Background check

Time to give a little history about where I've been and where I want to go. If you asked me about my weight when I was kid,I would tell you that I would have considered myself skinny. I come from families where some sort of outdoor activities are a way of life. Both of my parents were very active when they were young. Growing up, my Mom was a speed skater and my Dad is an avid runner. My Mom eventually stopped skating (not sure why) but she still worked out as often as she could. I remember during elementary school that after being picked up from day care, it was not uncommon for us to go home and for me to grab a tortilla, throw cheese in it and head to the gym with her. My Dads love for running continued to grow but I think it's fair to say that his true love is anything that has to do with the water! My point here simply put is that I've always been exposed to activities that are not only fun but help you stay in shape.....
As a kid, I LOVED the water. Let me tell you though it didn't start out that way. When I was first learning how to swim I would cry so much that eventually my parents got me a private swim teacher. Once I did go back to public swim lessons, I held on to the wall of the pool for dear life. Needless to say, I eventually got over that fear. My stepmom loves to tell the story of how during the summer we would always go to the beach. She and my Dad would tell me to pack a lunch and put it in my boogieboard bag. Well by the end of the week, when they cleaned out my boogieboard bag, there would be 4 or 5 uneaten (sometimes moldy) lunches. I would literally be in the water from the moment we got there until it was time to go home. Around this time I was also taking pre swim team lesson (I know, you're impressed) and diving. Once summer was over, I tried playing soccer. I say tried because I was NOT very good at it! See in soccer you have to run and I am not a runner! I missed that gene from my Dad. I also danced. I was in funky jazz and had a blast. Besides swimming, dancing was probably my favorite other thing to do. In junior high I would go to school, come home, try and attempt homework and than go up to my room and dance. I'm sure my Mother would have loved this a little more if we wouldn't have been in a two story house and my room wasn't right over the kitchen.
High school is when things got yucky! Freshman year was alright. No huge weight changes. Sophomore year is a completely different story. That's when I truly can confess that my diet got out of control and probably didn't get better until 2003. Let me warn you....Many of you have known me since this time or before but I don't think you truly knew how bad my diet was. During sophomore year, I was on color guard (fancy word for flag team) and we had to meet for zero period every morning. After zero period three of us, sometimes more, would go to the McDonald s right by our school. I LOVE McDonald's..... So when I went there I wouldn't just get a simple meal for one. I would get two sausage biscuits, 2 hash browns and the biggest Mr. Pibb possible. Sounds bad? Oh wait it gets better. On bad days, I would even put butter on the hash browns because apparently there wasn't enough grease for me. I probably had this 2 to 3 times a week if not more. Lunches were not healthier. Usually a hamburger and fries or a bagel and cream cheese sometimes a quesadilla. It really just depended on my mood but it was never healthy. So as if I hadn't ate enough at school, I would go home and make myself a grilled cheese sandwich or a fried egg sandwich before my parents came home for dinner. At this time I could also devour a whole box of Macaroni and Cheese without even thinking twice about it. Looking back I completely understand why my weight escalated through high school. I went from a size 14 freshmen year to an 18 by senior year. I would love to tell you I had no gym memebership or a way to work out but I would be lying. My Dad and Cathy got me a gym membership when I was 13 years old. I never used it. I could kick my own butt for not taking advantage of it.
The heavier I got, the less I wanted to do things. I stopped swimming. Stopped dancing and became lazier and lazier. I still get sad when I think about it because I gave up a lot of time in the ocean because I didn't feel comfortable in a bathing suit. I didn't want to go to the pool either. The more I thought about how heavy I was, the more I got depressed. The more depressed I got, the more I ate. It took me a long long time to realize that I am a stress eater. So imagine how great this is... I was eating due to stress. The stress caused me to over eat and become over weight which led to me being more depressed. The cycle was vicious and lasted up through community college. I don't want you to think that my parents ignored my weight. They surely didn't. But the more they brought it up, the more I ate. I was now not a size 18. I was a 20.
