I have always struggled with my weight due to, unfortunately, a slow metabolism, a bit of laziness and a big love of food. It was an issue when I was in high school, but I would work out regularly and eat pretty healthy and be fine. I was within a normal weight for my height, but I always had that insecurity that most girls go through where I would obsess with what size I was, which I why I was so careful.
Sometime after high school and in my first year of college I sort of gave up on my weight. I stopped watching everthing that went into my mouth and if I went up a size, that was fine with me. This led me to a size 16, but I was kind of happy with that. I was comfortable for the most part in jeans and tops and never felt the need to do much about it. My husband is amazingly supportive of everything I do, which is why I never really cared how I looked. If he was happy with me, I was happy with me too.
Last year my husband and I were planning our summer vacation and I stepped on the scale to find it read 199 pounds. Uh-Oh! I always said I would never reach 200 and here I was on the cusp of the worst feeling I have felt in a long time. We were getting ready to head to South Carolina which means beaches, bathing suits, shorts and tank tops and I was the heaviest I had ever been. I started getting to work and ended up losing 6 pounds before vacation by doing a combination of walking and watching my portions.
When we arrived at our first hotel on vacation I decided to take a quick shower before dinner. I went into the bathroom to find one of those HUGE bathroom mirrors, which I do not have in my bathroom, and was shocked and sad to see myself naked in that mirror. I think I cried in the bathroom that night. Here I was on a wonderful vacation with my wonderful man and I was miserable with the way I looked. I ate pretty healthy the rest of the time we were away and walked as much as I could; I even joined the 3 Mile Wake Up Walk our resort had during the mornings. I came home with the weight still off but managed to gain 3 pounds back in about a month.
This is a pic from that vacation. My husband and I had been riding in the car
most of the day, so excuse the bad hair. This is my "before" picture.
When we got home I knew things had to change, so I called a friend of mine who is a marathon runner and athletic trainer. She helped me start running and we decided to get my eating under control I would go to Weight Watchers. I’m almost a year in and though I have only lost 19 pounds so far (I lost more and gained some back), I’m determined to take the rest of this weight off, which is the reason for this blog. I want to start this journey now so I can develop a healthy attitude for the rest of my life. I want to balance eating a cookie now and then with working out and somehow fit that into a packed schedule with school, work, husband, dog, house to care for, etc. I'm currently a full-time student finishing my RN degree and I work part-time for an insurance company.
Also, we are heading to Florida on another vacation in October and I'm determined to be comfortable with my body by the time we leave.
If you have ever thought about running, join me as I will share my workouts. I love to cook and have developed some great healthy recipes I'm excited to share with you!
