My New Life-Style

As my blog title states, I am a fluffy redhead.  I've got about 80 pounds to lose, well 77.6 to be exact. 

A little background info is in order before I kick this thing off.    I have been overweight for about 11 and a half years.  After I graduated from high school I blew up like the Hindenberg.  My activity level dropped significantly, I started eating out for almost every meal, and I was in a high stress situation.  Oh, and I quit smoking.  All of these things added up to 60 pounds in about 6 months and those 60 pounds have been hanging on ever since, give or take 20 pounds. 

I turn 30 in a week.  I have high blood pressure, boarderline high cholesterol, I'm insulin resistant and I'm sick of it.  I decided around Christmas that I needed to make a change.  I don't just need to get the weight off, I need to get healthy.  I'm not on a diet.  Let me repeat, I'm not on a diet.  I am making a lifestyle change.  I will eat and exercise on this journey the way I am willing to eat and exercise for the rest of my life.

This all started when I joined Weight Watchers on January 8th.  I've been on WW several other times.  I usually did pretty good at first.  I would lose 20 pounds or so and the I'd quit, usually thinking I could do it on my own without paying.  But each time I quit I'd gain all of the weight back and then some.  Before, I always made it a diet to reach some arbitrary goal.  This time I'm making it a lifestyle.

While a lot of my posts will talk about what I'm doing on Weight Watchers, hopefully there will be a few nuggets of good advice for the average person, as well as people wanting to lose weight, but doing so by other means. 

Like I said, I have 77.6 pounds to lose.  My goal is to average a pound a week weight loss.  Right now, I'm a week and a half ahead.

Stay tuned for the ups, downs, triumphs, slip-ups, joys, and let downs of my weight loss journey.  Come September 2012 I will be a completely different person.