Reasons galore

Last year, I scanned in a bunch of photos from my childhood. Among them were two photos from elementary school, from 3rd grade and 5th grade. In the third grade photo, I'm a normal weight kid, and I don't look all that nerdy. By fifth grade, I am definitely a chunk, complete with glasses. The look is compounded by my short hair, which my mother put up in pincurls the night before so it forms a perfect round halo around my round little face.

Since then I have always been the fat kid, and over the years I have perfected my love affair with food. I love baking and cooking, and I'm pretty darn good at it. I've learned how to combine flavors to make delicious food of all kinds. The problem with my love of food is that it has decided to stick around for the long haul. And by "haul" I mean I am hauling around 140 pounds more than I should be. I'm pretty sure those donuts I enjoyed last year are somewhere on my right butt cheek.

I've known I needed to do something about my weight for a while, but I have put it off for a long time, finding all sorts of excuses: It's not that bad (really it is) or I have other stuff going on in my life (which I do, but that's no excuse). But now it's time to make this happen.

Last week, I went to a local weight loss center and talked with a consultant about their program. I wanted a program that would work, and would offer a lot of accountability, and this program promises results so long as you follow their rules, and there are several checks in place to help you follow the program.

During one point of the initial meeting, I was asked to outline five reasons I want to lose weight (and keep it off). I did that, and on the way home I kept thinking of other reasons I wanted to lose weight -- all reasons that I love so many things more than the temporary taste of food on my tongue. But, I know that those reasons can be easily forgotten when you're in the midst of slogging through a diet. The weight-loss portion of my diet is 57 weeks -- 399 days -- and I figure it would help me to stay on track if every day I remind myself of why I am doing this. Hence the blog.

Today is Day 0, so I'll start laying out my reasons tomorrow. Day 1 is coming!