About
I am 5 feet 9 inches, 242 pounds. I am 27 years old. Most of my life, I have been overweight to some degree. When I was younger, I was probably overweight but not too concerned about it until middle school. Once I got to middle school I became much more insecure about how much I weighed. In high school, I became more overweight, despite being involved in sports and many activities. At one point I was over 200lbs. Then at the end of high school and during college, I lost weight, my lowest being 168lbs. When I got married, I weighed 172lbs. For the last five years, I have been weight cycling, but mostly gaining. The most significant weight gain occurring over the last 2-3 years, where I gained more than 50lbs. My highest weight (on a day I was brave enough to weigh) was 250. I have stabilized my weight and have weighed within 5lbs of 240 for about 4 months.
I actually know a lot about nutrition and exercise because my minor was in physical education. But knowing a lot about a subject and being able to apply that knowledge are two different things. But, in an effort to apply what I know, I have come up with a way of planning meals for the week because as the famous saying goes “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” and I have increased my exercise, starting with walking my dog.
My cravings - I drink a lot of soda. I like to treat myself to a soda on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day. I used to drink diet soda, which helped me control my weight, but I really think it was harming my stomach and who knows what else. Now I can’t drink it without wanting to gag. I also drink coffee, usually with no-sugar-added creamer. I also eat out a lot, and I eat fast food. I like sweets, but lately I have been craving them less and less.
There are a lot of reasons why I want to lose weight, probably the first being that I want to be healthy and feel better and I would like to have children, and I am not ready for that they way I am now. However, I do have more superficial reasons. My ten year high school reunion is coming up (I don’t want to go weighing more that I did in high school), and I have several weddings coming up, one of which I am a bridesmaid (I don’t want to be overweight for eternity, in every photo). So my philosophy is “now or never,” if I plan on losing weight, now is the time – otherwise I may as well accept myself for who I am and be happy with that.
