My Story

My story is nearly identical to every contestant they show on The Biggest Loser (I was a chubby kid, tried every diet, now things have escalated, etc.) I won't bore you with the details of how I got here, the important thing is that I'm here, and I'm ready to change. One of the best things I've ever heard is (paraphrased) "if you want the things you do not have, you must do things you have never done."

In April, I met a girl on craigslist. She was looking for a workout buddy, as she was training for a half-marathon in November. I was looking for a workout buddy because I was signed up to do a half-marathon in June. Scheduling conflicts made it so Tracy and I didn't meet till well after my half-marathon (August) and her half-marathon was inching closer by the day. We began meeting for workout sessions...swimming in icky neighborhood ponds, or in the intimidatingly large Lake Washington. We met at 7am on Saturday mornings for walk/runs around Greenlake. She had a blog of her journey to do the half-marathon and lose an amazing 113 pounds. Mis-understandings, work, life, and tragedy prevented us from keeping up our meetings. I thought we had lost touch permanently.

A few weeks ago, I received a text from Tracy, checking in with me. I was glad to have her back. So glad in fact, I agreed to go to a Weight Watchers meeting with her, as she had become a recent member. I have not joined WW yet, but I'm not ruling it out. My boyfriend encouraged me to try on my own, because "you already know everything they are saying" was his rationale. He's right. But he's also skinny.

Fast forward to two days ago. Two days ago I began my new routine. I started "brushing and flossing" if you will. I started to do the things I have never done. What is different about this time? I don't know. Nothing yet. Anyone that has tried to lose weight knows it always starts out the same. Losing weight is easy, its the keeping it off part that is hard.

Today, without any knowledge of my new routine, Tracy posted a shout out to the followers of her blog to begin their own fight. After the ego boost of calling us all supermodels, she challenged us to join her. I couldn't type "I'm in" fast enough. That's the best thing about support. Its always there, waiting for you to take advantage of it. Do I think the timing of her call is coincidence? No. Its me getting exactly what I need, when I need it.

And now for the ever-cliche before photo:


I'm on the right (duh).