So it comes down to this.....

I can pinpoint exactly when my weight began to spin out of control. I was able to maintain my 50 lb weight loss (thanks to Weight Watchers and exercise) for over 6 years, but according to my old weight logs, my weight started creeping up in July 2007 after a wonderful vacation to St. Lucia (All inclusive resort-very dangerous. I think I drank my points everyday.) It's been nearly 2 years since that vacation and now I'm up to 165.8 lbs! I haven't been this heavy in about 8 years. Somehow I've managed to pack 25 lbs on my 5'3" frame, I look and feel terrible, and I have nothing to wear. Yikes!

When I was maintaining my weight loss (hovering around 139-140), I went to WW meetings every month for my Lifetime Member weigh-in. I even kept going for a while, though I wasn't staying at goal. I felt like a complete failure. I quit torturing myself in November 2008. When I left WW, I was 152.4 lbs. Now I'm nearly 15 lbs above that. Clearly, going it on my own was NOT the answer.

So what contributed to my weight gain?????? I think I can honestly say that life got in the way. This is where I began to go wrong:

1. Overactive Fork Disorder: I'm eating too much of the wrong kinds of food. I've relapsed into old, bad eating habits.
2. BLTs: Bites, Licks, and Tastes - a little here, a little there really adds up, especially the late night snacking or finishing the food on my kids' plates.
3. Not moving my a**: When I was staying thin, I was exercising at least 4 times per week. I was running (did three 5K races-slowly), plus group exercise classes at the YMCA. Lately, I've been shuttling my preteens to all their sports, instead of being active myself.

So, it comes down to this.....blogging about my weight issues for the world to read. Perhaps if I send my goals into cyberspace, and with the support of the Sisterhood, I'll start to have some success.

Here are my goals:

1. Move my butt: I plan to exercise at least 4 times per week. Right now, I'm walking/running 3 times per week and just started strength training. My schedule is to run M-W-F and lift T-TH. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm following the Couch to 5K podcast, with increases in running each week.
2. Complete a 5K: If my knee holds out (I stopped running due to injuries), I plan to run a 5K in mid-July. If my knee doesn't make it, I'll walk the course.
3. Put down the fork: I've started tracking my points again. I usually do pretty well tracking during the week, but fall apart on the weekends, so my goal is to track daily. I'm not ready to face WW yet. I have the tools, I just need to use them.
4. Quit the late-night snacking: I'm really bad about snacking out of a chip bag around 10 pm. That needs to stop. Water, fruit, veggies-make better choices.
5. Fit back into my "skinny" clothes: I'm not happy that my most forgiving size 12s are too tight, especially since I was holding at a solid 8 for so long. I know Stacey and Clinton (TLC's What Not To Wear) say "Don't get married to a size", but I have some really cute size 8's hanging in my closet mocking me right now.
6. A 10% weight loss - 16 lbs - would be a nice start. If I make it to 150, I'll see if I need to set a new loss goal.

So, help me out, send me encouragement, anything to keep me going.

Bari