About Me...

I'm currently 41 years old.  I've been married to Mike for almost 19 years now.  We have two boys, Alex (18 years old today), and Nick (age 12).  I am an admissions officer at a local university and I enjoy what I do.  That's my full-time gig.  I also work 3 evenings a week at a gym.  Since that doesn't fill up 24 hours, I also take classes part-time and hope to complete my bachelor's degree by December 2012.  Oh, and I volunteer at our church a couple of hours a week, too.  I love when people tell me they don't have time for working out.

I've been overweight since I was a teenager.  Not terribly so, but enough to make me unhappy and hold me back from doing things.  I didn't suffer from any cruel comments or anything like that, I just liked to eat.  I think I weighed about 160 lbs when I graduated from high school, and wore about a size 16.  Over the years, the weight has continued to creep on, which now has me weighing 248.5 lbs, and wearing a size 24 or 2-3X.  My highest recorded weight was 278, in 2002.  So there's that.

In May 2008, I joined our local gym, thinking that exercise in a controlled environment was the magic formula missing from my success.  I lost a little, gained it back.  And have done that more times than I can count.  One of the guys there once told me that losing weight was 80% diet.  I looked him in the eye and vigorously nodded my head in agreement, while scoffing at the notion on the inside.  Guess what?  He was right, and I've proved him correct.  I work my butt off in the gym (not literally, unfortunately) but have little to show for it.  If you felt my arms before May 2008, you would feel flab covered by more flab.  If you felt them now, you could feel some rock-hard muscles...covered by a thick layer of flab.  Not pretty.

While at the gym, I observed the owner, Andy, and another member, Tyler, doing this crazy-looking workout called CrossFit.  They tried to encourage me to try it, but again - scoffing.  I should really stop that.  Andy sort of tricked me into a CrossFit workout in May 2009, and much to my surprise, I absolutely LOVED it.  And I've been doing it ever since.  Me!  A 250 lb woman!  Doing that crazy workout stuff!  And now I help teach classes.

And now it's time to make some changes in my life and get my large butt in gear.  This weight has got to go -- once and for all!  I'm tired of all the negativity that goes with being overweight - the depression, the isolation, the lack of self-confidence and self-esteem, the fear, the self-consciousness.  All of it has got to go.  It's been with me for too long and I want it GONE!

So that's where this blog comes in.  I plan to use it to document my journey as a lose this weight through CrossFit and changing my eating habits.  This plan starts now.