The Beginning

     My weight has been a challenge for as long as I can remember.  I can look back, and remember being heavier than my peers in elementary school.  I still remember them weighing us in fifth grade, and being embarrassed.  Throughout my twenty-four years I have tried many different tactics to shed the weight, but nothing really worked except weight watchers.  Unfortunately, I have signed up and quit too many times to count.
     However, in August of 2010 my doctor called, and told me my cholesterol was 301mg/dL.  For those of you that do not know what this number means, let me explain.  A normal cholesterol number is less than 200 mg/dL, 200-239 mg.dL is borderline high, and 240 mg/dL or above is considered high.  Because my cholesterol is this high I have more than twice the risk of coronary heart disease as someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.  Finally, in July of 2011 I saw a specialist. She informed me that, because I am still young I do not need to go on medication at the present, but that I need to lose 30lbs.  At the time she said this I weighed 154lbs.  I am 5'4", so according to the Body Mass Index scale I was at 26.4.  At this number I was overweight.  So the goal of losing 30lbs was set, and I joined weight watchers July 2011.
     By Christmas I had lost a little over 10lbs, and I was really proud of myself.  My family and friends noticed, and I had started to notice not just in the clothes department, but also in my overall mood. However, I went home to visit family at Christmas, and something changed.  Even after I got home I just lost the motivation that I had before the Holidays.  I struggled with my weight throughout the spring, into summer, and now fall.  I have not gain all the weight I lost I am still at 145lbs, but I still have 20lbs to go.
     I am hoping that through this blog I can find the motivation to finish my goal of 20lbs.  On Sunday I will be starting back with weight watchers as it worked to get the first 10lbs off.  I know this journey is going to be long and rough, kind of like Odysseus's journey back home in The Odyssey.  So here goes nothing...let the odyssey of weight loss begin!