My Weight Loss Journey - First Official Post

Hello everyone. I am quite new to the world of blogging and this is my 1st of what will hopefully be many posts. I try to maintain a hand written journal (almost daily) and think it's time to step into and embrace this electronic, technology-driven world. I intend to use this outlet as a means of diarizing my weight loss journey. I feel a bit nervous/anxious about this undertaking, but it's a good thing.


A Little About Me...
I'm 34 years old, married to a wonderful, and supportive husband and I'm a mother of a perfect little 2 year old boy. I also work full time. Like many of us out there, I have struggled with my weight pretty well ALL my life. To be quite honest, I never really let it bother me. I'm generally a very confident, happy and positive person. I have never looked at myself in the mirror and felt disgust or any similar negative feeling, regardless of my size. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've looked at myself at times and wished I could wear certain things , but let's get real, not everyone should be wearing certain things. When I went clothes shopping, if something didn't fit, I'd just get a bigger size and/or not buy it at all, but I never really felt down about it.

Anyway, as the years have gone by, with age, illness, having a baby and continually eating those yummy-tasting foods (which I know I should NOT be eating) I've started noticing a huge difference in how I felt and what I could do (more like COULDN'T DO) physically. I've been feeling quite sluggish and achy and just generally unhealthy.

I shouldn't be feeling "unhealthy" at 34!! WTF?? So I decided I needed to do something. I grabbed my laptop and started scourring the internet. Holy Crap!! Is there ever a lot of shit on the internet regarding weight loss, fitness, diets and everything in between. Everyone is claiming to be an expert or is selling a product that is "guaranteed" to give me results!! I was discouraged - almost immediately!

Later that night, as I was sitting on my couch, eating ice cream (heavenly hash - one of my favourites) and flipping through the TV channels, I came across a Canadian weightloss/fitness show called X-Weighted. I had watched it many times before (kind of obsessed with weight loss shows). I didn't want to go on the show, but liked the no nonsense-in your face-tell you what you need to hear style of the trainer Paul Plakas. I looked him up on the web and obtained a healthy eating plan from his site (for a small fee). I followed the plan and lost 16 pounds in about 6 weeks solely from eating well (I cut out McDonalds, DQ, Chinese Buffet, Coca Cola, all fruit juices and Chocolate and then included fruits, veggies, lean meats and water). I then decided that I should be including some sort of physical activity.

A few days later, while going through store flyers, I came across an ad for an outdoor bootcamp program (Orleans Adventure Bootcamp). It looked interesting so I decided to take a shot at it. This past July (2008), I signed up. It was a bootcamp style workout for 1 hour, 5 days a week. I signed up for the morning class (5:30 am to 6:30am)!! You read correctly, I wrote A.M. After the first week, I was hooked. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having and the results were just great. I started feeling strong, and people started noticing changes. From attending July to October (5days a week) and keeping up my eating plan, I lost about 23 pounds!! So in total I was down 39 pounds and a ton of inches in about 5 months. I was feeling and looking great. It's a fabulous program!

What Now???
Well, the bootcamp program moved indoors as of November and won't return outdoors until the Spring. The hours changed, which meant, I would no longer be able to attend in addition to changes with my work schedule. So this is where I am today. Life happens.

Over the last month, I slowly started to revert to my old ways of eating and back to little to no physical activity. I have regained 7 pounds and just feel myself slipping back. I realize the importance of getting back on track and not letting myself go back down that unhealthy road. It's just so hard, but I HAVE to do it.

Anyway, I have decided to take my life into my hands and get this done. This is one thing in my life that I can't seem to get a handle on. But no more. I have just purchased a fitness and nutrition plan from a professional bodybuilder, who has over 15 years experience as a personal trainer and body building coach. I figure with those credentials, and his obvious passion for fitness and healthy living, he will be a great help to me. He offers on-line training as well which works for me due to travelling with work etc. He sent me a pretty lengthy and detailed questionnaire which he's currently analyzing to develop a customized training and nutrition plan for me. I know that essentially this falls on me to show up, perform and maintain so I am hoping to do all I can to ensure that I succeed. This is one of the reasons why I decided to create and maintain this blog throughout my journey and share it with my family, friends and whoever will listen for that matter.

Over the next few months (and hopefully longer), I will update this blog reqularly as I attempt to shed the weight and get healthy. I will include my starting weight and measurements and a "before" photo (s) soon. Wish me luck! Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment.

Joania