Light as a Feather

On July 6th, I decided to change my life. Every morning I would get out of bed and feel the aches and pains of my 32 year old overweight body. I had gotten increasingly more unhealthy as the year had progressed. I had stopped caring. I had stopped trying. I had stopped pretending to care or try. Remember the commercials about how many licks did it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll lollipop? Well how many times does one have to join Weight Watchers and drop out? I suppose in some way, being overweight is similar to being a smoker in that you have to truly be committed to the challenge of quitting in order to be successful. Hmmm...wait a minute...you can quit smoking, but you can't quit eating. I think we just found the problem. It's so easy to cheat and then if you see results even after you have cheated, you think you can get away with cheating and then you push the envelope just a little more each time and then the excuses pile up and then you skip a meeting because you can't face the scale knowing you gained and so forth and so on. It's an endless tireless cycle of unproductivity.

Two years ago I was at my lowest weight as an adult. It wasn't through diet and/or exercise. It was through depression and axiety as a result of being in a VERY bad, abusive relationship. Once I finally broke free, I found comfort in food or maybe I subconsiously wanted to make myself even less desirable to the opposite sex...who knows, really... The point is, I gained back all the weight I had lost in the misery of the relationship and that weight brought along friends and those friends just made me even more miserable. March was a very low point for me, yet it took me until July to decide to do something about it. Interesting...

So, back to July 6th...I decided to do South Beach. I had done it once before (one of the licks of the lollipop) and knew it was do-able and that it was a healthy diet. For those of you not in the know, South Beach is VERY different from Atkins. They only share the whole premise of low carb and no sugar and then they break free from one another. South Beach is all about lean meats, low fat or no fat dairy, lots of veggies, and even fruit. I decided this is a diet I could maintain for life. On July 6th, I also committed that I would not cheat until I reached a certain weight goal - which would be 120 lbs lighter than I was that day and EVEN THEN it would be planned cheating. This means that if there was a birthday celebration, for example, I would allow myself to have a piece (small portion size) of the dessert. Until I get to that goal, however, no cheating. I am always prepared wherever I go with almonds and South Beach snack bars in my purse. What about the holidays? I have plans in place to enjoy my meals - albeit slightly modified.

5 months into my journey, I am over 60 lbs lighter. I have more determination and will power than I ever thought possible. I have enjoyed water aerobics classes, but I plan on upping the ante with spinning classes in the New Year and I then plan on training for the Houston Half Marathan in January 2011. Food cravings are gone. For the first time in a very long time, I feel genuinely happy, healthy, and strong.

Here are two pictures of me taken in March '09:

Here is a picture of me taken at the end of September '09 (almost 3 months into my journey and 40 lbs down):