I've battled weight all of my life. It's quite depressing sometimes, but once I get to an all time low, I decide to do something about it.

In 7th grade, I went on a diet with my dad and I lost about 30ish pounds. From then on until May of 2004, I weighed about the same weight (give or take 10lbs) which was 140. In fact, June of 2004, I weighed 135lbs - one of my all time lows. I was flabbergasted and SO happy. I had finally conquered my weight. A month later, in July of 2004, my grandfather died and I became very depressed... and when I'm depressed, I eat anything that doesn't crawl away from me. I always became a vegetarian in that time, so that may have contributed to my weight gain. Long story short, I gained TONS of weight. After a year of "getting over it" (not really over it, but I'm accepting it) I'm looking at my body and going "how could I have gained THAT much!?!". Yes, defintely suffering from my depression.

On August 8, 2005 I decided I was sick of the way I looked. I cut down to 1200 calories, eating ONLY when I was hungry. Eating lots of veggies, no meat of course, very little bread (I can't remember the last time I had a PIECE of bread), and just low calorie foods. I've found that if I drink more water (it's good for you!!) I will eat less and less. And eventually, my actual stomach was getting smaller so I was eating less at every meal. I weigh in every Monday morning, so in the past 3 weeks, I've lost 20lbs. Unfortunately, I've got SO much weight to go.

Tips? Exercise is the key. I had to give up my gym membership because my doctor doesn't want me doing extreme exercising because of my bad back, and said light exercise is what I should be doing. I was burning like 700 calories a day at the gym on days I did cardio. Just get your heart rate up - a brisk walk, a light jog, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline, etc etc. It all helps you in the end.

Good luck with the weight loss. I know how hard it is to loose weight that's just been building up after so long. It sounds like the diet-nurse helped you a lot! Share more with us about what she said!!