Ok, so here’s my problem:

I’ve always been a big fan of eating.  Grew up with some super bad eating habits, was pretty severely overweight by the time I reached Grade 6.  The doctor got mom to take me to a nutritioninst and lost some weight that year, then put it all back plus more.  By the time I was in Jr. High I reached my highest weight at 235.  Started getting more active: walking, biking, rollerblading, attempting to jog, even joined the school rugby team.  Stayed overweight all through high school and my first year of university.  At the end of that first year I had a few realizations, including the fact that I would turn 19 and get to go to the bars, but wouldn’t be able to wear any sexy clothes (yes, that was a big motivator).  So I bit the bullet and joined Weight Watchers.  It was the best choice I ever made.

I went from 215.2 to about 170 in about a year, and managed to keep it off.  I got super excited about exercising and eating right, and basically made it a challenge.  I’d figure out low-point meals and snacks, only salads at restaurants, only drank if there would be dancing involved.  I was pretty strict with what I put in my body, and there were quite a few classes where I’d be waiting desperately so I could eat my granola bar.  I found the biggest hill in the city and biked up it without stopping, then biked up all the big hills.  I decided that walking was for wimps, and started jogging.  I played ultimate frisbee ni teh summer and in the winter I skated, played intramural volleyball and floor hockey.  And I was always in my parent’s basement with the music pumping, bouncing around dancing, skipping, and basically working out my school stress by getting my heart rate up as high as I could.

So this worked out pretty well until my grad year, 2006.  That year I wrote a thesis, and the exercise went out the window in favor of graduating on the dean’s list.  That year my weight went up 10lbs.  Not a huge deal, and the plan was to get some hard core exercising and get rid of it that summer.  However, by the time summer came around I was seriously burnt out.  Walking around the block took everything out of me.  I started to feel better around fall, at which point I realized I hated my job and it probably wouldn’t get better.  I spent the fall/winter stressing about that and trying to find a way out.  Finally came up with a better job and the plan to go into Nursing school.  By summer 2007 I was REALLY ready to get in shape.  I made up a big jogging route and joined an ultimate frisbee team.  And one week in I pulled a muscle in my back.

So now it’s summer 2008 and I’m REALLY REALLY ready to get into shape.  My back is feeling a lot better, and I’m seriously tired of wearing tight pants.  I’m at 170 right now, and my goal is to get to at least 155 by the end of the summer.  That’s only 15 lbs.  I should totally be able to do it.

The only problem is that I’ve become pretty slack with my eating habits in the past few years.  WW was awesome, but since I didn’t officially ‘reach my goal’ while was with them, I didn’t get to go through the ‘maintenance’ stage…and counting food points isn’t exactly something you can do forever.  So I need to come up with some ‘Rules’ that I can follow that I can live with as a lifestyle change.  I do pretty darn well with the exercise, it’s the food that gets me.

So the plan is to use this blog to come up with ideas, vent my frustration, and hopefully keep me motivated.  I really like journalling and I’m a pretty quick typist, so I’m hoping it will work out well.  I think this is enough for one post though, so I’ll save my ‘rules’ for the next post a little later.

Thanks for listening.

-LLL