10 Down

Everything I wanted to say came to me so clearly on my walk this morning. I didn't think about doing a blog about my weight loss journey, but my friend from high school and supreme fitness expert and life coach, Stephanie from "Step it Up with Steph" suggested I start one. So here it is.

I'm a brutally honest person so I should start being honest with myself, and you. Same story, different girl, right? Grew up overweight, made fun of, blah blah blah. You've heard it all before. I don't know where it started....I know on "The Biggest Loser" they really try to get to the root of your problems. I've been overweight since I was in 2nd grade. I'd grab a bag of Doritos and bring them to my room and close the door and start eating them. Why? They are delicious! My parents are happily married...though, like all couples, have their arguments. So I can't blame it on them. Mom always made a healthy dinner, I was in sports and marching band (not our best performance, but you get the idea...) (northerners, you can't make fun of that. I grew up in the south where marching band camp is harder than football camp. You run for miles, jumping jacks, arm circles, stadium steps, duck walks, lunges across the football field. Then you play a few notes. Did I mention our trainer was nicknamed "The Angel of Death"?) Anyway...so yes, I grew up with a normal family in too rich of a town for my blood. So I can't blame this fat on anything but my love for food I suppose.  Now, I am learning that you can eat what you like -- but be smart about it. Cut a slimmer piece of cake. Only take a small handful of Doritos.

Time to get honest with you all. I'm about 5'5" and 240 pounds. Well, 230 now. I lost 10 pounds prior to me starting this journal. There, I said it. My fat butt is...was...and never will be again... a whopping, disgusting 240 pounds.

Now that I never need to say that number again, let's get on to the positive. I've been getting up at 7:45am...eating a granola bar because I believe it was Stephanie who said to eat 100 calories in the morning before you start to work out. Just to have something in your system. I eat my granola bar, stretch out my legs and head out for a 2.2 mile walk/jog.. or wog as I thought of this morning. I walk for a while...then what I learned in band camp was to just put your body forward and you'll fall into a run...or in my case, wog. I look ahead, find a goal and wog to it. Then I'll walk for a while, take some deep breaths, enjoy the scenery and say hello to all around.

If you're like me, you hate seeing people up ahead. You're thinking "Can I keep running toward them? What are they thinking about looking at me? What if I can't wog that far?" Who the hell cares? Just go. You don't know them and they are just doing their walk of shame, anyway.

I come home, drink some water (and here's a tip: if you have a straw in your glass, you'll drink more water. I love water and drink it all day but I've found that with a straw, I drink even more -- especially later on when I'm being a couch potato, I hold my glass instead of put it down...and the straw is right there so I constantly sip. Try it!)

I gotta tell ya, Jillian Michaels...she'll kick your butt, too. Her "30 Day Shred" is amazing. It's getting easier as the days go by...and luckily there are three levels so I'm almost ready to get to level 2!

OK, I think this is too good of a start for my first blog. I'll update it as the days go on. And to all my friends out there trying to lose the pounds, I'll leave you with some inspirational quotes I've found along the way.

"Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can." -- Unknown