I'm Betty, I'm 26, 1m71 (5'6") and currently weigh about 76Kg (167lbs). My ultimate goal is 68kg but I'm aiming for 1kg/month as little mini goals.

I've pretty much always been on the chubby side judging from my baby pictures :) Seriously though, I put on most of my excess weight during my college years and some more in the following years until I reached almost 85Kg by the end of 2006. That's when I moved back to Egypt for work in a sustainable development project and got reunited with a childhood friend. He's been by my side every since, without ever pushing he got me motivated into starting to exercise, I especially enjoyed boxing :) Over the course of 2007 my weight dropped to 74Kg, though I didn't exercise much over the winter I was able to maintain it for 6 months until my job contract ended in January and I found myself with a lot of idle time, within two months 77kg showed up on my scale again.

I got back to the gym in March and for the first time I've started counting calories. Though I haven't lost much weight on the scale, my clothes are fitting a lot looser and my posture is much better. Over the years I've found that my weight gain comes at times of emotional difficulty (exam stress, unemployment, PMS etc), though I am still jobless exercising manages to occupy some of my time and it helps reduce the stress of job hunting so that I don't end up downing a gallon of ice cream. Counting calories is another way of reducing stress because it helps me feel a little bit more in control, I tend to overestimate what I'm eating and underestimate what I'm burning and try maintaining a calorie deficit on most days. Hopefully this will help me shed some weight slowly and get me accustomed to a better eating style.