New Here!

Hey everyone!

My name's Amanda and I am 28. I've been struggling with my weight since my teens, and it has just gotten worse and worse. I basically need to lose a person right now, which is so intimidating!

I've started and stopped my weight loss journey so many times over the years, but I've never had more motivation and more valid reasons than I do now- so I really do hope and pray I can stick it out this time around.

I recently hit my all time high of 265 pounds, but I am now down to 260.4 since January 1st, so I'm already off to a good start! My goal wait is 135, but that might change as I get closer to the weight. I'm more interested in how I feel and look than the number on my scale.

I have a lot of motivations for losing the weight

1. I'm having a lot of health issues that could be attributed to the weight. The biggest one is with my menstrual cycle- I don't seem to be ovulating. Having children is really important to me. My fiance and I were planning to start trying for a baby this time next year (we get married October 13, 2012).

2. My family has the tendency to die young- my father's dad died at age 26, my mom's mom died at age 64, my mom died at age 47. We have everything in our family- heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. I can't prevent myself from getting sick, but I can try. The best way I can do this is to take care of myself- losing weight is a big part of that.

3. I want to be more active again, I like to walk and swim, and just do fun things. The heavier I get the less and less I can do. I just want my life back.

4. I'd love to look good in my wedding dress. I know, I know, shallow. LOL. But, I don't want to look at pictures of one of the most important days of my life and be disgusted by my arms or double chin.

What I'm doing to reach my goals:

Eating healthy, and tracking my food here.

Hitting the gym six days a week- doing a variety of cardio and doing the circuit weights every other day. Also walking during my lunch breaks.

What's different this time? I'm using this site and also really enlisting my friends and family. With my gym membership, I can bring a friend, so I have been doing that. I also post on FB about going the gym and have instructed my friends there to call me out on it if they notice I stop doing that. It's keeping me accountable.

Anyway, I would really love some friends on here. Feel free to add me!

Amanda