Just joined, but half way there

Hello everyone! Just thought I'd introduce myself since I just joined. My name is Brett, I'm 25 years old (turning 26 next month), and I live in the Los Angeles area.

Some personal background about my weight/fitness journey: All my childhood and adolescence I was unusually skinny -- always could eat whatever I wanted without gaining a pound whatsoever. Guess this isn't that unusual in youth, but it was especially true for me. I gradually gained a few pounds in college, but the weight really started sticking to me after I finished my master's degree and started working full time at a consulting firm here in LA. The long hours coupled with stress, lack of exercise and very poor eating habits caused me to put on a fair amount of weight over the last two years.

Seeing myself in photos, and comparing them to photos of myself from just a couple years ago, made this weight gain especially apparent to me. I wasn't incredibly overweight -- I calculated that my BMI was about 27 earlier this year -- but as I gained weight, I started feeling less and less like myself and lost a lot of self confidence. I also realized I didn't want to be overweight because that's just not how I see myself as a person. I don't want that to become my new identity. The "wake up" call for me was having my younger sister say that she was worried about my health because of the weight I'd gained.

I'm pleased to report that I've lost 15 pounds since April and have another 15 or so to go -- so, half way there! I credit my success (so far) to majorly reforming my eating habits. As a young male, I feel like there was prodding from society and my peer group to lose weight via exercise, which I tried (unsuccessfully) to do many times -- but I was just too tired after long work days to put in enough time and physical exertion to consistently burn enough calories to counteract all those I was taking in from my poor eating habits.

Because I work so much, I rely on "convenience" foods to get by; this used to be fast food, but to work it into my lifestyle in a healthy and sustainable way, I've used low-fat frozen meals as well as Nutrisystem (although I feel I could've done the same thing with measuring my calories I guess), supplemented by a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm gradually learning to cook more fresh meals myself, although it's also difficult cooking for one person.

Anwyay, I decided to join because I think it will help to have some peer support for the next half of my journey. I'd like to not only get to my goal weight but also develop healthy lifestyle habits that will stay with me as I get older.