The World of Dieting

Do you know how many diets there are out there? I seriously googled the words diets today and there were 73,500,000 results! Not being able to sort through all of them, I just went through the ones that I thought looked the best. However, I wasn't able to come across anything that didn't cost a lot of money or that really seemed it would work for me and my schedule. SO, I decided that I am going to go back to the Atkins diet. My dad and I did this together back in my senior year of high school and I lost over forty pounds on it. At that time, I didn't start off as big as I am now and I also didn't stick with healthy lifestyles after my first year of college. In fact, once I hit college, I was anorexic and lost weight in pretty much all the unhealthy ways until I gained it back! 

Now before you say that the Atkins diet is bad for you... there are actually ways of making it healthy. My dad and I really just watched our carb count and our portions. Actually, we more took TIPS from the Atkins diet now that I think about it! We also got a good amount of exercise every day and that was all it took. It was actually a lot easier than you think. Our diet consisted of two boiled eggs for breakfast, a spinach salad for lunch and maybe some grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner or a boca burger (no bun) and veggies. You can mix it up how you would like. We also substituted Splenda for sugar. We actually HATED this at first because we thought it tasted disgusting, but to this day I would much rather use Splenda! Just make sure you are watching your portions and drinking PLENTY of water (they also say that cold water helps speed up the metabolism). 

I have decided to try this again, but if you are thinking about dieting yourself, don't take my advice. Find what works for YOU! I am NOT an expert at ALL. I can only speak from my experience and what has worked and not worked for me. Don't starve yourself! That will only lead to over eating later because you are so hungry. Do what feels right for your body. Everyone is different. I am hoping that this works for me as well as it did last time! I will weigh myself once a week (that is what I like to do and I know that everyone is different) and hopefully will see that weight come off. I know there are stereotypes in the world and that everyone does not have to look the same, but I am not happy in this body. Depression already runs in my family and I have seen it in myself in the last year. Being able to look in the mirror and like what I see will vastly improve my life and happiness. I want people to look at me and see a healthy, glowing person who respects herself and her body. I don't want to be a size 2; I want curves and to feel like a real woman. I think a size 8 would probably be amazing! I will know when my body gets there. So, until next time, my friends! 

PS- I want to thank those of you who commented on my last post! It feels great to have people who don't even know me personally be able to support me! I hope that I am successful in this journey and I hope that it can give you support to do whatever makes you happy! I feel that all women are beautiful! Please don't let anyone make you forget that in yourselves!

A New Beginning

Alright. Here it is. I am 23 years old and in a body that does not act its age! I am extremely overweight and I have knee issues and a LOT of feet issues. I tore some ligaments four years ago and the problems just kept coming. Even though the ligaments healed, there were stress fractures that formed on top of everything else. The pain can be very unbearable sometimes and I am not sure how much longer I can really deal with it. So today is the start of my new beginning. The day that I can finally say that I am trying to make a better life for myself! I just graduated for Theatre Performance and I really love it. However, there aren't many roles out there for big white girls. I am confident in my talent, but not in my body. If I can't do theatre, then I am not sure what my place in this world is. SO, as of today... I have weighed myself and have recorded everything that I have eaten and started/recorded my exercise regime. This is a record of me losing weight, as well as my pursuit of what is my true happiness in this world. I hope you can bear with me through the many tears of joy and sadness that are about to come! I look at this blog as motivation for myself and hopefully others that are in similar positions. The picture below is one of the most recent photos of me. This is what I look like now.

 PS- I am the one all the way to the left. 

I am giving myself 365 days to lose 150 pounds. Hopefully with the motivation and support of my family and friends... this can happen! I am ready to begin this new adventure!