A Rude Awakening

I've always known I was never going to be a supermodel. Or a prom queen. I never thought I was the Elephant Man... but Heidi Klum, I am not. I considered myself cute, mostly because I had a cute personality... at least I think I have a cute personality. And I know I was a little overweight, but really didn't think I was that fat. Until I was walking through the streets of NYC and caught a side view of myself in a shop window. Wow. I was shocked to say the least. It's like that old saying...

Denial... It's not just a river in Egypt.

Boy, was I in denial. But still, it was just weight. I could change that. So, for the purpose of this post I asked my mom to take some before photos. Bring on the rude awakening.

I can't believe I went out in public like this. I am a big girl, in very saggy shorts. And don't get me started on the hair... that's a topic for another post. But again, it's just weight. It can be lost.

Thankfully, I am not going to be alone in this battle of the bulge. I've got two good friend that are inspiring me with their own weight lose journeys! Laura (BlogHer Roommate Extraordinaire) is writing about her attempts on her blog, Tales from the Geek Vest, and her husband Brian (Fellow Lego Geek) talks about his adventure on his blog, Memoirs of a Soon-To-Be Former Fat Guy! Both are incredible people and fantastic writers, so you should really check out their musings!

So, I have my inspiration... now to tackle the fat. Some small steps that I am doing to change things are:

• I stopped drinking soda. This has been very hard because I'm slightly addicted to Coca-Cola. But I started last Sunday and today is the first day I had one... and I'm only having one because I had pizza for dinner. And you can't have pizza without soda in my world! There is a slight downside and this is I am now living a caffeine free life. It was a problem for the first few days, but now I'm looking at it positively. Buh-bye addiction!
  
• I switched from kid cereal to adult cereal. By that I mean no more Lucky Charms or Froot Loops. Now it's Special K or Chex.
  
• I don't eat between the hours of 9am and 9pm. This might seem like a weird habit, but it does help. If I'm hungry at night and it's after 9pm... oh well, it's water or nothing. It's pretty much stopped the after dinner snacking or dessert for the most part.
  
• I started chewing gum in the afternoon instead of snacking. The snapping drives my dad up the wall (which is sort of a bonus), but it does kill the cravings and gives my mouth something to do.
  
• I've been keeping busy. Being busy stops me from eating out of boredom. And I'm getting a lot of things done!
  
• Water is my new best friend. I always have a bottle near me.
  
• Keeping the junk out of the house. If it isn't around... I can't eat it! Some stuff sneaks in from time to time... but I am started to learn moderation. And prepackaged items, while more expensive, do help a lot.

That's it. That's currently what I am changing. And it's paying off... in just 1 week I've already dropped about 3 pounds. I'll eventually work up to getting on the treadmill and starting some yoga, just need to recover from jacking up my knee over the weekend.

Here's to a healthier life!