Hi! I am Amber. I am a mom of three (one boy and two girls).  They are the loves of my life.  I am happily married (his name is Matt).  He is awesome!  He loves me just the way I am...and I tell him that is the reason I have gotten so fat, haha!  We went on vacation last summer and he had taken pictures of me in my bathing suit.  When we got home and I loaded them to my computer, I was horrified.  I see me, but I never really look at me.  I can't believe I stood out there on that beach with all people in there bikinis while I looked like that.  I have been happily hiding behind all my layers of clothing since then.  I am so white from not wearing shorts or tank tops that I would make any vampire jealous!
I have horrible genetics.  My mom and dad were both morbidly obese. I am guessing that my dad topped out somewhere near 600 pounds at one time or another.  Anyhow, in 2001, at the age of 50, my dad passed away in the middle of the night from a massive heart attack.  In 2008, also at the age of 50, my mother had a heart attack in the morning and died holding the hand of my, then 16 year old sister. So here I am, nearing 30 and I am scared.  Scared that this will be me.  Scared to leave my children to soon.  Scared to leave my husband in charge of these "all things crazy" sort of children.  So a few weeks ago I started a very low carbohydrate diet...for the second time in my life.  It worked very well for me 8 years ago, but I didn't stay with it. And now I have so much weight to lose...like 150 pounds! It was more but I have lost 15 pounds so far.

I am not great with exercise and I tend to over-obsess with the food, which is why I can't always stay on a diet. I remember back to high school...I was either on a no-eat diet or I ate everything diet.  I want to live healthier.  However buying all the ingredients for a  five person healthy dinner is way more than pound of lunch meat and a loaf of bread.  It's not right.  The government spends billions on education programs for a healthier lifestyle but no one can afford it.  So take those billions and help knock down the prices of healthy foods.  My husband and I live on a very fixed budget.  Having three children is quite expensive, even with all the DIY things that I do.  So this budget/diet thing has been and will be a challenge...that is for certain!  But I thought having a blog will keep me on track and maybe I can post ideas as I get them.  I thought also maybe people could be part of my journey helping me along the way and giving me the umph I need to shed these 150 pounds.  I know I have God on my side and he is telling me that this is the right path.