The First Post

Where do I begin?

I haven't had a blog in a long time but I thought I would give it another chance.

I am dedicating this blog to my health. All of it. Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Here's where it all begins:

A little over a year ago, I began a journey of weight loss. Physical health was my main concern. At 5'4" and 193 lbs, I was in denial. I had gone for my yearly doctor's appointment just waiting for the results from the scale. Phew! Only 190 lbs, I guess it could have been worse. Sitting there talking to my doctor about my health, she said, "Jessica, if you don't want to take medicine. You will have to lose 25 pounds." She said it so blase I wanted to tell her then you have to go pick up my car. Right now. She didn't understand that every time I ate it was like an experience. I mean I don't just eat food for nourishment, I ate it because of all the flavors and the experience. It would not be easy to give up all of that. People always talk about losing weight (especially me) and they say they are going to do it but really they just say it. Sometimes I believe when I said it I thought to myself, "Well at least your conscious of your weight problem." But that day in the doctor's office a light bulb went off or at least it was starting to flicker. I left the doctor's office feeling like this is it. I've got to make a change for better or worse. I didn't want to believe that I was really overweight. I thought when I looked in the mirror I was doing okay that I wasn't really THAT big. Sure, I had a roll or two. Okay, and my face had gotten very round and rosy. But, I didn't feel like I was fat so I kept on eating.
A few months later, I had made the decision. July 1st 2008. I would no longer be fat. The first thing I had to do was realize that I was not really happy with my weight anymore. This is the number one way to really lose weight. You have got to get to that point where you say, Enough is Enough. I did. So, I made a commitment to begin working out everyday for at least 30 minutes. Some people can go walking, others playing a sport. I had to get into a cardio class. I needed somebody else yelling at me to push a little harder and to keep moving no matter what. Soon, I was in the groove of doing cardio for almost an hour five days a week. Now, I had to begin tweeking my eating habits. I wasn't necessarily a bad eater. I was not the kind of person who would go to the McDonald's and order 2 big macs and fries for lunch and then have a big pasta dish for dinner. I didn't really cared for fried foods either. My weakness when it came to food was just the amount of food I would eat. I just couldn't help myself. It was all so good to me. First, I had to give myself smaller portions. I would have others split food with me and I would take boxes home. Sure, I was hungry at first because my body was like, "Wait, there's still food on your plate you can have some more." Over time, though, I began to realize just how many wasted calories I was intaking by simply overeating. Also, I noticed that before I would eat just because something was there. Shortly, I noticed that I was only eating when I felt hungry which was a good sign.
Time was moving along and I was losing weight. The best feeling I had was when I went to a store and I put on a size 12 and it was too big. I had to go to the next size and even they were beginning to be loose on me. I was so excited. At six months, I had my doctor's appointment. I had hoped that I had lost more than 25 pounds because I really wanted my doctor to be impressed. I wanted her to know that I was a patient who really took her advice to heart. So, I arrived on time and they scooted me into the dreaded scale room. I stepped on the scale. 163 lbs the nurse told me. I was so excited. I had gone from 193 pounds to 163 pounds. Down 30 lbs. I moved into the doctor's room and she said with much joy, "I'm so proud of you." She was proud and so was I.
My journey, however, didn't stop there. Although, I had lost 30 pounds my goal from July was to lose 50 lbs by the following July. So, that January, my local gym hosted its own Biggest Loser contest. With determination, I was going to lose the weight and win the prize of $1,000. The contest was the best way to keep myself motivated. At the end of the contest, I had lost another 13 pounds which was wonderful even if I didn't win the thousand bucks. I continued my journey losing a total of 45 pounds.
Fortunately, my journey does not end at just losing 45 pounds. It is still continuing even today. I am finding different ways to challenge myself. I will say that maintaining weight is a much bigger challenge than losing it. This is why I have stepped back into the blogging scene. I am hoping that I can keep myself accountable and may be encourage others to get healthy.

This my story and let us continue it together....