My introduction :)

I am just your average woman. I am 25 years old, not married, and have no kids. I work full time, and I'm in the middle of my masters program. I recently became engaged, and I'm excited to see where that journey may take me. (No, I don't have a wedding date, and no I do know where I'm having it - a wedding costs a lot of money; and that is something we don't have at the moment).

I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day at a lousy job where I am underpaid and unappreciated; and have possibly the worst schedule in the history of mankind. But on the other hand I am thankful to have a job - which is why I keep driving 80 miles roundtrip each day to keep getting walked all over.

But I decided 2011 was going to be my year. The year I finally took the time and effort to truly work on myself. Part of that is finishing my masters degree and trying to find a new job; but even more importantly I decided to get healthy. Of course I want to look beautiful in a wedding dress; but I'm really doing this so I can look and feel great no matter what I'm wearing. :)

After I graduated high school I started working full time, and that's when I started gaining weight. In high school I kept active with cheerleading and softball; but after I graduated, all physical activity ceased. Since I was working and taking night classes, I always grabbed convenient foods rather than healthy ones. It was so easy to make excuses like, "Oh I'm so tired, or I don't have time." Every year after that I just seemed to gain more weight steadily and never really did anything about it.

The truth is you can't lose weight to make someone else happy - you have to find the motivation and willpower within yourself. Weight loss takes dedication, sacrifice and patience; and the right can do attitude. I'm not sure what finally clicked in my head; but I realized I needed to do something about this now.

I've been dieting since January 1st, 2011. I'm not ready to reveal my starting weight - maybe as my weight loss progress I will be able to finally reveal this number. I'm happy to report that I've lost 12 lbs from January 1st to January 22nd. I have not weighed myself since then - but I will again on February 5th. I'm basically on a low carb, low sugar, no cheese & sauce diet. I'm also not eating past 7 pm. The first 3 weeks I was eating cheese and sauce, but decided to go a little more hard core to see if I saw even better results. I'm trying to incorporate exercise; but that's the hardest part for me.

I watch shows like MTV's, "I used to be fat", and A&E's, "Heavy," for inspiration. I figure if they can do it, I certainly can too. I loaded a ton of, "pump-it-up," songs on my ipod, and I use it to try and distract myself while I'm working out. My goal is to work out 4-5 days a week. (Gotta be realistic!) I just bought a swimsuit for the first time in 5 years so that I can use the pool at the gym in lieu of running, the elliptical, or weight training. I need variety in my exercise so I don't get too bored.

I have 2 sisters - one in San Francisco and one in Washington DC. Neither of them knows I am on this fitness quest; so my big reveal to them is going to be this May for my younger sister's college graduation. I might even have to skip Easter dinner at my aunt's house this year so my younger sister doesn't see me. My mom lives close by, and knows the goal I'm working towards; so hopefully she won't tell.

I know this isn't going to be easy; but I'm in it to win it. I bought a pair of jeans online in December that I was excited to get and wear. To my utter dismay, I could barely get them over my thighs and couldn't button them to save my life. I'm happy to report that I comfortably wore those jeans yesterday for the first time, and it felt great!

So as this first month comes to a close, I am very excited to see where the next few months will take me.