I recently realized that my little weight gain has spiraled out of control. I used to have a really unhealthy lifestyle... I smoked alot drank alot and ate very little. I stopped smoking, drinking and partying which caused the collapase of a relationship at the time and the added pressure of school I have ballooned quite a bit for my tiny frame... to the point where I barely recognize myself in the mirror... I have gone from 117lbs to 178 lbs in almost two years... being 5'3'' it's REALLY noticeable, and I've come to realize that I'm semi ashamed over what I have let myself become... and it's because of that that I am here, I really want to turn my life around, I quit smoking and drinking for a reason, and now I want to get back to a healthy weight, I've tried to do it myself and it just doesn't seem to want to happen, I'm going to see my current boyfriend at college in 4 months (we go to different schools he's west coast I'm east coast) and I think it would be nice if I looked well closer to what I did back when we were just friends, so I figure... 40 lbs isn't asking much to lose in 4 months...actually a little more than four months. the whole 60 would be great but I don't think that it's doable... anyways... yeah I'm here... I would like help getting what I have gained off and I don't think I can do it with out a support group... seeing as I am surrounded by people who all weigh no more than 120lbs (every one I know is very slender and has no concept of what it's like to be FAT and feel FAT)

That pretty much sums up my theory that people who have never known a fat day in their lives do not know what it feels like.

Welcome to the forum! There's a lot of support here. Take some time to read through the stickies... those will likely answer a lot of basic questions you may have, and perhaps trigger more.

40 pounds in a little over 4 months? I'm not going to say it can't be done, but it will take a lot of doing. But you want to be healthy about it too. 2 lbs a week is a good healthy amount to lose. That would be roughly 32 pounds.

Have you a plan on how to do this, or are you in the searching phase?

I am going to try to excersize in the morning 6 days a week for about an hour, 3 days from this callenetics book my mom gave me and 3 days pilates. My current diet has dwindled back down to raman noodles, soy milk, dried fruit and rice cakes, with the occasional (frequent heh ) chinese food order, I figure diet wise I should shoot for more calcium and nix the take out and toss in some salad and I should be good there... the motivation to excersize is what kills me though.

I'd nix the ramen noodles and chinese food (tons of fat, salt, msg, sugar... all things that will make weight loss more difficult), add in more protein and fresh fruit & veggies. Lean meats like chicken, fish, some beef... good protein. And stay far, far away from that prepackaged frozen crap... its better to go as fresh as possible because then you know what goes, or doesn't go into it and/or on it. If you must have rice or bread... go with whole grain, brown rice... not the stuff made from white enriched flour. Again... your body absorbs it quickly, gives you a blood sugar spike, then makes you tired in a hurry. Also stores the unused portion on your body as fat.

Read the stickies in the Nutrition section... there's some really good info there.

pilates, callanetics... those are a great start.