Today is my 20th birthday, and for the most part I've had a really fantastic day. My mom and I went shopping this morning, and when my dad gets home from work we're going fishing. The only thing I would change is being 22 lbs lighter. Shopping isn't very much fun when you hate the way you look in everything you try on.
Growing up, I've always been extremely self-conscious about my weight. At the age of 12 I was about 5'2 and about 130 lbs, and I'd had friends who wouldn't hang out with me anymore because I "wasn't athletic enough". Weights always been kind of a sore subject for me. When I was 14, I grew about 5 inches and got mono - so I lost 15 lbs, and stretched out. Even though I was now 115 and 5'7, I was still self conscious about my body - as many girls often are. Until about two years ago, I'd pretty much stayed at 120, but since then have gained 20 lbs.
So here I am, at 140 lbs. (last time I checked, which was about a week ago), and desperately wanting change.

My goal is to be 122, but I don't know what a reasonable time frame to achieve that is. I have a membership to the local gym here, and I'm planning on going five times a week. Also, drinking more water and eating less. I have terrible eating habits, and since I turned 18 my metabolism just doesn't support it as well.

So! That's my plan so far. I will definitely be glad for the accountability. I'll get a "starting" picture up soon.

Sincerely,

Rivkah

Happy Birthday! And welcome to the forums!

It looks like you are pretty determined and have the right idea on what to do. Good luck!

V

Happy Birthday! I am actually nearly 20 too!

That sounds great! Your goal weight is at the low end of the scale, so you might find it more difficult to get down to your goal weight. This means that you might not be losing weight but you could be losing inches and body fat. You should take measurements just in case this happens?

The reason your metabolism would have slowed is because you are probably just not as active as you were when you were a kid. I used to just run around all day and was so busy playing sports and stuff I was just buzzing! I try to do that now, constantly moving, doing lots of exercise, behaving like a kid!

Good luck with your weight loss journey! I see we are similar in age, starting weights and goal weights.

Thank you guys for the encouragement.
This week hasn't been great, due to my lack of a back bone and the food people kept buying me for my birthday, but yesterday was a good diet day and I'm looking forward to continuing in that direction.
All my attempts to excercise Saturday were thwarted. I got all my gym clothes on to finally get back in the swing of things with that, only to find out they close at six on Saturdays. My friend Scot offered to come over and go on a walk, so I was excited to at least do that, and we get about halfway to our destination and what looked like hurricane clouds were suddenly upon us. So! Someone came and picked us up, and we watched a lightning storm instead. Pretty cool, but didn't do my diet a whole lot of good. Haha.

Took a bunch of pictures in the past week though, I'm sure there's one in there somewhere I can use for a starting picture.

Welcome, and good luck!

Birthdays are always tough, but onyl come once a year so I'd just enjoy it!

And a belated happy birthday, too