I am Short, Fat, and Proud of That

Weight loss has always been elusive for me because I've always had a hard time losing weight. It seems no matter which crash diet I use, no matter which exercises routine I use, no matter how many goals I set or if I keep a food journal, it doesn't work. There have been two exceptions;

When I became a vegetarian, I lost ten pounds from September to April. Don't ask me how, I have no idea. I was obsessive about my weight in high school (because I was overweight and couldn't seem to lose anything despite my exercises routine every morning and my new-crash-diet-every-week diet) but finally got sick of it, stopped working out and the only thing I watched in my diet was that I didn't eat meat. I weighed myself in August, and the next time I got on the scale (in April) I was down ten pounds. I moved out and went to college in April, and in another six months had lost another ten pounds. Again, I don't know how. I wasn't trying, I just did.

When I got engaged I went on the Special K diet (my first crash diet since High School) and went to the gym as often as I could. I lost a half a pound a day. My wedding day was the skinniest I've ever weighed (since puberty) but I was still three pounds away from my goal weight. I went off the diet on out honey moon, and when we got back I was above where I had started.

When I was pregnant, I did my best to cut out all High Fructose Corn Syrup and Red Dye 40 from my diet. In September I started lactating, which is supposed to burn around five hundred calories a day. In January my wonderful sister and I started training for the half-marathon. In February I started eating small things every four hours to boost my metabolism. I also started to weigh myself once a week. In March I decided our food bill was outrageous and vowed to make everything from scratch; I make my own bread, tortillas, and sauce. I am trying to never buy anything from a can ever again.

Nothing drastic, nothing difficult. But, there have been amazing results.

In March when we signed up for the half-marathon, I qualified for the "Athena category". That basically means overweight women. I didn't sign up for that category only because my sister said she didn't. I really didn't think I could lose any weight.

And then, finally, I was down to my Pre-Pregnancy weight. A week later, I was officially out of the "overweight" range for my height and body type. A week later I lost another pound. I was/am ecstatic. I began to think I could actually set some goes and reach them. I gave myself some incentives and two weeks later I was ten pounds under the "Athena Category."

My reward was to buy exercises cloths. I shop at DI (I may be losing weight but I'm still not making money) at I found myself these awesome like-new pants and T shirt for $6. I love them. They make feel skinny.

This week a friend and I are using a free seven day pass to a gym. We are going everyday and working out like crazy! This, on top of my running, I hope will result in my hitting my next weight goal where I get to go tanning.

After that, I'm just five pounds away from my wedding day weight and three new pairs of pants and three new shirts from DI (I really need them. I have two pairs of jeans and two pairs of khakis, none of which fit my anymore. The jeans I have had since high school. The khakis have paint on them. Actually, so do the jeans, but whatever. Can you tell I never go clothes shopping? About once every six months I will get a new shirt if it is on sale for less than $10, but I never buy pants).

After that I am three pounds away from my goal weight. I don't know what my reward is yet; I don't want to jinx it.

But the important thing is; I can do this! I can reach my goals! Hooray!