Losing it (in a good way)

Since last January, I have been part of a group of co-workers who desire to get in shape and lose weight. We weigh in together weekly and track our progress on an Excel spreadsheet. Our goal is to provide accountability and support to each other while trying to meet our own personal fitness goals.

Weight has been an issue for me my entire life! I was always kind of chubby even though I was an active girl who took dance for most of my childhood and teen years. I also played on school soccer and volleyball teams and played various pickup sports with the kids in my neighborhood. My weight problems are mostly genetic as I am practically my dad's genetic clone and his side of the family gains five pounds by even looking at food. I am a stress eater who had a very troubled childhood so food provided a lot of comfort. When I was 13, a cousin who raised me threatened to put my bike lock on the fridge because he said it would serve two purposes.... force me to exercise and keep me out of the fridge. He was a very vain man whose entire goal in life was for me to look like Britney Spears. I began starving myself during the day and binge eating at night. And by binge eating I mean sneaking into the kitchen at 1am and eating a tub of frosting.

By the time I was 15, I lost a ton of weight and was allowed to cut my hair short for the first time. This was something I wanted so bad because I always hated my long hair but wasn't allowed to have it cut. The above referenced cousin said short hair would accentuate my fat face, so cutting my hair would be the payoff for losing the weight.

I stayed thin for a long time but after I got married my weight started to gradually increase. In 2008, I became pregnant with my son and gained 45 pounds. The years since having my son have not been good for my waistline. In the year since I started with this weight loss group at work, I've lost 10 pounds. We took a break for the Holidays and today had our first weigh in of the new year. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds by April and be within 15 pounds of where I was when I got pregnant.