Last picture for now

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:04:00 +0000

This was a couple of months ago. I was almost to 100 at that point.

Picutres

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:56:00 +0000

I've battled my weight most of my life. I was on swim team and had lost about 20 pounds when this picture was taken. I think I was about 135 to 140 in this photo. I know I won't look like this again -- I'm almost 25 years older. BUT, it reminds me that, although I've always battled my weight, there was a time in my life where I was average sized. A time when it wasn't such a big battle.

More pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:55:00 +0000

June 2006. I'd maybe lost 10 pounds at this point.

Some photos

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:42:00 +0000

Recording The Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:35:00 +0000

I've had this blog set up for some time, but have seriously neglected it. I haven't felt inspired to write, and haven't been sure what I wanted this to be for me. Am I trying to encourage and inspire other people by sharing my experience, or maybe myself?? I don't know. Probably both.

If you're reading this and you have serious weight to lose, I've been there, am still there, and can totally relate. To date, I've lost 107 pounds. Mind you, it's taken me well over two years to do this. There are times I think about how much I've lost and feel really good about myself, and times I feel bad because if I had really buckled down, how much farther along might I be??

In case you're wondering, I'm doing Weight Watchers. No, you don't have to eat their food. You can buy their products if you like, but it's not necessary at all. I love their program and enjoy the meetings. Whether I've had a good week or a bad week, I am inspired and encouraged by my leader and the other members. This is what works for me. It may not be your thing. Although, if you are looking for something that allows flexibility and is reasonable (no cutting out entire food groups), you might give it a try.

In conjunction with Weight Watchers, I am dragging my nearly 40 year old butt to the gym to work out. Weight Watchers encourages it, and really it's just common sense. That doesn't mean I enjoy it though :-) Actually, I should be at the gym right now. I'm sorta procrastinating. I COULD write in this blog when I get back . . . It would seem that the exercise is more necessary now than it was when I was in my 20's to help expedite the weight loss. I've not been real consistent at it, but am trying to remedy that. I've been doing better over the last month. If I had been more consistent over the last couple of years with this part, I may have seen that 100 # mark sooner.

I started at 356 pounds. I'm under 250 for the first time in about 13 years. My goal weight is somewhere between 135 and 160 (I'm 5'6). If it seems like a big range, it's because I'll figure out when I get there what the magic number is. At one point in my life, I was this height and weighed about 132. Of course, I was 16 years old. I wasn't a tiny little thing even then. I think I looked normal, healthy. I'll never be a tiny little thing, God didn't make me that way. Unless I starve myself. I won't be doing that, guaranteed. I'm not sure it's realistic to expect to weigh what I did at 16 and I don't want to have an unhealthy obsession to just keep losing when I've hit the right place. So we'll see. In the mean time, I've got some fun milestones coming up. In about 19 pounds, I'll actually weigh what my drivers license says I weigh!! Woohoo. 15 pounds down from that, I'll weigh what I did when we got married :-) And 15 pounds down from that, I'll be under 200 for the first time since my Freshman year of college.

I guess this is going to be more of a diary, and you're invited to look if you want. Probably there will be a lot of me trying to talk myself into the gym and away from the cheesecake. It will be a place to chronicle not only my weight loss, but also my progress towards other goals, like completing a sprint triathlon. It will be a place where I can look back, when I feel stuck. I'll see that I've been there before, and if I just hang on and don't give up, I'll make it past that point.

Now, with that, I'm off to the gym.

Fat Girl's Journey

Last picture for now

Picutres

More pictures

Some photos

Recording The Journey