Oh boy. I am sort of dreading this part.

My name is Brittany and I am an emotional and extremely picky eater.  Ever since I was about seven or so, I’ve had stomach problems which made it difficult to eat hardly anything.  It was a struggle in itself just to find something that wouldn’t have me clutching my stomach in agony and pain and according to my mom, it was usually deep fried chicken strips that I had to resort to eating.

That was just the beginning of it.

I live in the south, and with that being said, southern cooking isn’t the healthiest thing on the planet.  It consists of a lot of frying and fat.  Butter, salt, sugar, cream.  Potatoes, steak, burgers and cheese.  It only contributed to my problem. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make excuses.  I have come to terms with the fact that it is my fault alone that I’ve become 113 pounds overweight.  I’ve made the wrong choices and haven’t treated my body the way it deserves to be treated.  My environment serves as a constant contradiction to what I’m trying to achieve and sometimes that makes me feel very weak and unable to achieve what I want, but in the end it will have to be my decisions that make all the difference.

I wasn’t always exactly overweight, though.  When I was younger, I played volleyball from fourth grade up until the end of my eleventh grade year.  I happened to go to a school that had an amazing volleyball program and quite possibly one of the best high school coaches in the state.  When I was on the team, I was part of the four year winning streak that my school held in the state competition.  Being that good, though, required a lot of practice and training and I was always in shape.  I may have been just a little pudgy around the middle but I had muscle and strength and was definitely not overweight.

When I quit, though, I quit physical activity all together but I made no change to my eating habits.  The eating caught up with me and now here I am three years later, 20 years old, obese, unhealthy, and most of all, unhappy.

I’ve tried for two years to lose the weight and was unsuccessful.  It was only recently that I’ve been able to lose weight and actually keep it off, and though I hate to say it, it is mostly due to the fact that I’ve realized just how big I’ve become.  I feel bad because it took me becoming heavier than my older sister for the spark to set in.  For years it was always me trying to motivate her to lose the weight, and all of the sudden, I was heavier than she was and in need of a change.

My mother and siblings are wonderful support, although they do make it hard sometimes to stick with my diet and exercise plans.  My boyfriend is my rock and is always there to keep me pushing hard and pushing onward, forgetting the past and looking to the future I want to gain.  It’s my time to shine and it’s my time to be happy, and I can’t wait until I finally lose all of this unwanted fat!