My Story and Purpose!

My entire childhood I was obese. I was always that kids who was the biggest one in there class. I really didn't get much teasing. I guess it was because I had so many friends who would stick up for me. I never even really realized how big I had gotten.

By the time I graduated High School I weight 250 pounds. With the freshman 15 I hit 265 by the end of my first year of college. My Junior year I really had no idea how much I weighed. I was afraid to get on the scale. I was quickly growing out of my size 22 clothes. The Doctor put me on a strict 1200 calorie diet. I managed to stick with it for a semester, which is hard to do eating in a cafeteria all of the time. I managed to lose 30 pounds but gained it all back that summer.

In the Spring of '04 I had moved in with another girl who was over weight. We talked several times about wanting to lose weight. We would start a random diet plan and then end up crashing a few weeks later. We managed to stick to the South Beach Diet for about 3 months. I lost about 20 pounds but then turned around and put it right back on. We Yo-Yoed together for that year.

In February of '05 my mindset changed. I had grown tired of being over weight. My weight was holding me back from doing so many things I wanted to do and it was also interfering with me being a great teacher. In January my lower back had started hurting and I figured it was because of my weight. I had made up my mind that no matter what it took I was going to get the weight off this time.

On February 9th, I received a phone call from my roommate. She had gone down to the LA Weight loss centers and wanted me to come down and join with her. They gave us an amazing deal for signing up together. Though it was quite expensive for a college student and a first year teacher we took the plunge together.

Over the next few months we were losing weight quite quickly. It helped that we were doing it together. It made our house a "safe place" with no unhealthy food choices around. It also helped that we ran in the same circle of friends. When we were all out together we weren't as tempted to stray from our plan because we were there to support each other.

However, in the midst of losing weight I also lost my friend. My roommate started dating someone in March, by May they were engaged, and by August she and I were no longer speaking to each other. It is a long story about how all that came about, however being angry with her actually kept me going. I was bound and determined to reach my goal without her! Plus, I knew she had already slid back into her old lifestyle habits so the fact that she wasn't losing any more weight was a motivation as well.


So for the next year and a half I kept plugging away. I had changed so many things about my life. I would come home and walk the dogs instead of watching TV. I was making healthier choices in my food. I would crave fruits and veggies if I hadn't eaten them all day. I could tell that I was healthier.

In the winter of '06 I decided that I wanted to train to run in a 5k. I managed to make it to running 2 miles by February. In February my life began to change again. After having 2 years of a pretty consistent schedule, my evenings had been rocked by dating.

It is amazing how you can lose sight of things when you start focusing elsewhere. All of the time and energy I had put into getting healthy had quickly shifted. Instead of working the guys in around my exercise schedule I just plugged them in instead of exercise. I didn't run my 5k as I had intended and I was eating out alot more. In 4 months time I had dated several different guys and managed to gain 10 pounds in the process.

Then June and July are insanely busy as always and I have been out of town a ton. Being out of town and having my schedule yet again flipped around I have gained another 5 pounds. I have have had enough!

I have decided that in order to help keep me accountable I am going to write my daily accomplishments and defeats right here for everyone to see. This isn't just about losing weight it is about being healthy and happy with who I am. Hopefully this can give others encouragement and hope to step out and make healthier life choices. I am far from being an expert at all of this. I am just a girl that has decided to make a change!