Hello!

I am a 20-year-old woman who is currently out of school and looking for things to do! So, I've decided to train for a marathon. In September I was living in Wyoming and that is where I started my training, now I've moved back home and am up to 10 miles. I am hoping that joining FatSecret will help me loose some extra pounds which will make running long distances easier on my joints.

I was turned on to this site by my sister who joined in a successful attempt, thus far, to loose some of her last, nagging baby weight.

Recently, my dad was diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes and that has motivated the entire family to up our activity level, which was already fairly high, and drop our food intake. It's just another incentive to maintain healthy lifestyles.

When I was in high school I participated unofficially in Weight Watchers with my mother and lost about 15 pounds. What helped me the most was recording what I had eaten each day, keeping my accountable for my choices. I am no longer willing to deprive myself of foods that I love and I don't think that diets are a good route to go when striving for lifestyle changes so I'm using FatSecret's food list and journal entries as a place where I can see what I have been eating all day long. I am more concerned with lessening my intake than strictly eating boring, flavorless foods in a futile attempt to loose weight.

As a woman who has been slightly overweight, yet always active and very healthy, I have been in tune with my relationship to food for a long time. I don't have extreme fluctuations, but I am quite small and any small changes in weight are very noticeable. Being aware of myself choices and how they effect my body has kept me at reasonably healthy level, but I want to keep myself in check and not assume that I'm in the clear! A healthy lifestyle is always a work in progress and I plan to stay up to date as possible.