Active people with 100+ lbs to lose

Feel free to add me! A couple of years ago I joined MFP and then after dropping 16 pounds life got super busy with work, grad school and LDR that i just gave up for then and gained it all back plus some more. (I always had excuses). But now I am back and I'm about 20 pounds down (my ticker needs to be updated) and really committed. In the next week or two I should be back to my original starting weight. I have 165+ pounds to lose. My final goal is a moving target right now, I'll figure it out when I get there, because I've never been a healthy weight, I really don't know what is best for me.

My journey started back in 2010 when my dad died unexpectedly from a heart condition. I have two boys (12 and 8, they were 8 and 4 at the time) and realized that I wanted to be around to see them grow up, and I wanted to be able to know my grandchildren should I ever have any. I started chipping away slowly at the weight, without a lot of success... managed to lose some weight and then trained to walk a full marathon in October of 2011 - 26.2 miles of walking, it took 7 hrs to complete the race. I started working in 2011 which put health and exercise on the back burner for awhile, and slowly my weight started to creep back up. Last June I committed in earnest to do something about it - started tracking calories on July 1st of last year, and also started training for my second full marathon (walking again). The full marathon was not to be, and I wound up with a hip injury that put me off my feet for 6 weeks (After a 16 mile training walk that was painful from the very first step and yet I insisted on doing the whole thing... stubborn much?) and also stalled my weight loss. I managed to complete a half marathon in October instead of the full, despite the lack of training, but then a case of pneumonia and a round of oral steroids set me back again and I started gaining back the weight I'd lost over the summer. I dabbled with calorie counting through the fall, but depression and frustration took over and carried me through Christmas and January. On the last day of January I went to my doctor for a checkup and was told it was time to do something about my weight... I have high blood pressure as well as some other health issues and my weight was putting me at risk for complications. I logged into MFP on Feb 1st of this year and have not looked back. 158 days and 44 lbs later, I am almost halfway to my goal and have completed another walking half marathon. The road has not been without bumps, I am currently stalled again and very frustrated but this time I am sticking with the program and not giving up. I am hoping to begin training for another half later this month, but at the moment I am "behaving myself" and limited my exercise due to an inflamed tendon and scar tissue in my ankle. It is not easy being a larger person and staying active. The toll it takes on joints, and the body in general is something that people of an average size don't get. But there is something about the training, the ability to actually make this great big body move at "race pace" that is very empowering. I also love strength training, especially kettlebell, and would love to get into heavy lifting someday. We're already "friends" but I thought I'd tell you where I've come from and where I'm heading!

I would love to be friends with people that need to loose 100 plus pounds. I need to loose aprox. 125 more.