The New Start to My Weight Loss Journey

As of this morning, I weigh 259. I am setting a goal to loose at least 5 lbs per month. That sounds manageable, right? I am 5'2" and I want to get down to about 140-150 lbs.


I HAVE to do something about my weight. I haven't been to the doctor in years, but I know that I am not healthy. I am to the point now where I feel that if I don't do something, I am not going to live much longer or if I do, it will be full of taking medication every day, diabetes, heart problems, and many of the other problems that come along with being overweight. I have seen enough family members who had some of those issues to know that living like that, is not truly living.


I am 29  and honestly, I have not even began to live my life. I want to travel, get married, and have kids. I know that my weight is holding me back from a lot of that. The last time that I got on a plan (which was about 4 or 5 years ago), I barely got the seat belt on. I almost had to ask for an extender. I think that the only reason that I got the damn thing on was because I was so determined to not feel the embarrassment of having to ask for an extender! Two years ago I went to Cedar Pointe with my family and the one ride that I wanted to get on the most, I couldn't because the seat belt wouldn't fit. At first, I blamed the seat belt for not being long enough, then I blamed Cedar Pointe for being discriminatory towards "fluffy" people. But really (and I mean really, really), the fault is mine and mine alone.


There are dozens, even hundreds, of overweight people that feel like this. But you know what realization I came to, WE HAVE CONTROL OF OUR BODY, OUR MIND, OUR HEALTH (outside of genetics and being overweight is not genetic, families just have the tendency to do it together), WHAT WE EAT, AND HOW WE THINK OF OUR SELVES.


I say that we do this together!!!

First, I am going to tell you the problems that I have identified in myself:

1. I snack, snack, snack, snack, snack, snack!!! There wouldn't be anything wrong with that if I snacked on fresh fruits and veggies but, obviously, that has not been the case!!!
2. I don't like to cook for myself, so I eat more processed foods that are quick and easy. Cooking (and laundry) would be much more pleasant for me if I had people to cook for!!!!
3. I LOVE bread. On average, I go through about 1.5 loaves of bread per week eating sandwiches because they are quick and easy.
4. After two weeks of exercise, I lack motivation to keep going even though the number on the scale has gotten smaller. I honestly don't know what that is all about because you would think that having proof in numbers that the workout is working would be motivation for me to keep going, but for some reason it is not.
5. Once I get home from work,  I don't want to do anything but watch General Hospital and Netflix.

What I do have going for me:

1. I walk to and from work. That is two miles 5 days per week.
2. I work on the 4th floor of my building and I am not so obesed that doing the stairs is not an option for me.
3. I know that I prefer to workout at home instead of going to the gym (that place is just intimidating to me) and I have a stationary bike and workout DVDs.

This is my plan:

1. Cardio (starting this morning) at least 5x per week outside of walking to work. I have the Insanity workout set so I will go back to using that.
2. Strength training at least 3x per week.
3. Eat less processed foods.
4. Eggs for breakfast most mornings (in other attempts to loose weight, I learned that I need to have eggs with whatever else I am eating to stay full until lunch. This reduces my need to snack (which is one of my biggest problems)).
5. Take the stairs at least once per day at work.

Now it is your turn to share. I want to hear about your problems and your plans. Lets build a community to motivate and support each other.

I will make weekly updates about my progress and any pitfall. I will also post a "then and now" pic at least once every three months. I encourage you to do the same. Below is my "now" pic (soon to be my "then" pic).