The Beginning of my New Life

It's ok. I can admit it. I was fat. I was considered obese. I ached all over with no clear reason why, I had no energy, and I was a nervous wreck. Let's add that I was covered in acne, my hair was falling out, and all I could think about was food. Donuts, cookies, chocolate, pizza, ice cream, cheeseburgers - all of those "bad" things. And I ate them. I ate a lot of them. And I kept getting fatter.

In February 2012, my husband and I visited a museum in Fort Worth. I was hoping to do a write up for the library blog I manage at my job. I found the perfect setting for a publicity picture - a 1st edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Prairie Dad snapped the pic, and I didn't give it a second thought until we got home. I anxiously scrolled the the photos on my laptop until I came to that one. I was instantly in tears. All day I'd been under the impression I looked "little and cute" as my husband used to call me. With a sweater dress and knee high furry boots, I thought I was the picture of youthfulness. But a picture is worth 1000 words, and this one was yelling at me to lose weight.I jumped on the scale, and it confirmed my fears: I weighed 199.6 pounds.

The picture that started it all

For a month I contemplated the idea of dieting. I even managed to lose 2 pounds just by saying no to second portions. But on April 1, something in me just clicked. I was motivated. I told Prairie Dad I'd had my last soda, and I signed up for myfitnesspal.com (or as we call it, MFP). MFP tracks your calories and exercise and basically tells you how much you can eat for the rest of the day. I started logging calories and jumped on my Wii Fit board. Day 1 was logged, and I felt great. Then came Day 2.

On Day 2, I was hungry and sore. I'd gone from eating (as best I can figure) 2500-3000 calories a day down to 1200, and I hadn't had a real workout in years, and 20 minutes on the Wii Fit almost did me in. But I persevered. By Day 5, I was feeling good. I'd adjusted to the calorie drop, and I was already feeling stronger.

Flash forward to today. I've lost 57 pounds and counting. I'm hoping to lose the last 13 by summer vacation. I'm still using MFP every day (even on splurge days), but my workouts have greatly improved. I even ran a 5K in October. And I've learned a lot, and I plan to share it all with you. So stick around while I talk about diet, recipes, good vs. bad calories, exercises, and even how sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight.

I love questions, so post them all! I'm going to tell you the whole story, but if I'm not getting there soon enough, just let me know, and I'll do my best to help.