And so my Journey Begins...again

I'm tired...I'm tired of being tired, of feeling weak, of not having energy.  I'm tired of not feeling like I'm in control.  Today is the beginning of a lifestyle change, today I made the decision that I CAN lose weight and I WILL gain control of my eating. 

As far back as I can remember I've had weight issues, funny thing is I was never medically considered "overweight" until I was in my 20s.  I grew up as a average-weight, physically fit, healthy child, yet when I looked in the mirror I felt fat.  I have a very distinct and hurtful memory of an incident in elementary school when a classmate commented on the size of my butt, funny thing is, this particular classmate weighed at least 10lbs more than me.  I realize now that she was just a bully and probably had even lower self-esteem than I did and "bullying" somehow made her feel better about herself. 

Throughout my life I've used food as comfort, I became an emotional eater, I ate when I was happy, sad, bored, it became a lifestyle.  That unhealthy lifestyle eventually caught up to me in my mid 20s, funny thing is I was over eating because I was happy at this point.  My husband and I met when we were 20, we fell in love and happiness and settling into a comfort zone ended up contributing to my weight gain..not to mention nights out drinking at the bar and dates out to fabulous restaurants:)

I always wished I could run, I have exercise-induced asthma and never enjoyed running in school, I struggled just to complete the "kilometer run"!  About 5 years ago I signed my husband and I up for a "Learn to Run" clinic in our neighbourhood, it was AMAZING, by using the Run/Walk method I learned to run, and it felt great!  I ended up completing a few races, 4km, 8km, and finally a 10km race and really began to enjoy fitness once again.  I joined a gym and started to exercise 3-4 times a week and lost about 10 lbs over the course of a year.  I was still not happy with my weight but I had proven to myself that I could succeed, I now had the courage to succeed, I was mentally prepared to succeed. 

I signed up for the WeightWatchers online program and over the next year lost 28 lbs!  It was the hardest thing I ever did, I exercised 4-5 times a week and had to completely change my lifestyle and my eating habits, luckily my husband was interested in becoming healthy as well so I had amazing support. 

It's now 4 years later, and 2 children later and it's time to gain back control of my life.  While pregnant I had to give up control of my body and as a mother I had to give up control of my schedule.  What I eat is one thing that I actually CAN control, no one else but me decides what goes in my mouth.  I signed up on WeightWatchers online this morning because I want to be strong, I want to have energy and I want to be happy & healthy.  And so my Journey Begins....