Since I'm new to DietBet, I want to try to stay involved and use it for all it's worth! I have never really blogged before... does Xanga count? Anyone remember that?! haha, throwback!
So, first off, let me introduce myself DB'ers! My name is Ann Marie, and I am in housewares sales. (what is that?!?!) Well, I sell to JCPenney, Dillard's, and AAFES. Those are my big customers, and I get to sell them awesome cookware, like Lodge Cast Iron. I represent about 35 lines of products. We operate out of a showroom in Dallas, which I try to work out of (sometimes I work from home).
I live with my boyfriend, Bobby, of two years, and we have a dog named Pickle (a VERY energetic pound pup-mostly shih-tzu!). I have a very happy life and a VERY close family. Mom and dad live about 10 minutes away, as do my brother and sis-in-law with their brand new baby twin boys! we get together at least once a week for family dinners, and my brother and I, although 6 years apart, have grown very close since the birth of his children.
To give you an idea of my weight loss journey, let's start at the beginning. Truth: I've been struggling with body image and weight issues my entire life. I think it really began in elementary school. I was always just a little chubbier than everybody. My parents served healthy meals at home, but the cafeteria at lunch was always pizza and.. this is so gross, but I used to eat a huge portion of croutons with ranch... who needs salad?! Luckily, I was a cheerleader, playing basketball, and soccer. I was working off a lot of the calories but definitely still was a bigger boned girl. My mom, God bless her, really tried to help. We went to a doctor and nutritionist. I took B-12 shots and joined Weight Watchers, TWICE. Nothing seemed to stick for me. I grew a few inches and slimmed down moving into high school and in 9th grade found myself at probably the healthiest I had been. I am 5'2" and was about a size 6. I met a guy and dated him up until the summer before 10th grade. When we broke up, I was devestated, and that is when my relationship with food really took a nose dive. I ate... and ate... and ate. Oh, did I mention I ate?! I sank into depression and ended up having to go to the doctor to get on medicine for it. I ballooned big time, probably to a size 12. On a 5'2" frame, this looks like a size 18. I found some stability through the rest of high school and stayed around an 8-10 the rest of the HS years. Skip forward to freshman year of college, I started to obsessively work out- I think it was just because I had not met a ton of friends yet. I worked out 2 hours a day and again found myself around a size 6 to 8. Of course, I eventually met an awesome group of friends and working out fell to the way side. I hovered around 8-12 throughout the rest of college.
Fast forward to one year ago. I am 4 years out of college. Still struggling with my love of queso and wine. Oh, and chips. Anything salty really. I'm hungry now, darn... haha. I joined weight watchers last year and that pushed me to really focus on my food choices (I had done WW in the past). I dropped from 170 pounds to 151 at my lowest. Today, I weigh officially 153.6 pounds. I have plateaued for a good year around the low 150's, and I am actually really happy about that, because for years I've been struggling to break out of the 165's and actually stay in the 150's. But realistically, for my height, I need to be weighing in at 120 or 130.
I will weigh in later today with a token and post that along with my calories.
That is a brief highlight of me! I'm sure I will be posting more about myself as I start blogging, but at least that's a good starter. :)
In order to motivate myself to stay strong through the rest of November, I want to make some personal goals for myself and share them with the DB community.
1. I have been at a plateau for nearly 7 months, hovering around 151 pounds to 154 pounds. My goal for November is to FINALLY break into the 140's.
2. I've joined 24 Hour Fitness. My goal is to get in at least two group fitness classes a week and 1-2 self workouts, for a total of 3-4 workouts a week. I think this is doable with my schedule and personal commitments right now.
3. To consistently count my calories daily. I will post a blog post every day from now until the end of November with my calorie count for the day and a little blurb on how it went. (YIKES! this is going to be hard. However, nothing worth having is easy.)
4. Consistently and constantly pull myself out of bed by 6:30am. This has been a very big struggle for me with the cold weather. I have been late to work many days and have trouble even starting my day when the warm bed is calling me! So, for the rest of this month, I will be out of bed by 6:30am to either go to the gym for 30 minutes or spend time with my boyfriend before he leaves for work at 7. (I have to be at work around 8/8:30, however I'm self-employed, so I could technically show up later if I want to. That is the hardest part!)
So, those are my goals for the rest of the month. I am starting off small to allow myself to meet every goal and even, hopefully, exceed it!
Here's to less of you and less of me.
AMB