Yo-Yo'er Here!

Hello everyone. My name is Amanda, I'm 29 years old from Pittsburgh, PA. I'm new to the website, but I have been using the Android app for a while. Back in April 2006, I decided that it was time for me to start caring about myself. I was 250 lbs, terribly unhappy and needed to change my life. In May 2007, I had reached my goal weight of 137 lbs after losing 116 lbs with regular exercise and counting calories. I was a textbook "health nut" - I educated myself on fitness and nutrition as much as I possibly could. I was a brand new person, happy, healthy, I had CONFIDENCE for the first time in my life. I went shopping and could fit into regular sizes, I was wearing sexy clothes, I FELT sexy. I even found the strength to end an unhealthy 6 year relationship with my ex fiance. However, I couldn't conquer maintenance. Everyone told me maintenance would be harder than actually losing it, and they were right. I immediately put about 20 lbs back on that summer. I started dating someone new who loved to go out to eat, and couldn't exercise because of health issues. I know I can't blame him, but that didn't help much. Before I knew it, I was back up 45 lbs by the end of the year. It look me about 6 or so months to lose that weight, and for a few years after that I would go up and down about 30 lbs each way.

Over the past 6 months, I have completely stopped caring and spiraled out of control. I started a new, stressful job, and just couldn't find any motivation at all to live a healthy lifestyle. I was drinking alcohol 4-5 days a week, eating massive amounts of carbs, pasta, anything unhealthy I could find I wanted it. A huge portion of greasy potatoes for breakfast?? SURE! I wasn't counting but I'd say I was around 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day. I quickly gained 40 lbs on top of the other 30 lbs I was up by.

I hit rock bottom a few weeks ago. None of my clothes fit, I was out of breath just walking up stairs, I felt like complete crap all the time. About two weeks ago, I was in my breakroom at work getting up from eating lunch and a group of immature adults started making comments about my weight/*kitten*. That's when it hit me - I reached rock bottom. I thought to myself, "what am I doing to myself?" I am getting married in Sept. 2013 so I definitely have that motivation to get this weight off - FOR GOOD.

So now I am back in full force, I already have been back in the gym doing mainly cardio for now, and have been slowly incorporating strength training and have been counting every single calorie thanks to the MFP app. Now I need to make some more friends and hopefully find other yo-yo'ers to help motivate me to keep going.