Hey from Missouri.. newish to MFP

Hey guys, I'm Nicole and I'm from St. Charles, MO. I'm a wife and mom. I'm roughly about 5'4 and I weigh 174.4lbs or I did when I started. Today was supposed to be weigh in day, but I haven't done it, and think I will do it in the morning. (yes a part of me is scared, I really don't feel as if I lost anything at all.) My ideal weight would actually be 136lbs but I cannot even remember the last time I was. That's my "average" body weight for my age and size. I'm doing the whole baby steps thing, so first goal is just to hit 160 and then 150 and then 140. Honestly, if I make it to 140 I think I'll just be happy with that, and work on maintaining it. Problem is, I have tried so many times and it just never sticks. Yes, I realize a lot of it is me.

Much like everyone else, I hate the way clothes are fitting, I hate how I look in pictures. I have a small body frame (meaning I have the tiniest wrists that anyone has ever seen, etc.) but I have all this extra weight I am carrying around with it.

I am a writer, so I tend to live a fairly sedentary lifestyle, in that I tend to spend most of the day planted on a couch or comfy chair with my laptop glued to my fingertips (40+ hours/week). I don't get up much, I eat all my meals while sitting. I don't eat breakfast because I drink coffee... and so on and so forth. I'm sure I could list all my problems and many of you would relate.

I have 5 kids that are all between 11-16 and none of them are all that active either. One daughter tried cross-country this year and didn't seem to care for it much, but it motivated my other daughter and she is planning to do it next year. I'm hoping I might be able to do some running with her by that point.

My best friend wound up telling me about this site and the c25k program and I kept thinking that this might be the motivation I need to actually succeed. Misery loves company? Once I found MFP I was HOOKED. Been here a little over a week and absolutely love the community, the food diary, etc.

I got married in May and when I look at the pictures, I sometimes get mad at the weight I still had on, even though I tried crash dieting a couple of weeks before. I want to get down to a healthy weight so I can feel better and not so tired. I've come to the conclusion, that clearly I am doing something wrong. (I'm sure the not eating breakfast thing is part of it.)

If you need a MFP friend, please send me a request. I could use some friends and accountability partners. Plus I'd love to meet people with similar lifestyles (and even those that aren't... I'm friendly, I love everybody!)