The Mission

The Background:

I was a runner. An amazing runner. I got second place at my regional cross country meet in high school. I also got MVP two years in a row. Ok, ok, so my "region" consisted of about 15 girls, the best school didn't show due to weather issues, and one of those two years I was the only one on the team. More importantly, that was... ugh... about a decade ago. The beginning of my decline: my senior year of high school several other girls joined the team so I chose to go out undefeated and didn't join.

Then I went to college. Ohhhh, college. Freshman 15? Ha! I was coming from rural Nebraska where there was no sign of any sort of fast food for hours in any direction. I moved to the city and suddenly was bombarded with Sonic slushies and even worse: the invention of the McGriddle. Yes, I know. It's my own fault. It's glaringly obvious that fast food and no exercise makes you fat. And to answer the question everyone wants to ask: No, I didn't really notice myself gaining the weight. It's denial. Yes, I bought bigger pants, but I was convinced that even though I needed to size up (a few times), I still looked pretty much the same. So I bought the size up and promised myself that I would lose it after college. By my 25th birthday for sure. And with that in the back of my mind, I ate what I wanted and exercised... well... I didn't exercise. The results weren't good.

I'm 5'4". I weighed 125 in my running days and looked pretty darn good (I have a bigger frame). I was in the low 130's when I graduated high school. By the time I graduated college in December 2006 I weighed (drum roll, please) 183 lbs. Yep, 50 fricken pounds. So I decided I need to do something about it. I was just about to turn 22 and had 3 years to lose the weight.

In January 2007 I made the resolution. I cut a lot of fast food and I tried to run. Let me tell you what I learned: running when you're fat is NOT easy. Seriously. I used to be one of those people who would see an overweight person and think, "Why don't they drop the donut and go for a walk". It actually doesn't work like that. It gets to a point where it's actually painful. Plus, it's depressing. I remember wondering if they made some kind of a bra for love handles. That's great for your self-esteem. Anyway, I succeeded a little bit. I was going to Europe in May and really wanted to knock off a chunk (hehehe, pun intended) by then. When I went, I was down to 165. Not so bad.

In July 2007, I moved to Brazil. This stopped my progress, as I had no idea how to cook with Brazilian ingredients. I got pregnant in October and was still at 165 lbs. Despite the doctor telling me if I gained more than 17 lbs he'd wire my mouth shut, I gained... 40. Yep, the day I delivered my daughter (in June 2008)I weighed 205 lbs. Nice. Luckily, the pregnancy weight came off pretty easily, thanks in part to the fact that my baby was 8 1/2 lbs of that, and the other part was breastfeeding. I got down to 170 by the end of 2008.

At the end of March 2009, I decided I really needed to get serious about this if I was going to make my goal of losing it by my 25th birthday (in December). I went to the gym for about 3 months, went on vacation, and didn't go back afterward. I was down to about 150 lbs.

My 25th birthday was in December and I obviously didn't hit my goal. I'm still sitting right around 150 lbs.

The Mission:

As of yesterday, I weighed 67.10 kg (148 lbs). This fluctuates A LOT. Like 3-4 lbs depending on the day.

My goal is to get down to 60 kg (about 130 lbs).

I'm planning another vacation to the US in the next few months. When I go there, I want to buy new clothes. For every kg I lose, I am going to give myself $100 to spend on said clothes. Fun!

So I'm using this blog as another way to hold myself accountable. I'm going to post what I eat, how much I exercise, my weight and measurement progress, and occasionally pictures.

Enjoy!