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Where do I begin when it comes to describing my weight loss/ weight gain journey?? I was always fairly average in high school. When it came to college - I went nuts. The freshman 15?? Forget about it - I ended up gaining 40 pounds during my 4 year stay at Washington College. What can I say? The loaded baked potato bar was just too much for me.
In the fall of 2002 I began my teaching career and didn't like the physical person I had become. Outside, in the "real" world, I saw myself for the first time as someone who was overweight... someone who was not happy with how she looked in the mirror.
It was time to make a change...
Over the next 11 months, I changed my life around. I began eating according to the Weight Watchers "points" system. This was easy to do, since I was making a first year teacher's salary and didn't have that much money for food anyway! A small chicken cutlet with a small helping of mashed potatoes and green beans became my staple dinner. And like every good diet, I had good days, and I had days where the temptation of Taco Bell was just too much. I kept a food journal and wrote in it daily. I tracked what I ate and how much. I began to exercise, regularly, for the first time in my life. The apartment complex I lived in had a small gym and I became a stairmaster user.
And the pounds came off.
For the first time in my life, I received compliments on how I looked and how much I had lost. I began to have confidence in myself and I liked what I saw when I looked in the mirror. After over a year of hard work, I was 120 pounds, thin and loving it.
Why, oh why, couldn't I have kept up this new lifestyle??
The years went by, and the pounds came back on. Slowly, but they returned.
Over the next 8 years I tried many different techniques to take them off again. Fat flushes, Weight Watchers again, the South Beach diet, NutriSystem, you name it - I tried it. I did well for a while in 2006 when I took up running. Never being much of an athlete in high school, this was probably my highest physical acclaim. I trained for months and finally ran my first 5K in the Spring of 2006. Several more 5Ks followed, and eventually a 10K. When I ran, I kept the weight down. Unfortunately, I soon got out of that routine as well and again, the weight returned.
Then came harsh reality - Fall 2010 and 190 pounds. I was disgusted. Even at my highest in college, I had never weighed so much. I knew that once again I HAD to do something. But this time I need to make it a lifestyle change and not just a way to temporarily lose weight.
So here I am.
I've made my weight loss quest very public this time. I do this for motivational, inspirational, and accountability purposes. It helps me feel like I'm not doing this alone and that I have the support and encouragement of friends and family near and far. I've posted my weight on Facebook and now I've created this blog.
I'm determined to transform myself back into that slender girl who had confidence in her appearance. I'm ready to fit back into all those cute, SMALL clothes I bought years ago.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your support - now let's do this thing!
