Getting smarter after 30

Soon after turning 30 I was given a trial 2 week membership to Bally's fitness. I had never really worked out before but found that I liked the elliptical machines. I am still a member at Bally's- 8 years later. Once I learned to sweat my weight range came down to 160-170. I still ate fast food. I still binged. I was a smoker from 16 - 37 years old. I partied. I still saw myself as the fat girl inside even though my outsides were more socially acceptable. I wore a size 10 or 12, I had friends that were bigger and were envious of my size.

At 33 years old I was working out and was on the down side of my range (160 lbs) when I came across a female bodybuilder that was a client in the salon where I worked. She offered training at a reasonable rate in her garage. I signed up for 3 months, lost 10 lbs and gained a lot of muscle. I quit when my boyfriend at the time made a comment that my muscles were bigger that his. Of course I fell off the wagon and gained some weight. When I turned 35 I started freaking out that I was old, if I lived to be 70 my life was already half over. Ridiculous, I know, but sometimes Im a little dramatic.

I started walking 3 miles on a local trail 5 days a week. Honestly, I was getting my but kicked by retirees. I walked for a couple of years, religiously. I quit eating fast food after watching "Super size me". I lost 25 lbs between the walking and change in diet. I was weighing 144-147 lbs. There was something happening to my body. The longer I went without bad food the better I felt. When I would eat fattening food at a restaurant I would get sick. My digestive system couldnt handle pasta, large amounts of cheese, or too much bread. So began the love of fresh foods.

In the beginning

Once upon a time I was a fat kid. I was the only child of a single working mom, becoming a latch key kid by the 3rd grade. The eating became a habit when I got home from school, I was bored and just sitting in front of the t.v.. My mom did the best she could to provide for us and no one knew back then that processed foods are not that great for you. Dinner was something like ham steak, mac and cheese, and canned green beans. You gotta give her credit for always wanting to provide a balanced meal for me. Dinner usually came with canned green beans or corn. The years keep passing, now I'm in high school and I weigh 230 lbs.

My favorite breakfast during high school was macaroni and cheese, preferably left overs because its different when you microwave it as opposed to freshly made, and diet pepsi. My favorite lunch and dinner was fast food or restaurants. For a snack after school I would eat a box of wheat thins with a package of american cheese slices and wash it down with a liter of diet pepsi while I watched the end of General Hospital and Oprah. My mom would be home around 6pm to find the front room blinds drawn and me passed out on the couch. She would be mad and and ask why I was so tired. Neither one of us knew it was because of the food I was eating.

My first experience with a diet happened right after high school. We moved to northern California. I saw an ad on t.v. for NutriSystems and asked my mom for the money to start their program. I lost around 50 lbs. Unfortunately it triggered a gallbladder problem, so I got off the program and spent a few years dealing with that. My weight ranged from 170-180 for the majority of my 20's.