Hello everyone! My name is Amber, and live in Nashville, TN. I’m 25 years old. I love my family, I’m very into religion, reading, music, writing when the mood strikes…and pretty much everything.

My journey on CC began April 2nd, 2006. At my highest I weighed 348lbs. I looked in the mirror and was repulsed. I couldn't stand myself. I hurt every time I walked, and I had all the typical problems of someone overweight.

I found CC one night because I was trying to find the nutrition information in something I'd eaten and stumbled across this site purely by accident. I read through the information here, and saw how supportive this community was and decided to join and see what results I could get. I didn't think I'd get anywhere. I had started "Diets" before and given up on those. This one I gave a real chance. So, I began watching what I ate, counting my calories, and exercising and slowly the scale showed me a lower number. I was making great progress and was thrilled about it.

Then in September of 2006, I hit a point in my personal life that everything just came crashing down. I was dealing with severe depression and other factors. I was also beating myself up about the process. I was losing weight, yes, but I was not doing it with a healthy mindset. I was focusing too much on the numbers and too much on the bad things I’d done. I beat myself up constantly for the mistakes I’d make. Which led me to eat more because I felt guilty about it, and it was just a vicious cycle.

I fell away from the site, and slowly began eating the way I had for the first 24 years of life. I thought I was happier with that, and for a while I was relieved. It felt good not to count everything I ate, and I felt good. I felt a little guilt because I knew it would put the weight back on, but I didn’t care. I was too depressed about everything else in my life to care.

Slowly, and because of the grace of God, I came out of that depression. There wasn’t one thing specifically that happened, but I feel better about things. I got married to the love of my life in January of 2007. He is so supportive of me and everything I choose to do. For the first little while of marriage I thought I’d come back onto the wagon, but had no motivation.

Slowly my motivation has kicked back in and I'm re-joining the fight. I've gained back almost all the weight I lost the first time, but this time I'm committed to myself, and my future children to make me a priority and be healthy and happy.

This site is wonderful and I’m grateful that I’m a member of it! I love talking about my weight loss journey and learning new things from new people. So let’s be friends and conquer this monster together!