It started 8 years ago...

I was sitting in grad school waiting for class to begin and I remember hearing a girl telling someone of her 25 pound weight loss.  She said she counted calories.  If she wanted pizza, she would have bagel bites.  She ate what she wanted as long as she counted her calories.

A few years later, my father insisted I was losing weight. I wasn't trying by any means.   I was preoccupied by my 5 month old daughter who I just brought home from Guatemala. I did not feel as though I was dieting, I mean I certainly wasn't trying. I decided to step on the scale anyways and I was surprised to see that I had lost weight.  I remembered the girl from grad school and decided to count calories.  In my first 2 weeks, I lost 10.5 pounds.  The weight fell off pretty easily without too much effort.  If I ate something, I wrote down the calories and limited my self to 1800 calories per day.  For every 10 pounds I would lose, I would drop my calories by 100.

Eight years later, I am still going strong.  During this time, I became divorced, met someone new, and had a successful pregnancy.  While I went through each of those events, I did gain some back but I never let anything take over completely except for the pregnancy.  I worked far too hard to slip up.  It is a constant struggle and I envy those people who can eat without worrying about calorie counts.  I feel like I am a walking encyclopedia of caloric counts.

So for my stats, I am 5' tall, yes just 5' no inches and maintain a weight between 120-133.  I like to stay closer to the 120 but have a hard time with that if I am exercising.  I have gained a lot of muscle, so while I know the scale says I am higher, it is for a good reason.  I have a hard time with this concept and I am still trying to get down closer to 120.

I did not start really exercising until a little over a year ago.  I joined 9Rounds and it has changed my life!  I can actually see the changes in my body and more importantly others can too!  Since I can look at food and instantly gain 3 pounds, I am thrilled to have found something that I love!  I actually wake up looking forward to exercising.  I can't wait for Monday mornings so I can get back there.  I have become one of those people.

I wanted to share my story to help other people who need to lose weight.  I did this all by eating what I wanted to not by what others told me I should be eating.  I never ate any fish, cottage cheese, or even vegetables.  My eating habits have changed through out the years and I am now more educated in my choices.  It's important to find what works for you and your body.