Come join me on my journey

Over the past several years I have been trying to lose weight to get back to the healthier weight I had achieved over 5 years ago. As some of you who have known me for awhile remember, I participated in Weight Watchers in 2004 and successfully lost 35 pounds. This was partly due to the fact that I was a lifeguard at Disney and was working 15 hour shifts 7 days a week. I was forced to pack my lunch, I was drinking a great deal of water, and since I was exhausted by the time I got home, I always ate a light dinner and went directly to bed.

Life has definitely taken a different direction since then and I am grateful for the shift. I have an amazing husband and wonderful family who has stood by me through unemployment, traveling across country, and becoming certified to teach. Unfortunately, throughout the times where money was tight, Taco Bell and McDonald's tended to be much more affordable than grocery shopping. Slowly but surely the weight started to come back. Every few pounds I would rationalize by saying that it wasn't that bad and that I could easily lose that weight. Unfortunately, the weight kept coming and money continued to be tight. Over the course of the last 5 years I have gained approximately 72 pounds from where I was 5 years ago.

Although I am extremely happy with the direction my life has been going, I am becoming very aware of the fact that I am reaching an age and the point in our marriage where Ricky and I are considering starting a family. With this realization comes the unfortunate truth that diabetes runs in my family and is worsened by being overweight, much less having a baby. The truth of the matter is that I need to be a much better shape if we are going to try to start a family and I need to get healthy if I want decrease the variables involved with the potential outcome of diabetes.

So I begin this blog today to kick myself in the butt and start moving toward the path of rediscovering a healthier me in the hopes of being well enough to try to start our family. Many of you may ask why I need to start a blog and to be honest that is a great question. My father always told me that the best way to achieve a goal is to write it down. Unfortunately, paper no longer works because I am attached at the hip to my computer. So I am utilizing the best resource I know of in order to write down my goals and provide a forum by which I can be held accountable.

I have a great deal more weight to lose than I did when I participated in Weight Watchers back in 2004 and I know this is going to be a long road, but I know with my amazing support system, I will be able to achieve my goals effectively. My goals are listed out below:

*By August 1st 2010, I plan on losing approximately 70 pounds. (This goal is attainable and at a healthy length of time to get healthy in an appropriate manner)

*I want to be told by my physician that I am at a healthy point to start trying to begin our family.

*I want to be told by my physician that I do not show any signs of diabetes