Here's to a new year and new beginnings

Post one. My first blog. I guess I should start by explaining why I am doing this. I'm a "fat" girl. I've been overweight basically my entire life. And I've struggled with it basically my entire life. There's things that I wish my parents had done when I was younger (like forced me to pick a sport...or some physical activity) and there's things I wish I would have done as an adult (like not eat the entire pumpkin pie). But here I am. I've been lucky in that I've never gained back any of the weight I've lost and I've lost a total of about 50 pounds...over the last 8 years. I even trained for and ran the Honolulu Marathon in 2007 but somehow did not lose a single pound. Yeah, not too sure how that one happened.

This past spring, I decided to enlist in the US Navy. However, they told me I was too fat. Even though I run 4 miles a day and am physically capable (as my best friend who probably weighs half of what I do once told me...she could get in on her weight but knows that I would far surpass her in any PT test). They didn't care. All they cared about was my weight. So in the fall, after only losing 10 pounds that summer, I went to see a nutritionist. She assessed what I was eating and, more importantly, what I wasn't eating. Turns out, I wasn't eating enough food and my body was basically in starvation mode all of the time. So I started eating more. And eating healthy. Fruits, veggies, lots and lots of protein. And it worked...at first. But then I hit a brick wall and my weight wasn't budging. So she made modifications. But those didn't work. My percent body was going down and my percent lean muscle was going up but the scale was NOT budging. Finally, at my last appointment (do you know how expensive a nutritionist is?!) she suggested that if all else fails, I try the HCG diet. Only a modified version and eat more calories because of how much I work out. My goal is to lose 20 pounds.

Yesterday, I started it. The first two days have been great. I've gotten to eat whatever I want. In fact, my mom is currently making me my favorite cookies because after today, I can't endulge until February 12th. Yes, I planned this diet around the Superbowl. Something you should know about me: the Superbowl is a bigger day for me than Christmas. Just sayin'. So right now I feel great. We'll see how I feel tomorrow night.

I'm going to try post every two days about my journey on the HCG diet. I say try, cause let's face it, I'm a busy girl. But I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. And to finish on the Navy thing, I didn't enlist (obviously) but I didn't let it get me down too much. I've decided once I've lost these 20 pounds, I'm going Coast Guard Reserve as a marine science technician.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. I know I had a great night and am excited to start this year off right.