Hello to anyone who may be reading this! My name is Alex, and I wanted to officially set all of my bad eating habits aside and to finally start living a healthy lifestyle. Before I get started, I wanted to say that I've been on this site before and have found help and supportive people already, yet still haven't made the first step to changing myself as a whole (the reason being because I knew I would be traveling to visit family members for a whole month and that I'd be packing on a few lbs with all of the food they love to guzzle down my throat.) Coming back from my travels, I can confirm that I now weigh around 163.8 lbs. I've gained around 3 lbs within that time, (and I'm sure that I may weigh a bit more tomorrow because of the binge I may or may not have had just a few moments ago...) and I am happy to say that I'm ready to finally start living the life of my dreams. I'm tired all of the time, I am cranky, and I feel downright awful when looking at myself in the mirror because of all the cystic pimples that grow and the love handles that pop in to say 'hello' from the top edge of my pants. This feeling of depression and self negativity should not be something a 17 year old, or anyone really, should be feeling. Oh. Wait. Did I forget to mention that I was 17? Ha... my bad. Now I'll give you all the chance to see how bad my lifestyle was as a kid and even going through my teenage years. From what I learned from my doctor, that is at the tipping point of a healthy weight for a 35-40 year old who stands at my height of 5'7''. A 35 to 40 year old. I'm 16 turning 17 in four days. Mind. Completely. Blown. At this age, I should be thinking of the billions of new chapters starting in my life like getting my driver's license, (Or a more personal thing for me: Being able to attend Uni 2 years earlier than my peers.) but instead I'm focusing on the number the scale showed and the last pack of fudge Oreo's I consumed ravenously with greedy fingers and the wild eyes of an animal. Ugh. I feel sick in the gut. I hate that feeling. I hate knowing that I wasted so much of my life guilt eating and just sitting on my bed feeling awful about myself because I restricted my calories so much that I would binge, and then I'd do it all over again. So now I say: Enough. No, I will not wait for the next day to come because I already binge ate this morning. I am starting today. I am starting right now. I am making an oath to myself that I will drop sweets, and I will now focus on living my life to the fullest and consuming whole, healthy foods that will work with me and not against me. I will live a holistic lifestyle, and I will not be scared to eat a banana sometimes (which, thanks to my dad, was always wired in my brain that it was a yellow thing made up of carbs and sugar that will make me gain weight.) One of the goals that I have for this week is to focus on the nutritional side of whole foods, and not the (natural) sugars, carbs, or fats that come along with it. I want to think of all the vitamins, minerals, and really why or how that healthy fats or other macros might be helping my body overall. Intuitive eating is also an idea I want to practice more of. I want to set weekly goals on this page as well as my progress because I strongly feel like my mindset is finally in the right space, right now, when talking about my approach to food and weight (fat) loss. Now, if anyone has any advise for my current sugar addiction, please tell me or send me some articles to read more on it. Hah, doesn't if feel weird to know that a 16- going on 17- year old kid has an addiction? I heard that, scientifically speaking, sugar is in fact a drug. I can't wait for my mom to come home from the store so I can walk up to her and say: "Hey mom! Did you know I'm a drug addict?" I'd probably get kicked out of Uni before it even starts for me... Oh well... Anyways, sorry for the loads of rambling and I thank anyone who took their time to read this. I hope you (Reader) have a marvelous day! 
