Hey everybody, I'm Francine, and I'm too fat for my own good.

This is probably my third or fourth attempt in earnest to lose weight. I'm about 40 pounds overweight now, and even after miserable amounts of dieting and working out, I've found it really, really difficult to drop pounds. It's been really discouraging, and I hate it. But I have to try. I want to be back at a reasonable weight before I try and have children, so I don't just put MORE weight on top of what I already don't need.

So far, I've found this site pretty helpful, but what would be even MORE helpful would be a) a workout/motivation buddy with a goal similar to mine, b) a way to know EXACTLY how many calories I'm burning/taking in, and c) a free personal trainer. With those things, I feel like I could make a lot of progress. Without them, I don't know. All I can do is hope.