Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Journey Begins

Well this is it. This is the time when I realize just what I've done to myself. Let me start by explaining just what brings me to this point in my life.

I have struggled with weight my whole life. As a friend of mine jokes, "I've been on a diet since grade school." For me, it started on the last day of 4th grade. I told my parents we needed to diet that summer because I was sick of being made fun of. That next Saturday, we started Weight Watchers. I weighed in as a 144-pound 10 year-old and spent the next two years losing over 20 pounds, reaching my goal weight of 120 pounds just before starting 7th grade, having grown about 5 inches. I felt and looked healthy, but when I returned to school in Fall, the boys still teased me. They called me "Man Cow" and moo'd at me whenever I entered a room. I was devastated, and gained back every last pound by the time I went to high school.

This is where my weight gain kicked into high gear. By my sophomore year, I was up to 160 pounds, despite being an active member of my high school show choir. My junior year I hit 180 pounds, and was soon diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, a reproductive disorder that can either cause or be caused by obesity. My senior year, I researched PCOS to find that there are serious reproductive and health consequences involved with this disease, including a high risk of diabetes. People with PCOS also have a harder time losing weight. A specialist I saw put it this way: "A person with PCOS can eat half the amount of food as a normal person and not lose a pound." I lost control of my weight at that point, reaching 215 pounds by graduation. My freshman year of college I reached 250 pounds, and promised myself to take my dieting seriously over the summer. Unfortunately, my boyfriend tore his ACL and needed to have surgery, putting him out of commission for the whole summer and making it a chore just to get him outside. My summer was spent indoors, either working or watching movies with him. Not only did I not lose any weight, I kept gaining steadily, and on April 5th, 2010 during my sophomore year of college, I reached my highest weight, just over 280 pounds.

Here is what changed everything. I went home for Easter the weekend before, and my sister suggested that I try the Special K diet, saying that she had lost 6 pounds in one week. I needed a jump start, and I needed something so structured that I couldn't cheat. I talked to my boyfriend, who agreed we should start it as soon as we could go grocery shopping. One week into the diet, I am down 8 pounds, currently at 274 pounds. We plan on continuing with the Special K plan for a month (twice the recommended 2 weeks) or until we run out of all the cereal we bought at the beginning.

Once classes are over, we are going to continue on a more relaxed form of the diet, substituting cereal for dinner a few times a week instead of every day. We will also add regular exercise into the mix.

My goal is to lose over 100 pounds. My ideal weight is 175 pounds, and I hope to meet that goal within a year and a half. This goal is lofty, but I need to aim high to push myself.

I will be posting my weight 1 to 2 times a week, because if I learned anything from Weight Watchers, it's that you will drive yourself crazy if you're on the scale every two hours. I will also post my daily food diary with nutritional information provided by the Lose It! app for iPod Touch.

Please leave comments, join my diet plan, suggest exercises or recipes, and join my support system. I am dedicated to kicking this over-eating habit and changing my life around.

1 comment:

  1. Let me know if I can help! I'd be happy to. :)

    ReplyDelete