Where To Begin

I have another blog that most of my friends and family follow, but I have dedicated that one to my life as a mother.  I am starting this one to blog about the other big part of my life, weight and exercise.  Weight has been a big deal to me for what seems like forever.  I was pretty heavy in junior high and was teased, but it didn't become something I thought about until I was a freshman in high school.  I have been watching what I eat, counting calories, starving myself and every thing else that seemed to work at the moment ever since.  Don't get me wrong, just because I was watching what I ate did not mean I would eat healthy.  I would eat the crappy food, feel horrible, and then do it again or starve myself.

I got to my heaviest, before kids, during my freshman year in college.  Then, my sophomore and junior year, I did the six week body makeover (more than 6 weeks though) and had great success.  I went from around 200lbs to 130-135lbs.  Of course my new weight was great, but that particular program also taught me to eat healthy multiple times a day.  This was a completely different philosophy than the one I followed in high school.  It was a wake up call and healthy.

I kept the weight off for a few years and then I got married.  I took that milestone in my life as a time to do what I want and not worry about weight.  Uh huh, you heard it right and that lead to a weight gain.  Not a huge gain, but definitely an unhealthy gain.  Then, before I knew it, I was pregnant with my daughter.  Talk about letting yourself go...70 lbs later(on top of what I had already gained) I had a beautiful little girl and was completely disgusted with myself.  So, I changed my life and started exercising and watching what I ate.  When my daughter was a little over 1 yr old, I was finally down to about 155lbs.  I was happy with my success, but wanted to lose about 20 more.

Then, 3 months later, I was pregnant with my son.  I told myself I would continue my healthy eating and hope to only gain about 20 lbs for the entire pregnancy.  I did well for the first 6 months, but then hormones or the love of food took over.  I stopped looking at the scale, but I would guess it was a 60 lbs gain.  Oh well, I love both of my kids and I would not change anything.

So, here I am today at 172 lbs with a self esteem that is a little better, but am not even close to being happy or comfortable with my current body.  Why start blogging?  Well, I have hit a plateau (actually gained some weight in the last week)and it would be really easy for me to give up, but I don't want to.  My ultimate goal: 135 lbs.  This is not an easy goal, but it is attainable.

This blog will be my own way to keep myself accountable each day and to keep track of my details along the way.  I plan on weighing in twice a week: Tuesdays and Saturdays and keeping a log of my daily food intake and exercise.  My goals will be to exercise 3 times a week and consume 1200 calories a day, eat healthy, but mainly work on portion control.  I will post a new pic of myself at the beginning of each month.  I have a few friends Aj and Stephanie that weigh in each week and update on their progress.  I am hoping to help them and for them to keep me in line as well.  Until tomorrow...