Hello all - where do I begin? For as long as I can remember, I've battled the weight loss demon. I can only recall one successful diet and that one involved regular exercise, journaling, healthy food choices and a few unhealthy habits to rid my body of extra calories (pills, diuretics, etc). I was slim & fit throughout high school and along came the famous "freshman 15" in college. I continued to gain throughout my college years and absent the period mentioned above, I've been overweight every since. This time I want to conquer this lifelong battle for good and I want to do it in a healthy way. My awesome younger brother (he's down 59lbs & counting) shared this website with me several weeks ago and I finally decided to join fatsecret and all of its wonderful features & benefits - namely support from thousands of members. I'm also excited about the online journal feature and the ability to graph my weight losses. I come from a family whose Mom could make & bake foods you literally could not resist - so this is going to be a very very huge challenge, but after 20+ years of battling obesity - I'm raring & ready to go. Some of my biggest temptations are soft drinks, bread, fried foods, and anything processed/white, i.e., sugar, pasta, etc. Please pray my strength & endurance to succeed at my weight loss goal of 150lbs. Thanks & God Bless!