Some catching up to do...

A lot of people have asked me to start blogging or suggested that I should blog about my new journey to becoming a healthier, happier & better me. I had thought about it a lot so I just decided, Yeah! Let's do it. What a great way for people to share in my journey, maybe relate to me or [prayerfully] possibly even be inspired by me to make themselves the best person they can be. 

Because I am starting this a little over three weeks into my journey, I have some catching up to do. First, let me tell you a bit about my past and what has driven me to make this decision. My whole life I have been overweight. I have never eating too much but definitely weren't eating the right things and physical activity was a foreign concept to me. I grew up in a family where they worked hard doing chores and their job but there was never planned time for intentional physical activity which is so important. Throughout my childhood, teenage years and young adult life, I have been overweight and miserable about who I am. I would like to refer to myself as the "funny fat girl." I would always get people rolling about anything but my weight-- always a good laugh. I like the funny part but the "fat girl" had to go. I have never loved who I am mainly because of the way I looked. In high school I did weight watchers and was successful but still did not make a lifestyle change. It was just a fad for a bit like most diets are. I wanted to change. I wanted a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to learn to eat things I should and learn to love and enjoy exercise.

A well-respected lady who is very dear to my heart & like a mother to me here in the Charleston area just completed a program downtown at MUSC called the Healthy Charleston Challenge. She was very successful with and she knew I had image issues due to my weigh. She suggested that I try it. I was very quick to jump on the band wagon but then became very hesitant and nervous. The basic gist of it: it's pretty much like the biggest loser of Charleston. There are 10 teams each team consisting of 7 people each. Each team has a trainer. You work out with your trainer, team and mentors. We also have Dietitians, Psychologist and life coaches to help us out; we are required every thursday to participate in a weigh in and nutrition class. It is incredible to be learning from people who care about you and have great knowledge about healthy ways to lose weight and become a better me. The MUSC wellness center is fabulous because they really care about people and their health unlike a lot of gyms that I have gone to in the past that seem to care about being ridiculously skinny and/or making money. They are encouraging and I have an incredible support system.

My team: well... all I can say is first impressions aren't always everything. I am on a team of 7 people including myself and we are the most RANDOM, diverse group of people anyone could ever put together. We have such diversity, you have to laugh. It ranges from me, a 23 year old who just wants to love herself to a middle-aged man who has to do this in order to get a liver transplant life or death type situation to a sixty-something year old woman. It's incredible. 

The program started on September 10th. We have been going a little over three weeks now. The very first work out with our trainer we had to do stairs- 3 floors up and down- 3 times. I think we all about had a heart attack. Seriously. We all about died & were cursing ourselves for signing up. Three weeks later- I can jog those stairs. What a feeling of victory! The older lady on our team, could barely walk a lap and this week she Jogged 2 whole laps in a row. I am just seeing so many changes in me and our team and it's so encouraging!

I could catch you guys up on a whole lot more from the past two weeks but I would be here forever. The point of this blog is to allow me to hold myself accountable, to reflect on my hard work and progress & to keep some of you who asked updated on my progress. My goal is to hopefully post a picture every once in a while, post my weight loss on weigh in days (Thursdays), talk about my small victories or even my frustrations. 

It's a little frightening for me to just throw my goal out here on the web. It makes it real and lets everyone know...so come a year from now if I don't make it... it could be difficult. But I am confident that I am going to make it and am going to be a completely different person.

MY GOAL:  BY SEPTEMBER 2010, I WILL WEIGH 150 POUNDS LESS THAN THE WEIGHT WHEN I STARTED.

MY CURRENT PROGRESS as of my weigh in this past thursday: 15.0 lbs and going strong!

Thanks for your love and support and I am already so much happier with who I am. I even actually enjoy working out. What a great decision I am making for my life and it is so satisfying to know that I am taking small steps towards a me that glorifies the Lord with my life and my body.