Let's get things going ... again.

Well, how about that? Another weight loss blog. Another 200 pound person trying to get in shape, motivated by the beginning of the new year? Well, yeah. That‘s exactly what this is.

Let me just tell you that the beginning of that whole "weight loss thing" for me has been in Summer 2012, at the glorious age of 25, so I‘m not exactly new to this. In the 12 months between July 2012 and 2013 I‘ve lost 40 pounds. Sadly I hit a plateau after that. My weight stayed the same for 6 months. It took me a long time to figure out what was going wrong in my diet.

Losing weight:
The 40 pounds had been pretty much smooth sailing thanks to the help of my friends, family and coworkers. When I reached that huge milestone I became over-enthusiastic. I wanted to lose the next 40 pounds even faster. So I started gathering all kinds of information. I learned about how the body and especially weight loss and weight gain work. Not a day went by where I didn't try to gather tips and information from online dietitians, body-builders, vegetarians, vegans ... I began excluding certain foods, I've been including new foods. I started seeing food and nutrition in a whole new way ...  I went swimming and got a bike. Hopefully all this would pay off!

The plateau:
But wouldn't you know it: my weight stayed the same - yet my body kept changing. The clothes in the Plus Size section of the store didn't fit me anymore and to my amazement I found that I now could buy clothes in the regular section of the store. (Still in XL but this was a HUGE deal for me). But the longer the numbers on the scale didn't change, the more frustrated I became, despite that obvious fact that my body was changing.

One step forward, three steps back:
Yeah .... so I got frustrated. I let things slide, thinking "It's no use anyway." The numbers on my scale mean a lot more to me then I know they should.
I'm using Weight Watchers - and too often I found myself angry, pigging out, eating more than I should have and, shamefully, against the "rules" of WW, tried 'spreading' my over-eaten points on other days - witch obviously didn't do much good cause I went hungry some days in a row, feeling guilty and starving myself, just to eat more again out of hunger in a moment of weakness. I noticed my clothes getting tighter and my chin getting bigger. I started to panic.

Starting new:
And then it hit me: I've become too obsessed. My diet has been consuming my days. It's been consuming my thoughts before, after and during meals. I lost body fat, hence the new clothes, but my weight stayed the same. My guess it's because of my crazy protein intake. I had started staying away from carbs a long time ago - and now figured it's time to change things back to the way they were. After all: I've been losing weight using Weight Watchers just fine, eating a bit of everything, including carbs. It's been after all those NEW changes and all this stressing out over losing weight that I stopped losing weight.

So for the last weeks of December I decided to ignore my diet and give myself a break. I needed to clear my mind. I needed to see food for what it is and stop obsessing over the whole thing. I had done it before easily. And I wanted to go back to that.

20 pounds. That's how much lighter I could be by now, at the age of 27, had I stayed on track after July 2013. Instead I‘m finding myself 12 pounds heavier than in summer, standing among all those of you that feel just like the stuffed turkey we all gorged ourselves on during Christmas. Chocolates, delicious food in large quantities, alcohol ... everything that your soul needs but your hips sure don‘t.

2014 is my chance to get things back on track. I want to keep on making progress so that tomorrow I‘ll be sexy!

Along the way I want to share with you everything I've learned so far, tips and tricks, recipes and - of course - my thoughts.

I‘ve done it before, I can do it again. And so can you. Let's get things going, shall we?

Love,
Anna