New and needing a change

Hi everyone,

I registered for the site yesterday and am loving that I can track my food on here and see if I am on track with my eating plan. I am really in need of a change in my life and especially my body. I am 36 years old and had been thin my entire life even after having children. At the age of 22 I had to undergo a hysterectomy and gained a little bit of weight but was still very healthy and felt/looked good.

7 1/2 years ago we decided we wanted to have another child, and only having my ovaries meant we had to go through IVF and with the help of a Gestational Surrogate, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Unfortunately I reacted very strongly to the IVF meds (hormones) and had an unbelievable weight gain of more then 60 pounds. Then I chose to do an adoptive breastfeeding protocol to be able to nurse my son when he was born and gained more then 20 more pounds :frown:

I have struggled with my weight since then. I am 5'8 and weigh about 250. At my heaviest I was 271, and then got down to 199 and have yo-yo'd back and forth between 220 - 250 for the last 2 years. I was doing great with losing the weight again until we tried again in June to have another baby. Sadly this time it was unsuccessful, and I had to stop weight loss efforts during the cycle of meds per the doctors instructions.

I gained back only about 10 or 15 pounds from the meds this time, but have mostly struggled because I got kind of depressed after our cycle failed and food has always been a comfort. To go from being able to eat whatever you want and not gain weight, to now having to watch every little thing has been a very tough change for someoen like me who is an emotional eater.

I have a job where my shifts vary, so making sure to eat regular meals often enough in a day is my biggest struggle but I am working very hard at trying to make sure I do it.

A friend of mine and I decided to be workout partners and really make an effort at this for both our sakes and have agreed that if we hit goal weights we will plan a trip together to somewhere tropical and warm as a reward. We started last night and although i am sore today, it is a good sore and I feel like we have made a really good start and just hope we can stay committed and push one another.

She and I will do some activities outside (walk/jog, etc and the boxing club) and then on days we can't get together I plan to use my treadmill and Wii Fit and weights at home.

So hopefully, yesterday was the first day of a new life, new body and healthier me.