Now WEIGHT just a minute...

For pretty much as long as I can remember, I've been fighting the so-called "battle of the bulge."  There was a time in my life that weight wasn't an issue, but that was early grade school so I'm not sure that really counts.  It started as a little gain each year - probably about 5-10 lbs each year - for several years that eventually plateaued at "overweight."  For me, it became a vicious cycle: I wasn't happy with how I looked; to combat that depression I ate; my new, higher weight made me less happy about my appearance; I ate; and so on and so forth. 

In the past several years, my weight has yo-yo'd a number of times.  After initial success with Weight Watchers (hereafter "WW") in mid-2007, I hopped off the bandwagon too soon.  The changes I'd been making had not become a new lifestyle yet and slowly but surely I began to add back the weight I'd worked hard to lose.  I'm still a tad over 20 lbs down from my starting WW weight a few years ago, but once again I'm unhappy with my appearance.  Worse than that, I don't like the way that I feel.  Uncomfortable in your own skin is not the way to live your life.

So why this blog?  I just read an article on 8 different amazing individuals that worked hard for their weight-loss success and each of them kept a blog at some point in their journey.  Having an outlet to vent, celebrate success, and keep myself accountable will hopefully equal success on the scale and a victory in my battle of the bulge.  I definitely don't have a huge following on here (so really, what do I have to hide???), but just the idea of someone else reading my journey, and perhaps sharing their own experiences/tips, is enough for me to put it out there.  Plus, it will be a way for me to look back on everything I'm doing and see where I was and how far I've come.

My first step on this journey begins on Wednesday.  They're starting a WW program at work.  The convenience of the 12-week program added to my previous WW success made it a no-brainer for me to sign up.  So step 1: get back to WW!  I recognize that exercise will need to become a regular part of my life but for the sake of sustaining my quest for health, I'm not going to start everything all at once.  I'm going to give myself 2-3 weeks on the WW program to get my eating under control and then I'll begin to add in regular exercise. 

My goal?  While I would like to say that losing 50-60 lbs is my goal, I know better than to set up that obstacle for myself.  Therefore, my first goal is 10 lbs from my Wednesday starting weight.  Once I reach that goal, I can confidently set another attainable one for myself.  Rather than dreading Wednesday like I thought I would, I'm actually pretty excited about it.  Let the journey to the new me begin!