The starting line.

I'm beginning my (hopefully last) journey of weight loss. I cannot even count how many times in my life I have begun a weight loss program or effort of some sort... How many fad diet pills I've tried, hours I've logged in the gym, miles I've ran in the past. But now that the twins will be a year old and we are 100% certain that the baby factory is closed for business, I need to lay all these excuses aside and get on top of this mess.

I've also blogged in the past... Long before blogging became "trendy". (Yes, it's true. I had my first blog on Xanga nearly 13 years ago, migrated to LiveJournal for a time, returned to Xanga, discovered the Blogspot community, and here I am.) I plan to keep this pretty consistent, but we shall see. If I gain a mass of followers, that would be pretty cool. If not, I'm doing this for ME first and foremost, to hold myself accountable, to learn from my own mistakes, to remember how I felt on this journey. Those are my most important reasons for putting these words on this page. Oh, and for the vulnerability factor, too. Since anybody can access this page, I don't know who might come across it, and that's fine with me.

But back to the point.

I had a few excuses as to why I didn't want to start a weight loss program after I gave birth to the twins. My main excuse was because I was breastfeeding, and didn't want to mess up my supply by starting a diet or working out. So I did nothing, and consequently that LITERALLY weighed me down. Jack and Noah will be a year old on the 24th of this month. Although they are still breastfeeding, I NEED to lose this weight and get healthier. Not only for myself, but for them (and Tyler, their big brother) as well. My boys need a healthy mama they can depend on.

I went to the VA clinic in Broward County, FL earlier this year. They had done some blood work on me and my cholesterol levels were through the roof. Like DANGEROUSLY high. The nurse practitioner didn't want to put me on meds because of me still breastfeeding, but said we would reevaluate later in the year. This was back in May. I do NOT want to take cholesterol meds for the rest of my life. I'm only 27 years old... And it's a damn shame that my health is so awful. What kind of example am I for my children? And how will I be a good wife to my husband if I don't even take care of myself? I know he misses the woman he first met and fell in love with... I would like to return to that physical state (even though we have grown emotionally). So the cholesterol levels need to get lower. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I will find them and add them here, too.

So tomorrow morning I start this journey with my first baby step forward. I will post my beginning stats as well. I must keep myself accountable. And I hope this blog will see me through to my final goal.