessions.

I have a lot of weight to lose. My goal is to get down to about 70-65 kg over 2-2.5 years. But I'm kind of lost on where to properly start. I read so many things, so many books and articles, but they all contradict each other and some of them sound ridiculous.

Has anyone lost a large amount of weight and actually kept it off without doing something like eating 1 egg white and 3 almonds a day?

Does anyone have an advice? Or hope?

I'm actually ok with my body, I'm hourglass and hold my weight well, but I want to minimize the risk of health complications. So this is a lifestyle change. I'm not playing roulette with yoyo dieting. My husband is 27 years older than me and so my son will already have to cope with losing one parent younger than most would. I don't want to leave him without another one....


sorry for the rambling.