This is my first ever blog post. I will be talking a little bit about myself, how I got to where I am now, and what my goals are for the future. 

As a child up until puberty, I was always very slim and very active. Around twelve and thirteen, my body began to change and I was starting to feel very embarrassed by it. I was growing boobs, my butt was getting bigger, my hips were getting wider, and, worst of all (to me), my thighs were getting wider.

Of course, these changes were not bad. They were actually very normal. However, I didn't realize that as a young teenager, and it made me feel pretty self-conscious. For the first time in my life, I was noticing my body and weight in a negative way. 

I realized that although I was still active and playing sports all the time, I could no longer eat as much as I wanted anymore. I also realized that I had an unhealthy addiction and relationship to food. I was embarrassed about both of these things, but chose to do nothing about it.

When I was fifteen, I got very sick with autoimmune problems. This caused me to drop out of sports and be on bedrest for quite a while. I began to hate my body even more, because I was losing muscle, and it was making me feel fatter. I began to eat less and less because I didn't have much of an appetite being sick. That year, I lost 40 pounds, and my family was pretty worried about me.

Once I started feeling better, I began to eat regularly, and immediately gained back all the weight I had lost, pluse some. My unhealthy eating habits and addiction to food came back, and I've been gaining ever since. Now, I am nineteen, and have between 60-70 lbs to lose before I am back down to a healthy weight for my body type.

I have many reasons for wanting to lose this weight and gain fitness. There are four main ones:

  1. I want to be healthy and lead a healthy lifestyle
  2. I want to be in the best shape of my life for my twenties and college
  3. I want to be able to do more active things with my friends and family, without feeling out of breath and embarrassed
  4. I want to feel more comfortable in my own skin, and not worry about what people are thinking about me if I'm wearing a swim suit or tight clothing.

For this first month, my goal is to eat gluten free with only one cheat day per week, drink eight glasses of water per day, and work out three times per week. As the months go on, I will be making these goals more and more challenging!

I am hoping DietBet will keep my motivated. I am already very excited to start this journey in a short six days! I cannot wait to see what I'll look like at the end of these six months! My goal is to lose more than 10% of my body weight, because I can do it! By the end of this challenge, I hope to be down at least 20 lbs! 

Thanks for reading,

Jules