Long-time lurker, first post! :)

Hi all! This is actually my first ever message here, even though I've been an off again/on again member of Myfitnesspal for a few years and even lurked these boards!

A little bit about me: I'm a 35-year old work-at-home mom of 2. Prior to having kids, I was in pretty good shape and active - running marathons and even doing things like climbing Mt Rainier. I used to weigh between 130-135. After my 2nd daughter 6 years ago, I found losing the weight was just harder! I've yo-yoed from 140 up to my heaviest at 166 this spring. As a 5'6" female, I knew this is more weight than I should be carrying. I was also just feeling depressed and in a way had started to let myself go. It was when I could barely squeeze into my biggest clothes that I was faced with a choice - either spend the money on plus size clothing or do something. NOW.

Being thrifty (and honestly, a little bit vain!), I decided to get my butt back into gear. The last week of April. I made myself run 2 miles every day. It sucked bad. But I did it anyways.

The next week was the first week of May and I decided to print out a blank calendar page and create a workout schedule for myself. I then plastered it on my refrigerator. Every day, I began to tick off the workouts and log my weight loss progress. Now I'm not saying this will work for everyone - but man, it *really* clicked with me for some reason. A couple weeks later on a complete whim - I decided to enter a local 12K race (7.6 miles). I'd done this race before - but 9 years prior! While it was a bit of a stretch going from couch - 12K (essentially) in about 6 weeks' time, that's exactly what I did. And, my time wasn't that much different from my previous time 9 years prior!

In the process, I dropped 10 pounds and started to feel like my fitness was building. Even more, I noticed that the irregular heartbeat I'd been struggling with earlier this year was sorting itself out.

While my workouts have helped me lose some weight, I still have quite a ways to go and I *know* that nutrition is the key. I've noticed that while my fitness is improving, my weight loss has plateaued the last 3 or so weeks. So, I'm going to work to start back up on logging my food and exercise here in an attempt to jump start things again.

I hope to become more active on the message boards here. I'm also 100% open to any tips about how to stay motivated for the long haul and maintaining weight loss. Right now, that's my biggest concern. I've lost the weight before, only to gain it back. This time, I'm hoping to lose the weight in a more sustainable way that I can stick with. My other weakness is late night snacking! I can be great all day and then just completely blow it at night. Tips for overcoming that are appreciated too.

WOW - this is really long winded, sorry! But it hope it gives you a feel for who I am, and my journey. I wish everyone success with theirs as well.