From the beginning

To begin I will give you all a very brief life overview from the beginning.

I grew up in a small town, Arcata, CA. Oldest of three daughters I had a very good childhood. I started playing basketball in 3rd grade and loved it. I never really had a weight problem as a child, but was always athletic and muscular. As the years went on I kept playing sports but didn't ever keep a check on what I ate. The pounds started to come on. I remember being in 8th grade and having to do a "health check", or something like that in PE. We had to be weighed, and I remember being nervous about it, but my friends it seemed were not. I remember weighing 175 lbs. And being upset by that number, especially when my friends were all 110-ish.

After that I played freshman basketball but ended up quitting the team because I couldn't hack it physically. I was definitely out of shape and overweight at this point. After that I got my drivers license, and with being able to go off campus for lunch I didn't make the best food choices. And without playing sports the pounds packed on. At high school graduation I can almost bet that I was over 200 lbs, but don't know for sure.

College was more of the same, poor eating habits, and low activity levels. And a new caloric foe, alcohol, that didn't help my health. After 6 years of college I had my BA in History and a teaching credential.

I got a teaching job in Sacramento in 2009. Kept busy with teaching and new friends in Sacramento, but the pounds kept coming. My first time living completely alone and away from everything I had known. And more restaurant choices, and drinking was still a big part of my life being in my early twenties. With being a first year teacher there was no time for the gym. I was so busy trying to keep my head above water, I didn't put my health as a priority (probably not even in the top 10 of my priorities at the time).

I got laid off the summer of 2010. I substituted for the 2010-2011 school year. Same story, depressed over losing my job, and not putting my health first. I was also in a living situation where fast food take out and TV was the norm for most days. Two of the girls I lived with look back at that time and the way we ate and drank and are disgusted with it. All three of us have made a change in our health for the better. In the fall of 2010 I was at my highest weight at almost 300 lbs. And even at that time I felt no urgency for my health. Even with heart disease running on my dad's side of the family, I felt like it didn't matter to me.


During the summer and fall of 2011 I really didn't do much. I had stopped subbing, and had nothing to fill my time with. After a night of drinking in December of 2011 that lead to a black eye (no one's fault but my own drunken self), and about a 3 day hangover, I decided something needed to change. I went home for Christmas and got strep throat (which I'm sure was a cause of the week before's drinking and walking home in the rain). This only solidified that I needed to take control, and it had to be now.

In January my parents bought be a two year membership to 24 hour fitness. I vowed to myself that I would not let their money go to waste. Since January I have been going to the gym religiously at least 2 hours a day 5 days a week. This year I have lost 23 lbs, and have lost 38 from my highest weight.

This blog is mostly therapeutic for me, but if you want to read along and be part of my journey, I welcome you.