Hello everyone.

I have been a member for a few weeks, and just decided to begin posting. All the forums offer such wonderful people with lots of good advice. I am looking forward to being a part of this community.

For starters, I am 29 years old (30 in November.. ) and have been struggling with my weight all of my life. I have had an abusive home life, and issues at school and with my relationships because of the simple fact that I wasn't 'thin enough'. These problems, among others led to my further destruction, and at my highest weight (June 24th of 2002) I weighed in at 322.5 pounds.

I had decided enough was enough - I needed to do something about it, and since I was getting married that October, I had incentive. I joined a program called 'Herbal Magic' in Winnipeg, MB CDA (where I live) - which is also a low-carb eating plan - and although I had a few LOOOOOONNNNNNG stalls, I now weigh 245 pounds. However, I felt recently that I needed the support from others who are walking the same path. Granted, the girls that I get my support from at Herbal Magic *used* to be at least 40 pounds heavier at some point (a few were as heavy/heavier than *I* was!!) I think sometimes they 'forget' what it's like to carry around all this excess weight - and most never carried an extra 200 pounds like I did.

So, here I am. I don't feel the need to post all my menus (YET), because I am required to manually keep track of them to bring into the counsellors, but I WILL post if I cheat, or if I find myself stalling due to cheating. I also have an eating disorder, and I find it easy to talk myself into believing I'm eating properly when I am not. Hey, a few extra calories *DO* make a huge difference if it's done every day!! I must hold myself accountable for my own progress!! So, I am pumped, and would be open to any responses.

Looking forward to finishing my journey in your company,

Diana

P.S.: I am at work with limited time, so I copied the first post from my journal as a hello post - hope you don't mind!