Where I've come from

For my first post, I thought I'd talk about my history and what I've struggled with in the past. To me, this is the best place to start because you have to figure out what you've been doing and why in order to change.

In high school I was skinny. I had never had a weight problem; actually part of the time I was too skinny at 105 pounds (underweight for someone 5'4"). I ran cross country my freshman year and stayed active in AFJROTC all four years. This picture was taken the summer before my freshman year and I was happy with my weight at this point.


I ate all the junk food I wanted; it made no difference between my high metabolism and the exercise I was getting in ROTC! This continued into college. Rather than gaining the freshman 15 I lost a little instead. I was in ROTC my first semester, and even after I quit ROTC I was in Tiger Platoon and stayed somewhat active into my sophomore year. (This picture was taken my freshman year in college.)


Then I got married and quit Tiger Platoon. My priorities had changed and so had Jordan's, because he quit his job as a Clemson football manager. We both gained weight and I began to dislike swimsuit season. This is what my sister-in-law Melanie explained to me once as high-school athlete syndrome. If you get used to eating all the junk you want because you burn it off in sports, the weight will descend upon you like the plague whenever your lifestyle becomes sedentary. It's hard to exercise without the encouragement of another, and it's even harder to stop eating junk--especially when those around you continue to supply it. Here we are at a wedding a few months before I got pregnant.


In September 2006 I found out I was pregnant, and it was a free-for-all. Ice cream. Chocolate. Chocolate ice cream. Fried whatevers from the hospital cafeteria. You name it, I ate it and I ate as much as I wanted. The pregnancy was like my golden ticket to a nine-month all-you-can-eat buffet. I remember us going and buying a gallon bucket of chocolate swirl ice cream. I had morning sickness so I wasn't about to eat anything as unappetizing as a vegetable! What's worse, I didn't exercise because we were in a not-so-good neighborhood, it got dark early, I was too tired after work, etc. I didn't worry much about getting fat because I figured people wouldn't notice anything but my pregnant belly. I ended up gaining about 45 pounds (normal is around 30 and with my previous weight 25 would've been plenty). I weighed at least 180 right before she was born.

After I had Suzi I realized I had a long way to go to get back where I had been. I lost 20 pounds in the first couple of weeks postpartum (eight of those pounds were Suzi herself). This was without diet or exercise, but I was breastfeeding and that helped a ton!

Then I got stuck at 160. The first 20 had come off so effortlessly I thought I didn't have to do anything to lose the rest! In December I decided I didn't want to carry around the extra weight anymore. I didn't want to see another picture where I didn't look like myself because my face was fat. That's when I started to change little things. I stopped eating Hershey bars and other high-sugar, high-fat chocolate and opted for hardcore 85% dark instead. Little things like this were my first steps and it was easy because I wasn't depriving myself. I must have chocolate, and I still do have it, just in a different way!

I am now at about 145 and hope to be down to 140 by the middle of March. I think the weight loss shows most in my face, but it also feels great to slide back into pants that haven't fit me since I was two months pregnant!

It's not just the weight I want to lose; it's mostly the pant size. Right now I am on the large side of a twelve, and I'd love to be down to an eight. Jordan and I have bought me an indoor bicycle to use while I watch TV or read so I can achieve this goal. I also like to walk outside with Suzi of course, but I can use my bicycle even if it's raining, snowing, dark--whatever. No more excuses!