My first post

This is officially my first ever blog-post. I'm doing it because I think I have a lot of usual information and advice to share with people, given what I've accomplished in the last 8 months. I'm excited to start sharing my thoughts with others who are in a similar situation as I was a year ago. I wish I'd discovered this months ago, as I would have loved to have let everyone "watch" from the beginning, but hopefully I can still be a source of support and motivation for someone else.

A year ago today, I was 33 years old and 203 pounds (I'm 5'3" tall). I was limited to shopping at stores like Addition-Elle and Penningtons. I bought clothes to hide my body - I didn't buy things because they looked good; I bought them because they made me look "less fat." I had severe plantar fascitis - I could wear high heels for more than 5 minutes without excruciating pain. Even in running shoes, walking for more than 20 minutes was painful.

I've had weight issues my entire life. My family was never really into exercise and I was never encouraged to get a lot of exercise when I was young. Since I was a teenager, I've gained and lost weight more times than I can count. Last winter, though, I hit an all-time high - 203 pounds. Even then, I wasn't able to do anything about it - I just ate more and got more and more depressed over how I looked and felt.

My husband and I went on a cruise in March and something changed for me. We went snorkelling in St. Thomas and after we finished, we had to climb a short ladder to get back onto the sailboat we'd travelled in to the snorkelling site. I didn't think I was going to be able to do it. I was so big and so out of shape that I was honestly scared that I was going to simply be incapable of climbing that ladder. And the thought of my husband seeing that (along with the 2 friends and 3 other people we were with) sent me to a new level of humiliation.

The day we got back from the cruise, I re-committed to following Weight Watchers. I'd been a member for about 2 1/2 years at that point and had followed the program sporadically. I'd lose 10 pounds, gain 10 pounds, lose 5 pounds, gain 5 pounds, but hadn't really had a lot of success. But this time something had changed. Not only did I start following the program, I re-joined a gym and started seeing a trainer.

It's been a long 8 months, but I'm now down to 140 pounds and I'm in better shape than I've been in 10 years. I love the new me! I can buy clothes in any store I want and look good in them! I now buy clothes because they flatter my body, not because they hide it. I bought a pair of size 8 pants yesterday!! I can wear high heels again and not be in constant pain. My husband also loves the new me. He's always been in great shape and I hated not being able to do things with him like going for hikes or long walks.

I still have a few pounds left to go, but I consider myself a success story already. As I said above, I would love to be able to help anyone who's in a similar situation. I had a great support system on the Weight Watchers message boards throughout my journey but I know that not everyone has that.