Ready or not...HERE I GO!!!!

Hi everyone. My name is Vanessa Knox. I live in Halifax, NS, Canada and I am 28 years of age.

Here is a quick version of my story. I was slim my whole life but I also had a bit of an obsessive- compulsive addiction to junkfood. I did a lot of emotional eating due to some less that happy childhood and school day experiences. But I kept doing it because it never seemed to affect my weight or my health.

In January 2000 hen I was 19 (and 125 lbs, by the way) , two really BIG life-changing events took place. My mother died suddenly of an in the home accident and I moved away to another part of the country to go to college. They happened in that order, exactly 5 months apart. It took me a long time and a lot of grieving and soul searching to get over the both of those things. And because I was now dealing with intense grief and intense homesickness, my emotional eating doubled. I discovered worse foods to binge on that I never had access to in my little tiny home town (aka McDonalds, etc)

But my life took a turn for the better in 2003 when I met the man who I would fall in love with and marry. But then my emotional eating became something I did during happy emotions instead of sad or stressed ones. And that's when my weight really began to blow up.

So it is now 2009 and over the past 6 years, I have gained 65 lbs.

Physically, I'm totally different. I get out of breath really fast doing minimal physical activity, I suffer form mild lower back pain, and not to mention my confidence has gone from about 90% to like 25%. I feel ugly because I can't wear all the nice, sexy clothes I used to be able to wear, I feel like everyone looks at me, and I hate feeling as beautiful and healthy as I know I can.

So now it has come to this. Tomorrow will be the day I begin a long journey of creating the Vanessa I know I can be. One who makes healthy choices and who doesn't need junk food to comfort her. One who shines with confidence and strength (mental and physical).

So I'm here to get all the help and advice and kicks in the butt that I can get! Nice to meet all of you!