Alright, here I go!

Hi, my name is Carissa, I'm 28, 5' 3", and I'm trying to lose about 50 lbs.

I'd like some buddies, besides my husband, but all the short women on here are trying to go from 140 to 105 lbs. This is NOT my goal.

Here's the deal. In middle and high school I was a football player. My freshman year I was a size 9, weighed 125 lbs, and had almost no body fat (as per our water-displacement tests). However, I also didn't have boobs yet, or hips, and definitely didn't have kids. Then, I got hit by a car, and went up to about 160 lbs by the end of high school, as I was no longer as physically active. In community college I went up as high as 180, but was down to 150 lbs for my wedding in 2003. I looked great.

I was hugely active for the next few years, but kept gaining fat. Then my daughter was born in 2005. I gained less that 20 lbs with that pregnancy. Despite a 6 mile each-way commute 6 days a week, pulling 80 lbs in cargo (and occasional 40 mile rides with the same cargo), I still managed to gain weight the next year, and was about 175 when my son was born in late 2007. In 2008, my baby boy had 2 neurosurgeries and my brother became a paraplegic, and I stopped biking in order to become a stay-at-home caregiver for them. My weight shot to 195. Six months of Nutrisystem brought me back down to 175.

Then my kids and I moved out-of-state while my husband remained behind, and although I was biking regularly, my desire for comfort foods (colder climate, loneliness, etc) began to take its toll. I remained around 185-195, but more stress (husband's unemployment, grad school, whatever) caused me to fall back to smoking, and I shot through the 200 lb ceiling.

Never again.

I'm going on a humanitarian trip to Ghana in January, am signed up to run a half marathon in May, and found this through a former high school buddy. My goal is 160 lbs, because that's an achievable fighting weight for me (I can run, bike, climb, hike, carry my kids on my back, climb trees and look hot).

Biggest struggle is a lack of time (I'm a full-time student, with a part-time job and two special needs kids). Second is a lack of money. Third, stress. Fourth, an unfamiliarity with healthy food (we didn't eat correctly when I was younger). Wish me luck.