I've been on MFP for a couple days and I'm hoping for some m

Hi, my name is Natalie, and I am a Med-Surg RN. I work in a hospital so I get to see unhealthy people all the time. I am sick of being one of them, and I fear becoming a statistic. Amazingly I haven't developed diabetes yet, but I realise my risks. My life has not been a fairy tale. I've never had anything handed to me unless there were steel cables attached. I've had to work hard for everything I've accomplished. The struggles I've had have left me little time to monitor my health thus I've let it slip.

Now that I am working and have financial stability I am in a much better position to do what's right for my body. I can stop eating cheap crap food that lacks nutrients. I can devote more of my time to becoming healthy. I can succeed. When I was born I was 4 pounds, 7 ounces and I had weight gain typical of a girl until around age 6. I believe a series of deaths in my family was the cause of my emotional eating, and my parents' inability or unwillingness to keep me from eating. Unfortunately it wasn't temporary as I've now been an emotional eater for the majority of my life.

There have been ups and down, and times during which I tried losing weight but failed, but I just wasn't ready then to do what I must do now. I am now hovering around 340 pounds, and I've promised myself that not only will I not make it to 350, but that I will begin a steady and healthy decline that will end with me being somewhere between 160 and 180 pounds. I won't fail because I cannot fail. There is too much I want to accomplish in my life, and I want to be healthy for it. I want to eventually get married and have kids. I want to be a healthy and happy wife, and a healthy, energetic, and respectable mother. I want to die peacefully and not from some obesity-related disease or complication. I want to live to be 100 or maybe even a bit older.

So, I guess that's it for now. I guess if you have any questions just ask me. I look forward to building a strong support team here.