After community college I was accepted to the University of Nevada, Reno. This is where things start to get good again. Work with me here, this is where a lot of my cheerleaders come in to play. Funny thing, is they probably don't even know it. My first year in Reno, the bad eating continued. The only thing that helped me maintain my weight was that I had to walk everywhere I went. Living in the dorms, I found a dear friend named Shelby who lived on my floor. Shelby was a typical girly girl. She was also blonde, thin and all the boys liked her. I laugh when I think of Shelby and I because for some reason it reminds me of the musical Wicked. She was definitely Galinda and I was Elphaba. Lucky for me she loved to get all dolled up and loved to get her friends ready as well. Shelby really made my being overweight look good. By the way, you can't call someone fat... Fat seems like such a harsh word... I think a much more appropriate word would be fluffy. After Shelby had done my hair and make up when we went out, I felt good about myself. I finally felt that maybe through all the McDonald's, I actually looked decent. She isn't aware but I truly owe her for helping me get some of my confidence back. Also while I was at Reno, I joined my sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. Now I'm sure the typical stereotype for a sorority girl is blonde and skinny or brunette and skinny. Well Theta's came in all different shapes and sizes. Oh and just so we're clear, We were not hazed. They did not circle our fat and tell us we needed to loose weight before OR after initiation. These women that I called my sisters, are some of the most amazing women I know and they were there when I was "Fluffy Liz" and when I was "Skinny Liz" or as one calls me "Mini Liz".
I lived in the house my last two years in Reno. This was great because I know longer controlled my own menu. If I wanted to eat, I had to eat whatever the cook made. Lucky for us, we had a house mom that planned relatively healthy meals. Slowly my eating was getting better.
It was in September of 2003, that I was sitting in the tv room and one of my sorority sisters (one of the skinny ones) was talking to all of us and said she was giving up ice cream for a month. I sat there and cursed her in my mind because she was already thin but thought it was pretty cool that she was doing that. As I walked upstairs, I thought to myself, I'm going to try and give up fast food. I decided if Jolene could give up ice cream for a while, I could give up fast food. I decided not to tell anyone because I wanted to do this on my own. At that time, I was enrolled in a swimming class that I could audit. It was every Tuesday and Thursday and I loved it. I think I loved it most because I wasn't getting a grade but this class was great because I got back into swimming. Now at this time I was not only living in a sorority house but I was an officer as well. This meant there was more stress in my life. Well instead of eating, I wanted to get out of the house so I went swimming. When I started swimming I weighed 240. By December I think I was around 210. This whole swimming thing and no fast food was really working for me. I got to a point where I was swimming 2 miles a day. I would go everyday before or after classes. On the Thursdays I flew home, I would go at 5:30 in the morning. I knew that I wouldn't always be able to swim because of the hours the pool was open. So I invested in a couple of Crunch DVDS. I worked out everyday. When I left Reno in May I weight around 180. I continued to work out when I got home and got down to 150. I had gone from a size 20 to a size 6. All my fluffiness was gone! Who wouldn't be happy with that?
Unfortunately I have gained again. In my mind, I have always said I would not allow myself to get past 175. Well five weeks ago I was at 179. My goal weight is 150 although I would love to be 145. So that's where I'm headed. I've already lost 10 but I still have a lot to go......Okay this was by far the longest blog you will get from me but I thought that it was important that you knew my background. Just so were clear.. I get 25 weight watchers points a day. I earn more back for working out :) Along with little pieces of advice I will post my meals from the previous day so that I have to track my points publicly (scary) which will hold me more accountable! My total weight right now is 168. Next weigh in is Monday :)

Monday's Meals
Breakfast:
Coffee- 2 points
Lunch:
Chicken- 4 points
Dinner:
Swordfish- 5 points
Quionoa- 4 points
Asparagus- o points :)
Milk- 2 points :)

Total: 16 points
Exercise for 40 minutes high impact: 6 points
Total for the day: 10 points! Yippee!