Tag Archives: deep thoughts

A little about me


I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life. I was born a 10+ pound baby and was always the biggest kid in my class growing up. Back in college, I joined Weight Watchers and dropped about 70 lbs in only 5 months. I had plenty more to go, but the “real world” caught up with me. I graduated college, started a stressful job in NYC, started eating out A LOT, discovered the magical world of margaritas, and voila, I gained all my weight back.

I kept recommiting to losing the weight again. The first time was so easy, this should be a piece of cake, right? Unfortunately I’ve learned this isn’t the case. You see, I lost all my weight on Weight Watchers. WW revolves around tracking food and counting points. I was so heavy that all I needed to do was change my eating habits to lose that first 70lbs. I plateaued because I never incorporated exercise into my weight loss plans. That was mistake number one. Then I became comfortable. I “knew what I was doing” and didn’t feel I needed to MEASURE anymore. I started eyeballing portions. “Oh yeah, that looks like 6oz of chicken”. “Yep, just a teaspoon of oil in the pan”. Then work got busier and busier as I took on more responsibilities, and I stopped tracking. I knew how many points I had, surely I could mentally keep track. Mistake number three. You see, WW is all about making lifestyle changes and making better food choices. That said, if you get too comfortable and stop tracking and measuring, you’re doomed to fail. I never fell back into my old habits of fast food, junk food, etc. I kept on with my proteins, vegetables, and high fiber foods. So why was I failing? Portion control. It’s as simple as that.

So, knowing this, why has it been so hard to get back on board? It’s hard to break the mentality that you know what you’re doing since you’ve done it before. Guestimating point values became second nature. Getting a new habit (like tracking) to stick is hard. There are so many life forces that work against you when you’re trying to better yourself: work pressures, taking care of your home, taking care of your spouse, taking care of your kids, taking care of your pets, taking care of your cars, all those frozen drinks calling your name on your tropical vacation, etc… how could you possibly have time to take care of yourself?

This is the problem. And this is where it ends.

There is NO reason to live like this. I am taking back my life, one day at a time. Sure, I will slip up from time to time. That’s why this is a day by day journey.

I hope you’ll follow me in my journey, and share yours with me as well. I plan to use this space to blog about my journey, share recipes, tips, motivation, and of course my failings. Hopefully we can all learn something.