Did I really just tell the world what I weigh?

Well, the 12 week challenge officially starts tomorrow. I am anxious to get started and thought if I’m going to be bearing my soul here for the next 12 weeks, perhaps I should tell you a little more about me than just what is in that little blurb over there. --------->

I could make it really short and say “My name is Molly and I am tired of being fat…..the end” but I suppose I should include a little more than that. I grew up one of those people that I hate now. You know, the kind that can eat anything and not gain a pound. Yep…that was me. *raises hand timidly* I was relatively active and I participated in a lot of sports and activities in high school but I never exercised just to be exercising or ever think about my weight, let alone my heart health, at all.

Around the time I got my driver’s license and was able to go get whatever food I wanted whenever I wanted, I began to develop some really horrible eating habits. But, I still didn’t gain any weight. (I know, I know….I hate me too) I graduated high school at around 120 pounds (I’m 5’4”) It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I began working on my obligatory freshman 15. Really, I blame society for telling me I had to do that! (Just kidding) My freshman year of college is also when I met my husband. Of course, that meant a lot of dinner dates and pizzas at midnight. (Honestly, Papa John’s breadsticks at 2 a.m. is a religious experience) By the time we got married 4 years later, I was 30 pounds heavier.

The next 14 years were kind of a blur in terms of my weight. I’d be up quite a bit and get serious about losing, lose about 20 pounds and then fall off the proverbial wagon. I also used each of my 3 pregnancies as an oasis from dieting and really ballooned up during each of them, never quite losing all the weight I’d gained from the previous pregnancy. (Really, can you still call it baby weight when the "baby" is 4?)

By the time my youngest was born 4 years ago, I weighed 240 pounds and was completely. And utterly. Miserable.

Another interesting thing happened during my pregnancy with him that I had never experienced before: High blood pressure. I actually got admitted to the hospital for a total of 12 days before, during and after his delivery. I was told I had to get the weight off to make sure it wasn’t something that I had to deal with the rest of my life. I got serious yet again and made my way down to 170 pounds with diet alone. No real exercise to speak of. When I hit the 170 pound mark, however, the pounds were a lot harder to get off. It was time to start exercising. I joined the YMCA and began working out quite a bit. I even trained for and completed a sprint triathlon in 2010. (In case you don’t know, a sprint triathlon is a quarter of a mile swim, a 20 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run.) Even with training for that, though, I didn’t get back down to where I wanted to be... Since then, life has gotten in the way yet again, and I find myself back up about 35 pounds.

I applied for the BetterU Challenge after seeing it on the news one evening. Women who want to get more heart healthy by losing weight were asked to send in an application. I immediately applied and I am so thrilled that I did. The 7 Challengers all have very different stories. Some of the ladies have a strong family history of heart disease, some have had heart attacks, high blood pressure, stents placed, etc. Maybe you can relate to my story. Maybe you relate better to one of the other challengers. We are all at different stages in our lives and different places in our journey but the one thing that binds us all together is that we are taking this step for our health. I hope you will join us too.

Here's to a BetterU and a Better Me in 2012!

Molly