How it all began

A few years back I swore to myself that I would never diet again. I vowed to pursue health and meals driven by their nutrients. This concept completely failed when I moved to Scotland. I actually lost a good amount of weight during my first few months of residence. I went from a mostly sedentary life of office sitting to a life of walking and exploring. Due to the fact that I did not have a car, I was found walking at least 2 miles a day, but more like 5. It also helped that I got a weird form of food poisoning within my first two weeks. I was so proud of myself, not for getting food poisoning, but for losing weight without really trying. I called my mom and had her ship over my skinniest clothes. I was sassy, skinny and living in a foreign country...not having to work and spending my days with friends and great books (I was getting my masters in Victorian Literature).

Once winter approached things moved downhill rather quickly. Having lived my entire life in San Diego, I had never experienced a "winter," with the exception of weekends in the snowy mountains. I found that there is a big difference between a warm cozy cabin in the mountains and a rainy, dreary, icy, dark five months. And that difference is 30 lbs. Yes, that is right, I gained 30 pounds during my year abroad.

Scottish winter days get dark around 3 pm. That was the hardest part for me. I can handle wet, rainy, and icy...but not 19 hours of darkness. Combine the darkness, the cold with steak and ale pie, and the dislike of walking on ice and you have yourself a weight gain fiesta! Not to mention bouts of depression, missing family and friends and not understanding why March was not the beginning of spring...the toll was taken on my thighs and stomach...oh and my face! I look like a balloon, my eyes are almost knocked out of the picture by my fast growing puffy cheeks.
When spring hit, I had already developed awful habits and though I was walking and moving, I was inputting more than I was burning. You mean Subway and Pizza Hut are not ways to lose weight?? What about the Subway guy? Oh, you mean he did not eat a foot long sandy with loads of mayo and cheese? He did not eat Doritos and cookies with his sandwich? Oh come on!

So here I am 30 lbs. and one year later. I spent the last week having to re-buy my wardrobe in sizes 12 and 14...I was an 8 when I left. What is the plan?

Well I recanted on the no diet promise and am embarking on a rigid two week plan through Isogenix...something that includes shakes, and minimal food, plus 4 total cleanse days...yes they are as exciting as they sound...you drink for two days...oh, and you get these things called snacks, they are not real snacks. There are no Doritos, or chocolate, there are some weird tablet that I get eat...blerg.

I am committed. I am doing this. Two weeks of a rigid plan is not the finality of this diet. I have 30 to lose, and I know that is not going to happen in two weeks. I diet until I lose my 30 pounds.
To help in the process, I have my mom and step-dad who are doing the program with me. My step-dad and I decided to compete to see who could lose a greater percentage of their weight. We are both quite competitive people so hopefully this will be the accountability I need.

I think I have tried every gimmick, plan and program there is. I lose weight rather quickly, but keeping it off is the big, and missing, piece of the puzzle. I am the "emotional eater," I eat when I am happy, sad, mad, surprised, astonished, . So this blog will follow me from initial weight loss, through to learning how to be healthy without jumping on the roller coaster of weight fluctuation. So join me as I take a hopefully humorous approach to trying to fix the fat...the actual fat and the fat of fearing 30, re-adjusting to living in the USA, being single, living with my parents and being 70,000$ in debt.