Newbie age 40 and want to lose 30+ lbs

:flowerforyou:

Hello

I'm looking for friends for mutual support who may have something in common with me.

I'm 40 (still seems like I'm talking about someone else when I write that...40??? Gawd..) To celebrate my 40th year I've been doing things I wouldn't normally do....like a 40s vintage makeover and photoshoot (I'm not at all girly, normally). I'm also going the Download Festival and camping with my youngest son (was a bit of a headbanger years ago but not been to Download before). And I'm determined to lose the weight that has crept on since my 20s.

I'm married with two teenage boys (16 and 14), the youngest of who has Asperger's Syndrome.

I've got three dogs who take up a lot of my time.

I'm a teacher but currently working as an exam marker so I can work from home and support my boys (and walk my dogs!)

I live in NW England but have also lived in Albany NY, Hull, England and Swansea, Wales.

In my teens and early 20s I could eat anything - I never thought about what I ate and I never considered my weight. I was a natural skinny and the idea of food/ diets/ etc was completely foreign to me. After my boys were born I lost the weight straight away but carried on eating as before...and of course because my metabolism had changed, I was getting older and no longer going to gigs and clubs every night, the weight gradually got the better of me.

Now I'm fed up of buying clothes because they cover my *kitten* and thighs and disguise my belly. I want to buy things I like in smaller sizes. I'm not unrealistic and I don't want to look like a lollipop head I can no longer convince myself that the sizes in the shops are wrong - I am a size18 which may not be big to some people but is big for me when I've always been a 10!! And I want to be healthy, which I can't be carrying all this extra weight. I had a brief fling with weightwatchers but it didn't last. My family have always struggled with weight and it's too easy to blame genetics when I'm stuffing the wrong food into my mouth. Found MFP by complete accident and here I am.

I still love music and have been through pretty much every music phase there is and now listen to loads of bands but mainly alternative/ indie/ rock/ Americana type stuff. Also love reading, especially contemporary literary fiction.

Oh, and I've just ordered a Kinect so I can do yoga etc from home as well as the exercise I get walking my dogs.

I'm introducing myself so I know it's for real this time

If any of this sounds famailiar and you think we'll connect, please add me as a friend.