I used to be a success story, then i gained it all back.

My name is Ashley, I'm 23 years old. I have struggled with weight since i was a teenager. Some pretty traumatic things happened when i was growing up, up into my preteens and the way i decided to cope with my emotions, was with food. By the time i was 20 years old i had reached 250 pounds and was extremely unhealthy. I finally hit my breaking point and was tired of feeling sad, lethargic, and unmotivated.

I was tired of looking in the mirror everyday and hating the person i saw staring back at me, i was tired of being in relationships and not wanting to be touched in certain areas that i was the most embarrassed about, or having to practically stay fully clothed when i was intimate with my boyfriends. I wanted to be healthy and feel confident in myself. I wanted to look in the mirror and see the beautiful person who i was on the inside reflected on the outside as well. So i decided to join a gym, i ended up joining LA Fitness and just changed my lifestyle completely. I only ate whole grains, veggies, fruits, and lean meats. I drank A LOT of water every day and slowly started incorporating exercise into my every day routines.

After about 3 months i was going to the gym 5 days a week for two hours at a time, by the time a year had rolled around i had lost 112 pounds. I still hadn't reached my goal weight, but i felt amazing and had a whole new level of self confidence about myself. I was dressing better, taking better care of my self and met someone who i have been with for two years now. The next month at the gym i began to plateau at the gym and was getting extremely frustrated, so i made the "smart" decision to take a break from the gym to give my muscles time to forget the every day routine, which as you can imagine turned into me not going back to the gym for a year. Other things in my life including stress factored into my excuses on why i couldn't or didn't feel like going to the gym that day.

Now it's March 28th, 2015 and all of the hard work i put into changing my life is pretty much gone, i have gained probably 50 pounds back of what i had lost and now im back at square one. I just joined the gym again about a month ago, i have gone maybe 10 times. It's also affecting my relationship i have right now too, it's obvious that i have gained weight, and i feel like it's putting a strain on our intimacy also.. I have done it before, i know im capable of doing it and sticking to it, but this time around i just feel so discouraged, i don't seem to be as sore as i was in the first few months of working out, i don't feel like i'm losing as much as i was in the beginning this time around as opposed to before. I don't know what to do, besides google different ways and ect.. I would love some feedback/support/suggestions/motivation. Anything would be great. Thank you..