My Journey to this Point



Me and Scott in December 2010



I have noticed while watching TV and shopping that it seems that boot cut and flare jeans are in this fall and winter.  This makes me a very happy camper, because a few years ago when I had lost some weight I bought several pairs of jeans that have not fit in a long time and are practically brand-new.   But now they fit again!  YAY! Which brings me to my pain point: this isn’t my first time at the weight loss rodeo.   

Like most people who have struggled with weight loss, I have gained and lost a pretty significant amount of weight several times in my life.   The first time was the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college.  At that point, my weight loss was done in a really unhealthy way.  I would pretty much only eat one meal a day and was spending a lot of time at the gym, plus I was teaching tennis outside that summer.    So while I may have looked great by the end of the summer, I had gained a really unhealthy obsession with not eating.  And of course the minute I went back to school where most of my life revolved around eating and drinking beer (and occasionally doing some homework and going to class), I of course gained the weight back.  It was a slow gain, and took about a year, and while it was disappointing, why did I magically think that anything different would happen. 

The second major time I lost weight was right after I graduated from college.  At that point I decided to do weight watchers at home.  The plan worked, and once again I lost weight, but once I had gotten to a point where I was comfortable, I pretty much stopped paying attention and went back to my old habits.  And once again, I gained the weight I had lost back.  Between then and the summer of 2010, I had kept a steady weight that was between 10 and 15 pounds less than my highest weight.  But this past fall, for some reason I became even lazier at watching my portions, and not cooking with a ton of butter and oil, eating a lot of take out and fast food at work, and the pounds packed on, resulting in a very upsetting step onto the scale.

Me this past May

This is why in January, after Scott and I got home from our holiday trip to Cape Cod, we joined Weight Watchers again.  This time we are doing it online.  So, what makes me think that this time losing weight will be different for me?  While I can’t and won’t make any guarantees that I won’t slip back into old habits, I do feel like some of the changes I have made so far this time around are the kind that will stick with me.  First, I am not trying to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest amount of time possible.  If takes me a year, or 18 months, or two years to get to my goal weight, that is fine.  This time I also plan on not quitting when I get into the maintenance phase.  Yes, I am learning how much I need to eat to lose weight, but I will need to learn how much I need to eat to maintain my weight when I get there.  And to be honest, if maintaining my weight loss involves paying Weight Watchers a monthly fee, I am okay with that.  So this is me, laying out my goals and hopes for this time around.  Thank you for your support and wish me luck!