Long term solutions, looking for buddies!

[gabriellecote]

Hey everyone! (:

Just joined today, and I've read a bunch of people's stories and they're very encouraging! It's good to know there's a huge community of people all working in a similar direction towards health and weight loss goals.

My name's Gabby. I'm 20 years old, just finishing my second year of university. I'm 200 lbs and about 5'3". I've always been bigger built, but ever since starting university I've packed on more than a few pounds. My goal is to be a healthy weight and have a good quality of life. My energy levels have been down lately, and it doesn't help that I can barely afford food and have minimal time to devote to exercise. I've yo-yo dieted and obsessively worked out in phases before, but what I really want to do is find a healthy balanced lifestyle that I can keep to long-term ... which will definitely be a challenge as my life does not keep to a regular schedule!

I'm going to be keeping a food diary, keeping track of caloric intake and making sure I'm eating healthy foods etc. For exercise, I have purchased Turbo Fire home work out videos and I have P90X for weight training. (I live in the city right now, but I'll be moving to the countryside soon so it won't be smart to keep a gym membership.) I might take up jogging if my knees can take it this summer - my dog will get a workout too!

ALSO I'm looking for a buddy (or buddies) on here to hold me accountable, and I'd love to hear more stories from everyone and help other people out too. I'm not really sure how everything works yet, but if there's a messaging system with this site drop me a line, or your email and we can go from there if you're interested.

Thanks, and keep up the great work everyone
--Gabby

[mecompco]

Gabby, welcome to FitDay and the forums!

My daughter is starting college in the fall--she is your weight but a couple of inches shorter so I know the challenges--hoping she doesn't add the "Freshman 15" to where she's already at.

I've been a yo-yo since high school so I know what that's like too. I took off around 150 pounds (down to 175) when I was your age--it was awesome! (Sadly, I didn't keep it off, but that's another story).

Take a look around the different subforums here--there any plenty of folks who will help you. If you like, take a look in Diet Tips at the Lose 10% of your body weight by July 4th (or July 1st for you folks up North, if you prefer).

If you need any help with the site or your eating/exercise plan, just ask. As of now, there is no PM system operational here, though supposedly there will be "soon".

Regards,
Michael