After 16 years of gaining weight and being unhappy, I’ve given myself the best 25th birthday present, I’m down 25 pounds.

Weighed myself the day after graduation last year (having been the unhealthiest mentally and physically that I’d ever been), and weighed in at 231lbs with a BMI of 36.2.

Today I shed a happy tear, because I weighed in at 206 with a BMI of 32.3. Obviously that’s still not great, but it’s the largest amount of weight I’ve ever lost and actually kept off. My diet has completely changed, I’ve given up bread, crisps and fizzy drinks. I’ve started walking daily, and more than anything, even when things go horribly wrong, I’m dealing with them in a different way than binge eating. The cycle is broken. I turn 25 next week, and this feels like the end of an excruciating quarter century, and the beginning of the rest of my life.

I think I may be at the stage where I’d feel comfortable enough to join a gym (never thought I’d be saying this)…would anyone happen to have any recommendations for a beginner exercise regime please?

Yay!