Weight Loss Journey

This is a very difficult page to write.


I have struggled with my weight for many years.  I was chubby as a kid, but I kept my weight somewhat under control because I was very active in dance, soccer, and softball.  But as I got older, I got less active, and my weight climbed slowly through middle and high school.  Then I went to college, and my weight skyrocketed.  I lived on dorm food (two or three grilled cheese sandwiches at a time, anyone?) and anything that delivered.  Plus, I fell in love with a boy who ate ice cream by the carton.  And I fell in love with a place called Boulder Baked that delivered warm milk and cookies.  Yeah.  Just imagine that and tell me if you'd fit in your pants.


Visiting Walt Disney World - March 2006


I made a few half-hearted attempts during high school and college to lose weight, but I was always intent on doing it myself, and the lack of support and motivation meant that most attempts at weight loss lasted only a month or so. On top of that, I always tried to lose weight by exercising more and only kind of monitoring my eating - I assumed I could drop all the weight I needed to through exercise alone and continue eating what I wanted, so long as I threw in a salad once in a while.

Dressed as Minnie Mouse for Halloween - October 2008


In early 2009, a lightbulb finally went on.  I started seeing commercials for the new Momentum program on Weight Watchers. The commercials, featuring an adorable orange fuzzy creature named "Hungry," made Weight Watchers seem... well... kind of cool. I decided to go to a meeting, and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

That first meeting was on March 7th, 2009. I weighed in at 184.4 pounds - this was much higher than I ever expected, but considering I'd avoided scales for years, I'm not sure if it was my highest weight.  That meeting was the beginning of a long and sometimes difficult, but rewarding journey.  By May of 2009, my confidence was up enough that I decided to start running with Couch to 5K.  That program got me through a tough summer job and a bad breakup - and it got me to fall in love with fitness, even if I didn't always seem to love it so much...

Gearing up for a bike ride, down 19.4 pounds - July 2009


Because of Weight Watchers, Couch to 5K, P90X, and so many other wonderful things, I successfully lost over 30 pounds.

Same Minnie Mouse costume, just one year and 27.4 pounds later... looking better, right? - October 2009

I declared goal at Weight Watchers in June of 2010 - I had originally set a lower goal weight, but I woke up one day, looked in the mirror, and realized that I was happy.  I looked good, I felt great, and there was no reason to beat myself up just to get to an arbitrary number.  After six weeks of maintenance, I became a Lifetime member at Weight Watchers, and in February 2011, started working for the company as a Leader.

I'm so incredibly grateful for the support that my leader and Weight Watcher friends gave to me, as well as all of my family and friends.  While I don't think I can say I am glad that I had a weight problem, I consider myself blessed that I was able to go on such an amazing journey that brought me wonderful new friends, new experiences, and a new way of seeing myself.

I wish that is where my weight loss journey ended.  I wish I could say that I have successfully maintained my weight loss since 2011 and it's all been easy.  But that's not real life.  Real life is that in 2012, I moved across the country to Orlando, FL to pursue a career with Disney, and while it was an exciting step in my life, it meant I had to leave behind my position as a Weight Watchers Leader.  This meant that my accountability was gone.  And slowly but surely, I put back on about 25 pounds.

There's a reason it's called a journey, I suppose - just because you think you've reached the destination doesn't mean that it's all over and done with.  So here I am, working hard on a new chapter of my weight loss story!  Hopefully I can help and inspire someone else along the way.

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