Saturday, March 5, 2011

Let's get this Started!!! Day 1

Hi!  My name is Liza and I am a 28 year old graduate student living in Indiana.  This blog is hopefully going to chronicle some of my weight loss journey.  First let me tell you a little about myself, and why I am choosing to do this.

First and foremost I am overweight, and not just a little.  If you were to work it out based on my Body Mass Index (BMI), height, and actual weight I would be classified as morbidly obese.  I rarely use those words because frankly they scare me, there is something about the word morbid that just doesn't give you any hope, and depresses you.  Needless to say that doesn't help you feel any better about yourself.  Although I am now morbidly obese, I have always been overweight/obese.  I don't remember a time when I wasn't the biggest girl in my group of friends.  Several times I remember not being able to participate in things my friends were doing because I was too big.  Don't get me started on amusement parks!  Needless to say there have been several very embarrassing moments in my life because of my weight.  I don't want to say that everything that went wrong in my life is because I am overweight, but I do think that my weight has had a major effect on factors about me such as my self-esteem, and introverted-ness.



So why am I doing this?  Well simply put I'm tired of going into a store and not being able to find clothes that fit me.  I'm tired of being afraid that I make the person sitting next to me uncomfortable in a theater, plane, or somewhere else because I just barely fit into the seats.  Finally I'm scared.  In my family there are a lot of health issues that float around, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypothyroidism to name a few.  All of these health issues are not helped by being overweight.  Although right now I don't have any of these problems I am concerned that I will get them if I don't change some aspects of my lifestyle.  For instance, I have already had one knee surgery for an injury that was most likely not helped by my weight.  I often have joint pain in my knees and back, and the most likely reason for this is because the joints are strained by how much weight they have to carry.  In the past although I was concerned about this, I wasn't prepared to make the major lifestyle changes that I needed to make in order to make losing major amounts of weight possible.  I am ready to do that now.

So why blog this journey for all to see?  Well I know several people who have done similar things, blogging weight loss journeys.  Their reasons for doing this though have been a little odd in my opinion.  Everything from helping them get on a weight loss television show, helping advance in a career by bringing attention to them self, and so that men will be more likely to notice them have all been excuses they have used for using this outlet.  Me, well my reasons are very different.  I need the support.  See I live a ways away from my family and many of my friends, and because of this my support system is about a two hour drive away from helping me.  So my hope is that I can build a support system online with friends, and family through the internet.  I also hope that others going on similar journeys will find me here and help me out with advice about exercise, eating habits, and other tidbits that might be helpful.

So what are the goals?  Well first and foremost I will not be sharing my actual weight on here (that number is far to embarrassing right now!), instead I'll be sharing amount of weight lost.  Right now the long term goal is over 100 pounds (130 to be exact but who's counting?)!  If I look at this in terms of weight though I'm going to be overwhelmed far to quickly, and give up far too fast!  For me this is going to be about how I feel, I want to have more energy, I want to get in a routine that involves exercise, I want to be able to run and not feel like I'm having an asthma attack!  So I am going to look at this as an overhaul of my life.  I'm getting ready to graduate with my masters degree in educational psychology in the Summer and will be moving to wherever I get a job.  For the past two years being a student has allowed me to sit in my apartment most of the day studying, sleep till 10am and go to be at 4am if I choose.  There are going to be some major changes happening in my life in the next six months and I want to make this change before the other changes happen.  If I begin to make changes now, the transition will be easier then.  So my first goal is to get on a schedule!  Eat three meals a day, plan study time, plan time to exercise, get up at the same time every day, and go to sleep at the same time every night.  I know for many this doesn't seem like a big deal, but since I've been in these bad habits for a long time now it's not going to be easy for me to change.  Right now that's what I'm going to work toward, and I'll inform you of future goals when I set them.

How am I going to accomplish this?  I needed help!  Well there is an over the counter product on the market known as Alli.  It's a drug that blocks the absorption of fat when you eat.  You still receive necessary parts of your food, but the extra fat you consume is passed through.  I want to stress that I have spoken with my doctor about beginning this program, and she gave me the thumbs up.  It was really important for me to get her okay because even though this is an over the counter medication that is approved by the FDA, my doctor knows me and my body better than they do!  Basically the product uses several factors to determine how many calories and how much fat you should consume in a day.  For me, well they say I should be on an 1800 calorie a day and 60 grams of fat a day plan.  (I had no idea how challenging these numbers would be till I began looking at the nutritional information of many of the foods I eat!)  To help me with these numbers I'm going to use the Alli Cookbook as well to help me prepare meals that fit into those categories until I become more used to cooking, and eating with those numbers in mind.  As previously stated this is not going to be an easy task for me, I like food, I like to cook, and finding out how to do both while still remaining healthy is going to be a new challenge for me.

All right so you now know where I am coming from, and why I am choosing to do this.  You also have my long term goal, and the short term goal that I am aiming for in my first few weeks of this.  Hopefully throughout this whole project  I will get better at learning to love myself (hence the blog name) and test myself, finding out who I really am and what I really am able to do when I put my mind to it.  So let day one begin with breakfast before noon!  =)

2 comments:

  1. You can do this girl! I'm here all the way =)

    <3 Katie

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  2. Congrats on starting your journey!! I recently started mine myself... let's encourage each other!!
    www.futurefitgirl.com

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