Epic portions

I obsess over things. When I want to try something new, I first have to learn everything I can about it. I google, I read, I think, I tell my poor husband everything I learn. Weight loss was no different.

I didn't worry too much about my weight for the longest time. I had this secret belief that when I was ready the weight would just fall off. I decided I was ready. I tried a few things, and the weight didn't just fall off. Dang. So I started doing research. I read many peoples' success stories. The first thing I noticed is that people like to write about their success after they have achieved it. Myself included. It was very frustrating for me to read how wonderful their lives are now, without getting to see all the bumps in the road getting there. I wish that I had had enough confidence in my ability to lose weight to start blogging about it from the beginning. But, I didn't. I was embarrassed by the choices I was making.

I am not embarrassed anymore. So, I am going to give you some small snapshots into my life as an overweight person. Everyone who has lost weight started out at very similar points. We all were not satisfied with our bodies. We all had habits that needed to change if we were to become satisfied with our weight.
(Side note: I am not going to tell you how much I weighed. Not because I am embarrassed. I am not going to tell you because I don't want you comparing yourself with me. We all have different body types, heights, bone structure. Just because you are heavier or lighter than I am/was doesn't mean we can't share many experiences. Don't get caught up in the numbers or sizes.)

This first snapshot is an example of my eating habits.
I had spent my life eating what I wanted, as much as I wanted. Whatever sounded good at the time. I stayed home with my kids, so I spent much of the day sitting around watching Dora. A typical day's diet, before trying to lose weight, went something like this:
Breakfast: Bowl of cereal (kid cereal like frosted flakes) or maybe a McDonald's bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with hashbrown and large Dr. Pepper
Snack: By 10:00 or so I would be munchy again, so I would bake some blueberry muffins- and eat at least four or have another bowl of cereal. With at least one Dr. Pepper.
Lunch: If we were eating at home I liked to have a can of ravioli smothered in cheddar cheese. If we ate out, I would have a cheeseburger, fries and Dr. Pepper. (If you can't tell by now, Dr. Pepper was a big part of my life. I may as well have had an IV inserted.)
Snack: I would always crave something sweet after lunch. Often my afternoon snacking started immediately after lunch and continued for several hours. I liked to have chocolate candy bars, cookies, the rest of the blueberry muffins, maybe bake some brownies, etc. I wouldn't necessarily eat all of that in one afternoon, but an entire pan of brownies was never out of the question. All with several Dr. Peppers.
Dinner: I tried to make relatively healthy dinners. We like to have chicken pot pie, beef stroganoff, minestrone, chili mac, etc. I'm a big comfort food type person.
Snack: I tried to stave off evening snacking until after the kids went to bed. Not for health reasons, but so I wouldn't have to share with the kids. I would sometimes run to the store and pick up a half gallon of ice cream. I would typically have one or two heaping bowls of it.

Wow. That's a lot of food. Honestly, I knew I was eating too much, but because I didn't write it down it didn't seem all that bad. It's amazing what happens when you start writing your food down.

More snapshots to come.