So... What Weighs 90 Pounds?

I started thinking today about what weighs 90 pounds… a child or preteen, a female celebrity, a large dog…

I cannot believe I have gained 90 pounds in 9 years. How did I let this happen? What was I thinking!?

Yep that’s right, 90 pounds. I graduated high school weighing 120. Of course, I started trying to think of excuses on why I gained the weight: well, I swam in high school and didn’t in college;  college wasn’t good to me; and of course the I-was-in-relationships-and-got-“fat-and-happy”-excuses. But really, who am I kidding? I was the reason I gained a Lindsay Lohan.  I would gain 10 pounds, go to the gym and work out, diet for two weeks and then I would be back to my old ways of skipping the gym and eating anything I wanted. I would become okay with that 10 pounds and tell myself, “okay no more,” but would gain more. I did this over and over.

Let’s start by tackling my first excuse. Yes, I did swim and play softball for 13 years, and when I graduated from high school, I quit. I would play intramural sports for my sorority, but it didn’t even come close to how active I was in high school. In high school, lifting in the morning was social and sometimes a method for meeting my next boyfriend. I would do physical education classes during the day with friends. And then would have practice after school. Working out was social and just what we did. Because I was working out so much I was able to eat tons of calories a.k.a. anything I wanted. I never learned to eat healthy. I should have educated myself on health and should have made working out social in college.

Second excuse: I gained weight from college. Yes, I gained weight while in college but it wasn’t Northwest’s fault. While Northwest was the best decision of my life, I did not make the best decisions while there. Just because I could order pizza anytime until 3 a.m. doesn’t mean I should have.  And the $5 all-you-can-drink doesn’t mean I needed to drink all I could. Not only that, but I could have made better choices on what drinks I had. While in high school working out and sports were social, in college going out to eat and going to the bar was what we did socially. I could have taken more advantage of the free fitness center and taken classes at the community center on campus. I enjoyed my college experience. I loved it! Some of the best years of my life! But I could have made better choices and avoided gaining a preteen.

And the last and most popular: I was in relationships and got “fat and happy.” I had two long term relationships in college that I gained weight during. After college, I met “the one” and I went from 175 to 210lbs. I must have been really happy!!! This is insane. 35 pounds! We enjoyed going out to eat together, but I really can’t make any excuses. I want to look good for him and not use our relationship as an excuse!

So now that I have gained 90 pounds it is easy to be discouraged and feel hopeless. I hope that this blog holds me accountable and helps keep me on track. But my desire to lose weight just got kicked into overdrive. *Read my next blog to hear why.*