Getting to Know me...

My name is Jessica, I have been wanting to start a blog about weight loss, recipes and well basically my everyday life as it happens.. something was always holding me back and I dont know what it was. My BGF (best girl friend) and I were talking today about one of her blog posts from the day, and then we started talking about our goals for this year and how much I enjoy cooking! So I thought what better time to start writing than now! My goals and hopes for this blog is not only to help myself through my weight loss, excersize and cooking journey but to help others.

I have dealt with weight issues my entire life, as early as I can remember I was always "bigger or thicker" than everyone else. At the age of 14 I started going to Weight Watchers with my Aunty, she went for a long time and she was a Lifetime member and looked great. When you are 14, counting points is hard! I did not know how to cook then, and I lived with my Dad at the time. I remember eating soooooo much Chicken! I would cook plain chicken and put it in a ziplock bag and eat that for Lunch! How boring is that!!! I remember WW working for me then (but I hated how horibly boring the food was), I remember going into meetings and having to weigh in and hoping every wednesday that I would see a loss on that scale. I lasted about 6 months going with my dear Aunt and then I flat out quit. I was always an athlete in school, playing field hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball and tennis. But I was always "thicker".

During my grade twelve year my mom passed away from a car accident, and things changed after that as well. Some things just didn't seem to matter to me anymore. Graduation was a fun day but something I wished I could have shared with my mom. After high school I moved away with my BGF to Edmonton, Alberta. Our dreams were to become pipefitters like her Dad and work on the rigs! Well lets just say that didn't happen. We went there and noticed the cold and yeah that wasn't going to happen! So I ended up having a few jobs but most were office jobs(that were warm). I developed bad habbits (drinking, shopping and eating!) while living there. Like I said something didn't matter to me anymore. I noticed the weight gain about a year after graduation(at grad I was down to about 180lbs) when I was hovering 200 lbs. I lived in a house with eight other people, and we drank a lot and ate a lot of whatever someone else was cooking that night. My health was not important to me. I smoked (tobacco) a lot as well! Over the course of about 4 years I was at my heaviest weight ever... people don't beleive me I weighed this much ....... 235 lbs... yikes. I was depressed and hated a lot of things about myself. My friends never said anything to me about how awful I looked, because I have the most amazing friends in my life (SP, DS,RB,BM). They tell me now that they were worried about me and I can completely understand why they would be, because I worried myself at times. I was in a bad relationship and just ate my feelings away.

Then I met someone. I met someone that made me feel complete and made me feel the happiest I have ever felt. He met me when I was at my biggest and loved me and told me I was beautiful everyday. I started to see the weight come off. As did others.BM also has twin girls! Slowly I felt like I was beginning to get some control back in my life. I limited my portions, still ate whatever (what u do when your on WW) I wanted but cut out junk food for the most part and switched to eating lower point foods. BM(the love of my life) helped me with so many issues I had going on in my life. He taught me so many things and I have become a better and stronger person because of him. My BGF SP noticed a major change in me when we talked on the phone. I remember sitting outside of work talking to her on the phone telling her about him and telling her how happy I was (she lived in Calgary and we lived in Edmonton). But SP had not met BM yet so I needed her stamp of approval still! I mean don't get me wrong I was head over heals in Love but SP needed to give him the Ok for it to be all good haha. So I ended up losing about 50 pounds in 7 months or so and I felt amazing.

I began getting comfortable with where I was so my eating habits sort lingered off to the other side. I gained about 10 pounds back and then lost it, then gained it back and lost and so forth. After living in Edmonton for 4.5 years BM, the twins and I decided to move back to my home town. He got a job there first so we moved in December of 2009. I got a job at a Credit Union after about 9 months of being here.

I have been hovering around 176- 186 pounds the last two years and I have a Goal this year to get down to 150 lbs, I think the last time I weighed that I was in grade 6! I also want to start excersizing more too! Another great friend I met RB at work, has introduced me to the world of ZUMBA!!! So we do that two times a week, but I need to do more! My goal this year is not only to get down to 150, but to excersize more, cook more and track more!

I started WW ( I do it at home-no meetings, I use blogs for inspirations) a week ago today and I am down 3.4 lbs! I am getting back into tracking and planning planning planning. My key to success is my planning. I like to sit down on Sundays and write a meal plan for the week, as well as a grocery list for what i will need for my recipes. I love finding new recipes and trying them. PS Wednesdays are my Cheat days so I do absolutly no planning on Wednesday! I use that one day a week to eat whatever I want and count nothing! And yes I look forward to Wednesday by Thursday morning!  My hopes for this blog are to share some recipes I find, post some pictures and blog my WW journals as well!

Even if no one reads this blog I am going to use it to be accountable and to give me motivation to get er done! 

Kins