Starting on Monday!

Hi everyone,

I've decided to start tracking calories on Monday. I'm generally content with life - I have great family and friends and I love what I do. (Just finished an Honours degree in maths, applying for a PhD, tutoring high school kids five days a week), but I'm about fifty kilos overweight, and I'm just tired of it.

It sucks being out of breath every time I have to climb stairs or do anything even remotely active. I hate having to shop in plus-size clothing stores. I hate feeling self-conscious all the time in public, thinking that people are staring at me because of my weight. Also, I'm almost 5'11'', and it sucks being tall AND overweight, because I just feel so physically BIG all the time.

I'm graduating in April, which is a huge thing for me because I nearly dropped out of my degree twice, and I worked REALLY hard to get where I am. Plus I'm graduating with first class Honours. I really don't want to be this big in the photos. It would just put a damper on the whole occasion. I know I probably won't be at my goal weight by then, but I would love to have lost 20 to 30 kilos by April.

Just looking for some support and some friends, preferably those who are close in age to me (20s and 30s) and who have at least 30 kilos (66 pounds) to lose.

Any tips for getting started?

Thanks for reading!