Well, I am here and I still haven't given up on my resolve yet. I am here to tell you that I am going to get this weight off of me.
This is what I am thinking......... I am going to create a journal. I'm going to buy one of those 3 prong binders, some colored paper, some markers and some type of motivational stickers. (kinda copying Alison's journal
Duckie) I am going to have a cover page....something to the effect of "Tina's Weight Loss Journey" or something like that. The first page inside will be "My Story". Then I will have my weightloss pages. I do not have a scale in my home and I do not want one. I am really bad about weighing myself too much when I have one, so what I am going to do, is once a week, I am going to the mall and weighing myself on that stupid scale that says, "HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR WEIGHT TODAY?"
The reason I choose it is because it will give you a printout of your weight on that day. Every week I will attach this paper to a selected page showing what I have lost and I will track the total. After each 5 lb loss, I will get a sticker. I have a lot of star stickers that say, "YOU DID IT!" and "GOOD JOB!" and things like that, so I will use that.
The next section will be my measurements page. I am going to take my measurements from the beginning and track those as well. The next section will be my exercise and water pages. I am going to make those in calendar form and will check off each day that I do my exercise and how much water I have drunk. In the very back, I will have my food diary and what I have eaten each day. Dh will be my official photographer and take all of my before, after and progress pictures. I'm going to try to make this very fun and exciting and as positive as possible. I'm not exactly sure yet if I will be following the points plan or just try counting calories and fat grams. That is yet to be determined. I think that WW is a wonderful program, but it is ultimately up to ME to lose the weight.
Here is what the first page will look like.
Sunday, October 6, 2002
MY JOURNEY
My name is Tina. I am 32 years old, married to a wonderful man for almost 15 years, have two wonderful sons and I am fat. No easing into this...it is a fact. I am not chubby, pleasantly plump or mildly overweight. I am FAT. Period. But that is about to change. Not overnight, of course....even though that is what we all want to happen. We all want to take this magic pill.....this fantastic potion that make all the fat melt away and it's time that we face facts. THAT is not going to happen. There is no easy solution to weight loss. I'm here to tell you that it is HARD. It is VERY HARD. If it were easy, no one would be overweight.
I am also, from this day forward, taking responsibility for the weight that is on my body. Sure, I could blame my Dad and say that it's his fault. He is an alcoholic, he made fun of me my whole life and wouldn't know what the word "father" meant if it came up and hit him over the head. BUT, he didn't hold me down and shove in the biscuits and gravy. I could blame my Mom. She is a nervous wreck and the poster child for Prozac and is always in the midst of a huge catastrophe because of my father. She kept an iron lock on the fridge when I was growing up and was always ready with "the look" & comment, "Do you really think you need another piece, Tina?" I guess in a way I should thank her. If she hadn't of ruled the kitchen with an iron fist, there's no telling how overweight I would be today. BUT, she didn't tie me to a chair and poke in the fried chicken. I could even go so far as to blame pregnancy on my extra weight and the fact that I piled on close to 100 pounds with each child, but they also did not force any food into my body. I did it. I picked up the fork....spoon....whatever and piled the food in. I had only the help of three people.....me, myself and I. I put junk into my body, therefore my body is now junk.
I know this journey will not be easy. It will be the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I WILL do it. There will be times I will slip, but I will pick myself up, brush myself off and continue on. There will be weeks that I will hit plateaus and weeks I will even gain, but I will forge ahead with the knowledge that if I am eating healthy, exercising and drinking my water, the weight will come off. I hope to have the support of all of my family and friends in this journey, because I will certainly need it.
Here is some inspiration for me for the times I feel like quitting and I'm sure there will be many. This was posted on my favorite website 3FC by a dear friend:
You've failed many times, although you may not remember.
You fell down the first time you tried to walk.
You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you?
Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?
Heavy hitters also strike out.
R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in NY caught on.
English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564books.
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.
Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.
I'm going to TRY.
Tina
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I'm going to go now, but as you can see, I have truly been thinking alot about this.....I think at this point in my life, I am truly ready to get the weight off my body. I want to thank each and every one of you for being such a light in my life. No,
Kat, it's not time to break into a chorus of "You light up my life"......
I just need to tell you that you guys have saw me through some really stormy times in my life and you have always been my safe harbor and for that, I truly love you and want to thank you. A person should only be so lucky to have the friends I have in you.