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I'm a 25 year old mother of three and wife of one. I'm registered as a nurse, but right now, I'm just an full-time online student and a SAHM. Sometime in the past year, my stress level reached its tipping point and I tried to compensate by adopting some awful habits, mainly a reliance on caffeine, sugar, and chocolate while skipping real meals. The effects of this are evident in my renewed utilization of my old maternity pants (yikes!). Its kind of depressing and I really want to go back to using my "real" wardrobe. Earlier this year, I joined Sparkpeople, but it didn't really speak to me. I couldn't keep up with the calorie counting and exercise tracking. I found this site last week, and after reading over several articles, it just clicks. I love the idea of seeing life as a "quest" and developing your character as you would in a game. A couple of years ago, my sister and I turned our friends and family members into Magic the Gathering creatures. I believe I was something like a rogue merfolk wizard. Fun stuff. So I read the "15 Mistakes" that beginners make, and I have to say I fall into about eight of those categories. The biggest issues for me are overeagerness, accountability, rationalizing, and collecting underpants. I digest massive amounts of information without knowing what to do with it, and when I finally do, I try to conquer everything at once. When that fails, I don't hold myself accountable and I am an incredible excuse maker. Even I'm starting to get fed up with my excuses. Keeping my weaknesses in mind, my first task is to defeat the coffee monster.