Here Goes...

Ok. So I decided that in order to keep myself motivated and possibly help others, I'd start blogging about my life, my weight and (hopefully) my losses!

A little background: I am a 38 year old nurse who is very happily married most of the time. We have a total of three kids; two teenage girls and our son is in kindergarten. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood and have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle that affords us the opportunity to enjoy our lives. Which includes enjoying gourmet meals!

I currently weigh 218 pounds. Wow. I can't believe I just put that out there on the internet for everyone to see. It's not the heaviest I've been but it's the first time I truly acknowledged my weight.

Weight is a problem for me. It never was when I was a kid. I was always the skinny one. My sister was always overweight even as a small child. I, on the other hand, looked like a skeleton when I was a teenager. Looking back at pictures of me I think to myself, "girl, you look sick!" Then I got pregnant when I was 19 years old. I wasn't very educated. I didn't seek out information. I thought pregnancy gave me a license to eat. I consumed whatever I wanted because "I was eating for two." As a result, I gained 50 pounds with my first child. I never lost it. In fact I gained more when I was in nursing school and at my first nursing job. Then I met my wonderful husband! We got pregnant, got married (in that order) and lived a happy, happy life. Fat and happy. I hadn't gained a lot of weight with my seond child but shortly after he was born I reached my heaviest weight. 237 pounds. Ugh!

I had an epiphany. I was getting older. After 35 it's harder to lose weight and keep it off. I was determined to lose it. I started making small changes. I switched from whites to browns and ate more fruits and veggies. I joined a gym after I lost 20 pounds. Then I joined Weight Watchers shortly after that. In the span of about 6 months, I had lost 65 pounds! I felt great! I looked great!

We had a great summer that year! A summer that included a lot of fun on our boat with our friends. It also included a lot of food. Good food. A drinks...a lot of drinks... After a few months I stopped counting. Stopped keeping track of what I ate and drank and before I knew it, by the next summer, I had gained back half of what I had lost!

Flash Forward to the Present: I'm staring down the barrel at 40 years old and I have a family history of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Both my parents. I don't like to take pills so I really want to try to head this off for as long as I can. I know it's going to get me eventually but for every year, every month I don't have to take medications, it's better for me!

So here I am. To impart my "wisdom" to others and keep myself motivated to keep losing. I'm hoping that I can also learn to temper my healthier eating and exercise with my love of gourmet food! Is that possible? I have no idea but maybe we'll find out here!

PLAN:
**Definitely post a picture of myself (after a haircut and color, of course!)
**Start really keeping track of my eating habits which includes eating out regularly and not always the gourmet kind of eating out
**Keep track of my exercise and post tips