Hello!

Hi, my name is Jo, and I need to lose 200 pounds. For a while, I was in complete denial. I don't know what I thought about my weight. Pretending that my weight problem didn't exist was a major factor in my weight gain. I figured I was fine. One day at work I decided to walk up the stairs and when I reached the top, I was completely out of breath. Then I started to notice that it was difficult to sit in the desks during class. And when going to a restaurant, my stomach would firmly press against the table. They were all reminders, slight nudges that said, "Hey, if this isn't telling you something, I don't know what will." The other day I was at work, and I found a Karen Lamb quote: "A year from now you may wish you had started today." I was both incredibly depressed yet inspired by it. I've wasted a long time to get to this point. But now that I'm here, I've started, and I have no intention of ever stopping.

Yesterday after work, I drove home, and I was ready to do my usual: getting dinner and loafing until I fall asleep around eleven. For some reason I got home and started playing an workout DVD. I've spent the past several years saying that I need to lose weight at the right time. And yesterday instead of listening to that voice, I immediately started working out, forgetting that I was still wearing my clothing from work. Yes, it was kind of like an out of body experience.

In short, I'm here because I've done a lot of great things in my life, and this will just be the next one. I'm also looking for other people to possibly add as friends, so we can help each other on our journeys. This is going to be really difficult, and it would be great to connect with a few people out there.

Thanks