A new beginning...

I'm 29 years old and do not want to be over 300 pounds when I turn 30 on January 3, 2013.  I discovered I was 306 pounds in January of 2006 when I was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot. I was shocked. I hadn’t been on a scale in a while. I had just turned 23, and I’ve gained weight every year since, sometimes losing some of it, but mostly gaining more.  I wish now that I was only 306. I'm not sure I'll admit on here what I weigh, at least until I'm under that initial goal of being under 300 by 30.  About three weeks ago I rejoined Weight Watchers to take an honest look at my life and make informed changes to better my health and lifestyle. My first week I lost 3.4 pounds and the second week I lost 4.6, for a total of 8 pounds in two weeks. I'm off to a great start! I've always struggled with my weight, since I was a kid.  I've tried many times to lose weight, but typically end up gaining it all back, and then gaining more.  I cannot keep living like this. I have an amazing support system between my fiancée, friends, and family so there is no reason that I cannot succeed.  I will succeed. There is a lot I want to do in my life, and my weight should never stop me from accomplishing my goals.

Welcome to my blog.  The first hundred pounds are only the beginning, and I will be taking this one day, and pound, at a time and not letting a huge number scare me off track.  Every five pounds I lose while on Weight Watchers, I get a cute little star sticker, and some rowdy applause, at the meeting which makes me feel great about my progress. Every 10 pounds I lose, I'm going to give myself a mini reward, such as a mani/pedi, or something else special, but staying away from food rewards, at least for now.  When I reach 25/50/75 I will do something a little bigger and when I reach 100 pounds, I may even throw myself a party! Want an invite? Then please follow and support me on this journey. If you are someone that knows me, even if only through this blog, then I ask you to hold me accountable and check in with me to see how I'm doing.  It's time to say goodbye to this weight forever.

I’m very lucky to say that I am engaged to an amazing woman who is supporting me through this, along with my entire bridal party.  All four of my girls in my bridal party, along with my fiancée, are all doing Weight Watchers.  I go to a meeting every Saturday morning with my Maid of Honor and one of my Bridesmaids. I don’t think I could ask for more support. It’s pretty amazing. My fiancée and I live with another one of my Bridesmaids, in her house, so our whole house is Weight Watchers friendly too, which makes a big difference.

The Biggest Loser this year is all about “excuses” and while I don’t think that the show has actually proven many excuses wrong, I am going to attempt to do so.  There are so many excuses out there for why someone cannot lose weight.  They don’t have time. They don’t like to cook. They don’t have the money. They don’t have support. They don’t have the willpower. They don’t have the motivation. It’s hard. It takes too much effort. They had a bad day so why bother. They have too much to lose so why start.  The list could go on.  I have an answer to each of those because I’ve dealt with all of them.  I’m here to stand up and face every one of my excuses head on, with the support I have surrounding me, and prove that excuses are meant to be proven wrong.  I hope you’ll join me on my journey.  Through reading this blog you may learn new things about me (depending on how well you know me), you may get some fun recipe ideas and you will likely see me at my best, and at my worst sometimes too. Through it all, I just ask that you support me and do your best to keep me on track. I couldn’t do it without any of you that are reading this, for various reasons.  So, in advance, thank you.