For more information and pictures see my first blog post.
My name is Maggie, I’m 24 years old and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I’ve struggled with my weight for my entire life, but I feel like I’m finally beginning to get a handle on some of my issues and I’ve started this blog to tell my story.
I’ve always been pudgy, but in high school I got a good grasp on my weight and going into college I felt ok:
Weird picture, but it’s the best I can find from that time. I have never been *skinny*, but there were points where I felt good about my weight and I felt healthy and that’s what matters the most to me, not what the scale says, but I feel inside and out.
But, in my sophomore year of college I gained some weight:
(Outfit and makeup were supposed to look extreme, btw).
But by the summer before my junior year of college I had taken the weight off:
But after that it was all downhill. I put on about 30lbs between my junior year of college and college graduation:
After graduating college I weighed about 202lbs which on my 5’4 frame was just scary. So in the 5 months between graduating and finding a job I made a commitment to get healthy, and it paid off. I lost about 20lbs by eating whole foods and exercising daily:
But then, after a year of full-time work and stress, I put about 10lbs back on:
Which wasn’t good because I was still trying to lose weight!
In March of 2009 I made a commitment to exercise. 5 mornings a week I woke up an hour early and worked out. I spent 3 mornings doing the elliptical and 2 mornings doing free weights. But I wasn’t seeing weight come off or noticing a change in my body.
As a result in April 2009 I joined Weight Watchers. I had never liked Weight Watchers in the past, I hated the processed food, I hated the fact that something like Diet Coke was zero points and almonds were 5, and I hated the idea of a diet. But, when I joined, I found I really liked it. I liked the structure, I liked the fact that I didn’t have to eat the processed food, and I liked that I could eat what I wanted and WW would fit it in. And the weight started coming off.
Then, in May 2009 my friend and I started doing the Couch to 5k and that’s when I really started to notice a change. It wasn’t weight coming off, but it was a general look of being toned and losing inches.
On August 2, 2009 I ran my first 5k:
The feeling of accomplishment has just been amazing. I can’t wait to improve my time at 5k’s, run longer distances, and generally improve my health and well-being.
I stopped doing Weight Watchers during the summer of 2009 and for a few months I did pretty well by just eating intuitively. At the beginning of 2010 I tried counting calories since I felt like my intuitions weren’t so great, but I found the process too difficult and I’ve been trying to find a happy balance since.
(Picture from Christmas 2009.)
Since my first 5K in August I’ve run two more 5Ks (here and here) and a 10 mile race. During the winter/spring of 2010 I trained for and completed my first half marathon.
I plan on spending the spring 0f 2010 working on strength training and training for my second half marathon, the Brooklyn Half, on May 22.
Overall I feel happy and healthy and I think it’s all up from here!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the journey with me!
