I've been dealing with weight problems for as long as I can remember. Since I was a very small child, my entire life has been a roller coaster of weight gain and weight loss. I started out pretty chubby as a child, but my parents were careful with how they fed me and got me to get a lot of activity in. They helped me to lose weight when I was young. But it kept creeping back up and I had to deal with it over and over again. I think I probably gained weight and lost it a bout 7 or 8 times from the time that I was 13 until the time I was about 25. This was a very difficult and insecure time in my life, as with most people. So, as you can imagine, all the hope and letdown was taking a big toll on my emotions. I became depressed and had an even harder time dealing with that, because it was also an up and down thing. I dealt with it by eating too much, and by my mid twenties it became apparent that the weight wasn't coming off.

It was around the age of 26 that my metabolism was slowing down and I couldn't catch up. My life was slowing down too, I was just getting myself settled into a new job. I weighed in at about 240 pounds at that time, and I was extremely upset about it. I think that the main problem was that I never got any exercise. I've never been an over-eater, but what I did eat wasn't always the smartest choice. I became more depressed than ever at this point, and I felt completely hopeless because I didn't think I'd ever be able to lose weight again. But even though the depression drove me to rock bottom, it also got me to realize that I really had a problem that I needed to work on. I've always been more concerned about my mental health than my weight, but I knew that if I lost the weight, it would give me the energy I needed to tackle the depression. The only problem was that I didn't know how to do it.

Like anything I've ever learned to do in my life, I just had to jump right in. If I just sat and did nothing then I was only going to get bigger. I stopped having so many snacks throughout the day, and tried to focus on well-rounded regular meals. I also started going to bed at a regular time and waking up at a regular time -- extra early, because I started walking for half an hour every morning before work. I was always awake by the time I got to work. My meals consisted of lots of mixed vegetables, light sauces, and chicken or noodles. I took cereal to work to snack on during the day, and that helped to keep me from going for the fridge or the candy store. After following this plan for 5 months, I had lost 80 pounds! I still want to lose 20 more pounds, but now I feel I have the confidence to get me there safely and easily.