Age: 27
Gender: Female
Occupation: I mostly work from home (in the apartment I share with Mr. Peanut). I’m kind of a renaissance woman.
How’d you get to be so fat? Well, I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life, basically, to various degrees. The first time it got really bad was in high school when a medication I was on had the unfortunate side effect of making me gain about 50 pounds in 6 months. After I figured that out and got off the medication, I did manage to lose some of that weight over the next few years (but not really in any specific way that I can remember).
My more recent weight gain happened when I made the decision to begin eating animal products again after being vegetarian for about 10 years (vegan for half that time). I knew I would gain weight, but that decision was about many, many non-weight-related things. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about my former vegetarianism as we move forward with the blog. I think the other factor at play is my getting hooked up with Mr. Peanut. He has certain food preferences (like for pizza and fast food) that I somehow get wrapped up in without even realizing what’s happening.
I also have a history of indulging in some disordered eating, which hasn’t done me any favors in terms of weight management, understanding the appropriate amount of food to eat, etc. And the majority of my professional life is food-related (my background is in nutrition and I am also a graduate of a professional chef training program), which is both a blessing and a curse for my weight.
Oh. I’ve also historically hated physical activity, so that’s played a big part in my fattening as well. I did find out that I actually liked (some) exercise in the past few years, though: yoga, elliptical machine (while watching terrible TV), aerobics videos, strength training and weight lifting, and even running. A few years ago I got a personal trainer and everything to try to lose weight, and although I couldn’t take off any pounds (due to yet another medication that was putting my body in crazy calorie thrift), I really liked getting stronger. It was cool.
Why do you want to lose weight now? I really feel like there’s no reason for me to continue to be this fat. I have all the usual repercussions from being overweight… I hate the way I look in pictures and in the mirror; choosing clothing is a nightmare; being out of shape makes everything harder; I feel that my weight prevents me from doing things I want to do (because appearances are important and because being fat has a negative effect on my self-esteem); I worry about my health for the future; I’d like to prepare my body to have a healthy pregnancy one day; I want to look smoking hot in my wedding pictures; I’d like to get engaged (one major reason Mr. Peanut and I haven’t taken that step is because we want to be in a better place with our physical health and our bodies) and just get on with my life already!!
I’ve never been much of a dieter, but with all the dietary changes I’ve had in the past couple of years, food planning has really become problematic for me. I kind of feel like I need to hit reset or something. And I really, really, really want RESULTS. The idea of food delivery is so appealing because it removes a lot of the roadblocks that I create for myself involving grocery shopping, meal planning, getting too hungry and not having food around, etc. And I like the 5-day plan as opposed to the 7-day plan because I know that too much structure makes me freak out and start bingeing… which can get pretty scary. I really don’t want to go there. Plus, having those opportunities for regular food with friends, cooking for ourselves, etc., will be really fun, I think, and will make this whole process seem like less of a drag. With the 5-day plan, I’ll always have a weekend day not too far in the future so I can look forward to having cake or whatever if I want it then (a la the No S Diet).
As for exercise, I don’t have a specific plan (though I’m going to take a look at whatever info comes with my eDiets package), but essentially I want to try to do some formal exercise 3 to 4 days a week, minimum. For me “doing exercise” constitutes about 25-30 minutes on the elliptical and/or a brief strength training video (like 15 minutes), or a cardio video workout (around 30 minutes — but I’m less likely to do that because I have to wear a horrible sports bra contraption with all that jumping around and I can just wear a regular bra on the elliptical), or a yoga practice (about an hour usually). I haven’t been that into yoga in the past year or so, but you never know when it could come back. I think the elliptical is the most important piece of the puzzle for now. Once I get some of this fat off I can concentrate on more strength & toning.
So I think that’s it for now! Be on the lookout for Mr. Peanut’s intro soon. Oh, and if you’re wondering just how fat we are, you won’t have to wait too long to find out. We’re going to post our weigh-ins and measurements and stuff here as well. We’re going to wait until our food arrives and we’re about to get started with the diet to get our base numbers.
Tags: intro, noodlebean, weight loss
