WRITTEN ON November 22nd, 2009 BY lauracollins AND STORED IN Motivation

Ok, I’ve put this off far too long. Time to get to business. The business of taking care of myself! I’ve been involved in a couple of stressful ventures over the course of the past two years. 2008 was jam-packed with the business of  getting married, 2009 was the year of getting my handmade business off the ground, and 2010 will have to be the year of “treating my body like the temple that it is business” because I have really let myself go.

I’m a big-time stress eater. And I’m a big-time Stressy Bessy, especially when it comes to the everyday ups and downs of managing a handmade business. I internalize stress and take it out on food. Yummy, greasy, carb-a-rific, low-nutrient food. This equation of stress-eating and living in a high-stress world equals 20 lbs gained in one year. At least for me it does. And that is just not healthy!

Just as others have said on this blog, I’m no expert at losing weight. I have, however, years of experience struggling with my weight. In high school I followed a couple diets that were very unhealthy because they were so low in calories. That path continued on in college. I always lost the weight but gained it right back because I the diets were all unhealthy and unsustainable. It was that whole diet vs. lifestyle change–I just didn’t get it. A couple years out of college, I tried ediets which was very successful for me. (Carey outlined some of great things ediets offers in this earlier post.) But once I hit my goal weight, I got lazy and overconfident. I was like, “Yeah! I’m skinny. Where’s the cheesecake?” So fast forward a couple years later to when I tried Weight Watchers. I think Weight Watchers is great. I started off attending meetings but then moved to just doing Weight Watchers online. The in-person meetings weren’t that helpful for me. I felt like week after week it was the same two or three members who’d just talk and talk and talk and talk…maybe I just needed to try a different group. So, I moved on to Weight Watchers online. The online tools make things so easy. I found much success using Weight Watchers and lost weight for my wedding. And then my honeymoon came. I ate and drank and ate and drank like everyone does on their honeymoon (right?), but I didn’t stop when the honeymoon was over. And now here I am. A year later. 20 lbs heavier. With a rack of skinny jeans and a rack of fat jeans. It’s okay, really.

Well, I mean, it’s not okay that I do not feel healthy but I’m not beating myself up about it. A new attitude washed over me when I turned 30 a couple years ago. The attitude that says, “You want it? Go out and do what it takes to get it and don’t cry about it. You have the tools. Just do it and don’t look back!” This attitude has changed my life in so many wonderful ways. Now it’s time to apply that attitude to my weigh loss efforts. This time around, I’m going to try to lose weight without the help of any sort of organized, pay-to-lose-weight diet. Even though I have been successful on such plans, I want to see if I can do it myself. A rather scary proposition but one I’m willing to give my full efforts to.

I’ve been a vegetarian for nine years now and am now trying to take the vegan plunge. Or at least I’m going to “flirt” with becoming a vegan. So, I will be concentrating on vegetarian and vegan foods. I will be offering up recipes that will include healthy, filling grains (brown rice, whole wheat couscous, hulled barley, ect.) because I have learned that I have to eat a lot at one sitting and leave the table feeling stuffed. At least in the beginning, I’m not going to concentrate much on portion control. We humans can ingest a lot of low-calorie grains and veggies at one sitting and still loose weight because these grains are not only tasty but sooooo filling. I am also on the search to find exercise I actually enjoy doing. I AM NOT GOING TO FORCE MYSELF TO BE BORED AT THE GYM ANYMORE! Amen! I HATE the gym. There, I said it. I’m going to register for a couple of dance classes beginning in January–Hip Hop and possibly Hula. I’m super excited.

Anyway, this has been a rather long entry but I hope I’ve gotten you excited about your weight loss journey (I’m still trying to psych myself up). I’m so happy this blog exists. I know that the next few weeks are going to be hard for me. The holiday season is stressful in general but now that I have my little handmade business, this season has become…oh…about twenty times as stressful (but I love it!) so I need this community to succeed. Let’s do this thing together! We all need the support so please comment, tell us your story. Inspire!

These are my skinny jeans. I will wear you again, skinny jeans!