I have never written a blog post before (I am a bad 20-something). But I have also never joined an online weight loss group before either, so hey, why not.
I joined this group today (November 20th) and will have my first weigh in tomorrow morning. I went out and bought a full-length mirror and filled my fridge with healthy food to start off the ocassion on the right foot.
I am not used to being overweight/obese. I was very average throughout high school (although, I didn't realize it at the time - I always thought I was fat because my best friend was a 0/2 when we graduated - so comparatively I didn't realize I was normal). Then, like most things in my life, I decided to be an overachiever when I went to college. Not only did I gain my "freshman 15", I gained my "freshman 40". Then, I gave up. I bought my first plus-sized jeans, and instead of being afraid, I just kept buying bigger clothes. It plateaud around the time I finished my undergrad and started grad school (which was correlated with a much bigger life event that also stopped around that time period). At that point I had gained about 80 pounds within the course of 2.5 years.
Since then, I have been able to take a little over 40 pounds of it back off, but it has not been easy. I had lost over 50 pounds, and I have subsequently put around 8-9 back on (which I am not too unahppy about as I just moved to a new city and started a PhD program, I will cut myself a little slack). While I am proud of myself for the work I have done thus far, I have much bigger (or smaller, rather) aspirations for myself. I have tried different things, I used a Weight Watchers mobile app last year, which was fine for calorie counting, but because I didn't go to any group meetings, I didn't have the accountability aspect that I feel is key to success.
So, with the encouragement of a friend, I have decided to give this a try. I am wanting a lifestyle change, thus I chose the 6-month option. I don't want this to be a quick fad. I want this to be something I stick with until I am back down to a weight where I can feel confident.
I have two friends who are in this particular game with me. And I am excited to grow (well - shrink) with them. This is going to be a long, process. But I have never felt better about starting a new diet than I do today.