Happy New Year!

Hi. My name is Lindsey Lohan and I am an alcoholic! Oh wait, we are not at an AA meeting this is a weight loss blog. Right...weight loss. OK, My name is Karen and I weigh 201 pounds. Now if I was 6 foot 5 that might not be so bad. Unfortunately for me I am 5 foot 3. 9 years ago I was 140 pounds and was getting married to the love of my life. I could run for miles and loved hiking and doing things outside.

Well, I am happy to say that the love of my life and I just celebrated our 9th anniversary. We also have 2 sweet babies (no that does not include the giant German Shepard that makes me crazy!). Munchkin is 4 and a half and Little Man is 2 and half. In 2001 I had gall bladder surgery, in 2002 I had Munchkin in a natural (with epidural) birth. In 2004 I had Little Man with an emergency C-Section. In 2005 I had a back injury. One of my vertebrae was popped out to the side. Now it is the last night of 2006 and I have gained 60 pounds in 9 years.

This is a place I never thought I would be. I promised myself I would not get to this point. Although for as long as I can remember I was always the fat girl. Some of that must have been in my head but it was constantly reinforced. (doodla doodla doodla dream sequence coming on..) In 4th grade a girl came up to me and asked "Do you consider yourself fat? Because I do!" Looking back I have to think maybe she was a little jealous. I started wearing a bra that year and was developing a little faster than she was. By the time I was in 6th grade I was already wearing a size 10 shoes and was in an adult size clothes. I don't remember ever being smaller than a size 9. All of my friends in high school were smaller than me. They all played soccer and I was a musician that sat a lot to practice. When I went to college I was still a size 9. I spent the summer in Yosemite hiking and cleaning rooms and came back in really good shape. The entire time I was in college I was in decent shape. I had to walk everywhere and even trained for the Los Angeles Marathon. I didn't run it but I did train. Once Bobby and I got married the weight gain really took off. I just got fat and happy!

After seeing pictures of myself we tried the Weigh Down Workshop. I lost a few pounds but really didn't do well with the God hates me because I am eating when I am not hungry things. That is probably extreme but I couldn't handle feeling that much guilt. We then tried Prism. I lost quite a bit on that because you can't have white flour or sugar for 6 weeks, then you can add certain foods back in. I had a hard time staying away from white flour and sugar. Apparently I have no willpower. Once we moved across the country and I had my first baby I tried Weight Watchers. I have had no luck with these programs. But, I suppose it takes more than luck, eh?

I am hoping posting on this blog and having friends post with me that I will be motivated to lose this weight. I would like to lose 50 pounds this year. That sounds ridiculously high but that is only 1 pound a week. One of my goals for the year is to exercise more. I am planning to swim and walk the crazy German Shepard more often (even though I have to clean up her poop). A mini goal is 10 percent of my weight which would be 20.5 pounds. Maybe I can lose that by March. Instead of rewarding myself with a large steak, loaded baked potato, and chocolate cake maybe I will reward myself with a pedicure. That would be nice. :)

I think I am going to start with the points again because I know that works. Any supportive comments and low calorie meal suggestions would be welcome!

This is me in October at Pismo Beach....what? You were expecting a bikini? I will have to go on Oprah for that!

Welcome!

Welcome to our journey! This is a place for each of the contributors to talk about weight loss. It is open to food journals, thoughts about exercise, meal suggestions, or figuring out the things that make weight loss successful or difficult. Please come back often to check on how we are progressing over the next year! If you would like to contribute send me an email.

Looking back and Looking ahead

I have been asked by Karen to contribute to this blog. It is my hope that by doing this, I will get a handle on getting to a healthy weight for my body type and age. I also hope to inspire and to be inspired by other people's journey. We are all in this together.

I will be blogging from the point of view of an older woman. I am 54 years old and have struggled with my weight for most of my adult life. I presently weigh 239 lbs. I'm 5' 9 " tall. Looking back to when I was 19 years old, I weighed 155 lbs. That was a healthy weight for me, but my mother that was 5' 11" tall and weighed 120 lbs soaking wet constantly nagged at me about my weight because I was fat to her. I realize now that at the time my mother had an eating disorder and really thought she was fat. I'm not going to blame my mother for my weight problem because I am responsible for what I put in my mouth.

I will admit that I am an emotional eater and can find any excuse to eat. Including the fact that I really like food. It has been a big part of my life. I enjoy cooking and baking and sharing food with those I love. My grandmother was a professional cook and one of the ways she showed her love to us was by cooking our favorite foods and having big family dinners every Sunday afternoon after church. I have to find some way of disconnecting food and love.

Looking ahead, I know it's going to take some very hard work on my part. Tuesday, I will be joining Weight Watchers because I know the program works, if I work the program. I am also starting an exercise program because not only will it help to take off the weight but I have to get conditioned for a trip we are taking to Italy in June. I don't want to be left behind on the bus with an aching back, feet and legs while everyone else is seeing Michaelangelo's David.

Thanks Karen for giving me this opportunity to be part of this. I know we can be successful if we help each other along.

Launching January 1st

As of January first several friends will start blogging their weight loss journey for 2007.