Friday, October 12, 2012

My story...

To be honest, I probably should have started this blog back at the end of January when I started back with Weight Watchers... But I don't know if at that time I really felt like I could do this, lose 100 pounds. It makes me cringe a bit to know that I had let myself get to the point where I had 100 pounds to lose, but there is nothing I can do about that now. I just have to get it done and get back to the old me (physically anyway).

I started played competitive soccer when I was 9. I was small and fast and I had a great aptitude for the game that I love. I excelled at it and by high school I was ready to play in college and to have the opportunity to represent my country on the national team. After playing at SMU, where we went to the final four my senior year (but sadly didn't win), I continued to play professionally in Brazil and semi-pro both in Chicago and Dallas.

I love the game of soccer and all that it has afforded me in my life - travel, free education, and some of the best friends a girl could ask for. What I didn't realize was that the fitness level that I had to keep up all those years was doing a great job hiding my horrible eating (and drinking) habits. So, at the end of the summer in 2001, I finally decided to a hang up my competitive soccer boots and give my body some rest.

The only problem with that was that I didn't change any of my other habits, I simply removed the one habit that was keeping everything in check... So, I quickly gained a bit of weight. I was still in my 20's, and the following fall of 2002 I was ready to marry my best friend. I lost 30 lbs in 2 months prior to the wedding - simply by following the points program with Weight Watchers. I was amazed at what tracking what I was eating did for me and how great I felt. After our wedding though, my big event was over and I fell off the band wagon.

Over the next 9 years I would follow weight watchers for several months and then would get off track.. It seemed like I would lose/gain the same 30-40 pounds every year. It was SO frustrating because I became so sick of being overweight.

We started trying to have a family literally right after getting married :)... Finally in 2005 we were referred to a specialist. After almost 5 years of frustration, we had to change our strategy and find a surrogate to carry for us and luckily we had a friend that stepped up and helped us bring our beautiful twin daughters into the world in January of 2010. 

I knew at that time I needed to make a change. I didn't want the example I was setting for my girls to be on of inactivity, horrible eating habits and that being overweight and doing nothing about it was okay. I continued with the few months on/few months off program. But finally in January of this year I decided enough was enough. It was time for a serious change and I needed to get it done like now..

So, I set a goal for myself, I needed to lose 95 pounds by the following February. I was not sure how I was going to make it happen, I just needed it to happen. So, I signed back up with Weight Watchers and got to it. I was doing really well until one of my best friends died suddenly in March. She was so young (31) and one of the leading causes of her pulmonary embolism was her morbid obesity.. That sent me into a bit of a tailspin. All I could think about was what if that happened to me and I left my beautiful daughters without a mom.. It makes me tear up still today when I think about it.

So, I needed a new, better, more intense plan. Changing my eating habits was a great start, but I needed to do more - I wanted to do more. I had bought a Groupon in February for a boot camp and decided that in June I was ready to give it a try. I signed up and realized that it was going to hurt, but I am an athlete and I knew that my body would really respond to the effort and energy I was putting forth.

Man do I love it, I am about 4 1/2 months into it and I have not felt this great in a long time... I am tired, my body is sore but I LOVE it!! So far, I am down 57.2 pounds.. I have a ways to go, but I thought now would be a perfect time to start chronicling my journey. One of my uncles actually suggested it about a month ago but I blew it off. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to do this for me. Another way for me to stay accountable - just like weighing in each Thursday at lunch and showing up at boot camp each day.

My plan is to post each day with how my food log looked the day before, my activity points earned (and % of daily activity reached) and just one thing new that I either learned, was able to do the first time, new recipe... whatever just a new tidbit each day. I might even occasionally post about my beautiful daughters (Camille and Avery - now 2 3/4 :)  and my awesome husband whose support and love is truly making all of this possible!

I have no idea if anyone will ever read it, or if I will even share it with those in my life or not, but I think the point of blogging, for me anyway, is the chance to put my thoughts and feelings down on 'paper' and not be worried about who might see it!!

I think that is plenty for my first post - lordy I apparently have a lot to say.. Take care for now and I am looking forward to posting tomorrow about my journey... XOXO...

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