So Here We Are...

In October 2009, I went to Iowa City to visit some friends and go to a birthday party. As usual, I took my camera with me, eager to have photos of my time there. When I returned home, I uploaded the pictures and started to cry.

Crying is not unusual for me, but this time I had good reason to cry. I could no longer hide the fact that I looked more overweight than I've ever looked. I had always been overweight, but in October 2009, I was bordering on obese. I had moved to a new town after graduating from grad school, and I got a little too comfortable with the beer-and-cheese diet of my new home state of Wisconsin. I was lazy. I was depressed. I gained weight.

A friend had offered to take me along to her Weight Watchers meeting whenever I wanted, so the following day, I told her I was coming with her that night. That night was October 24, 2009. The transformations that have happened for me since that night have been powerful, profound, and exciting.

Through meetings and tracking the calories I ate, I lost 58 pounds in eight months. More importantly, I revolutionized my thinking, my behaviors, and my relationship to food. I now exercise every day. I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. I now drink diet soda only sparingly. I rarely eat meat. The thought of fatty, salty food kind of grosses me out.

In other words, I went from fat and unhappy to thin and thrilled. I am now energetic, confident, and ready for anything. All because I learned to see food as fuel not as an emotional salve or a source of cheap and short-term pleasure.

Watching me do this have been my very encouraging and supportive family and the friends, all of whom heard my stories in person and on Facebook. Many of them have asked me about how I've done all this, and how they can eat more like me to lose their own excess weight. So I decided to build a new blog that discusses the things I now do, the things I now eat, and the way I incorporate exercise and health into my daily life. I envision this blog as interactive. I'll post things regularly, but if you have questions for me, let me know and I'll answer them the best I can.

Obviously, I'm not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist/dietitian. I'm no expert. I can just tell you what worked for me. If it encourages you to choose better foods, great. But don't let this be a replacement for seeking professional medical help if you need it. Just use this as...bear with me...food for thought. Ouch. That pun was so bad it even hurt me.