Time For Change

Me on the Cruise in 2006

I think the first turning point came after our second family Christmas cruise in 2006. By this time, I was out of college, and back home with my family. I came home from the cruise and looked back at the trip pictures. I hated looking at the girl I was seeing. She weighed well over 200 lbs (I avoided scales then, so I am not sure how much over.) It was time to change. I knew that the large amounts of fried food and pizza I was eating was not ever going to get me to a healthy weight.  I wanted to be healthy and prettier.  I didn't feel good about myself.

January 2, 2007, I decided to change. I began to keep track of every calorie I consumed. At first, I just tried to eat fewer chicken fingers and pizza slices. At home, I cut out chips and started eating more fruit. I wasn't really changing what I ate, just the amounts. Eventually, though, I figured out that I could consume more food if it were healthier. I began ordering
grilled chicken breasts when I would go out. I found that it really was just as yummy as the the friend tenders I had been eating. I began experimenting with new ways of putting together foods I already liked. Hey, I like chicken and I like lettuce and some veggies, so maybe chicken in a salad would taste good!

It was a small step, but it felt good. I was changing. The weight was coming off. It was getting easier to find foods I liked at restaurants. I began to feel more "normal." In just over a year, I had lost around 80 lbs. Things were starting to look up!

Me, one year after the above pictures were taken.