New here :-) (my story)

Greetings, fellow fitness fanatics!
My name is Jason, and just over a month ago I made the decision to become the best possible version of myself. I have been overweight my entire life, and after years of ridicule, bullying and teasing, I have never been very confident in myself at all. As soon as I would step out the house, I would immediately become riddled with anxiety stemming from a subconscious belief that everybody who sees me is judging my looks and my weight. Needless to say, this anxiety has plagued me over the years, and I decided that the only way to make it go away was to change myself.

I'm 6' 1", 30 years old and currently weigh 226 lbs. Back in 10th grade (age 16), I was at my lowest BMI - 179 lbs, due to severe clinical depression that prevented me from wanting to eat. My heaviest was earlier this year, at 260 or so. My body seems to like to store fat in my face/neck and chest, thus I always looked in the mirror and essentially saw a balloon. I despised how I looked. Today, I woke up in the morning and for the first time ever, really admired what I saw. This is a tremendous sensation for somebody who has loathed his appearance for as long as he can remember.

So, in early September I opted to change my lifestyle. Not in hopes of looking more attractive to others, but for the sake of feeling comfortable in my own skin. Honestly, not only do I feel more confident in my looks, but I feel absolutely fantastic in every way possible. I've made some [quite radical] lifestyle adjustments and stuck to them each day, including eating a more balanced diet, getting cardiovascular exercise, and weight-training. After doing an extensive (and exhaustive) amount of research beforehand, thanks to the power of the internet, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to change about my daily life in order to become the person I've always wanted to be.

With very little support from friends and family, the journey I've begun feels like even more of an achievement. Ultimately, the only source that we can tap into for lifestyle changes is ourselves. This is one of the many lessons I've learned. I look forward to being an active member of this community :-) thank you to all who choose to read this, and in case you haven't heard it yet today - you can do anything you set your mind to, and I'm proud of you. Cheers!