My Starting Point

Here's me, Tanie. I am a food-obsessed, overweight individual who has been overweight as long as I can remember. I knew it was time to write this blog after this weekend. I went to visit my sister and my new nephew. She was great company and he was the cutest blessing I've seen in awhile. Yet, with all of this joy, I was constantly obsessing about food (as usual). During breakfast I would think about snacks I might be eating that day (chips, chips and cheese, cookies, ice-cream, brownies, etc...), and I would think about what I would eat for lunch. At lunch I would think about snacks and what I would eat for dinner. My mind was constantly on food.

My mind thinks about food a lot. I realized that this was not a normal thought at the house I was at. My sister rarely thought about food with a new baby around. And my brother-in-law and step-niece ate when hungry and didn't seem to dwell on food as I did. They didn't count how many cookies were left on the plate. They didn't have to scarf down their meal until it was all gone. And they didn't think about meals too far in advance. And so, I began to realize I had a huge problem. No wonder that over the past two years I had gained backed the 40 lbs I had previously lost. That's 20 lbs a year! That's almost what I was packing in my high school years. Once again, I was obsessed with food. I am obsessed with food.

Two and a half years ago I weighed 300 lbs. This milestone and other factors (I'll tell another time) were my breaking points, and I finally decided to do something about my weight. I had never tried anything before really because I wasn't ready mentally to change. I exercised daily, ate well-proportioned food, and didn't overeat. I lost 84 lbs in 6 months. By June 2006, I weighed 216 lbs. It wasn't just about weight though. It was about feeling healthy, feeling like I could move, feeling free, feeling like my weight was no longer weighing me down (no pun intended). I had confidence in own abilities.

Somewhere along the line between falling in love and getting married and changing my routine of exercise and changing and how and what I ate, and making excuses, I lost sight of what I had become and my journey. And so, I am back and I want to record my progress before all bloggers. Ultimately, this blog is for me and I would not care if nobody else read it. I will see the changes for myself. I will make a change.

Here are some of my long-term goals:
1. Create a journey that is hopeful and uplifting.
2. Create a journey that will continue throughout my entire life.
3. Change my thinking from food to life.

Here are my short-term goals:
1. Exercise (60 minutes) daily.
2. Eat better foods that prevent me from obsessing with foods (more fiber, yeah fiber!)
3. Lose 10 lbs by my 27th birthday on July 13th (in 12 days).

I hope you will journey with me.
Tanie