Day 1 -- 21 December 2008

I decided to start a blog in order to hold myself accountable. I have been out of shape for about 8 years now and it has started to affect my health. I am embarking on a journey to polish myself up so to speak, hence the blog title of A Diamond in the Rough :O)

I have never really considered myself pretty or beautiful, but as I have gained weight and let myself go, my self-esteem has gotten even worse. I decided it was high time I did something about it, so here I am. I am going to be brutally honest about my weight and measurements with the hopes that putting them out there for the world to see will give me some much needed motivation!

At one point, when I was about 16 or so I was a size 3. I now squeeze myself into a size 10. I have refused to buy a bigger size, and as a result my belly often hangs over the top of my jeans. In actuality, I am probably a size 12. The weight listed on my ID is 120 pounds. I wish!! I currently weigh 147 pounds. I have no idea what my measurements were when I weighed 120 pounds because I never paid attention, but it is kind of hard not to pay attention to my measurements now since there is a whole lot more of me to measure :O) My waist is currently 37 inches, what I call my "bulge" which is the roll of fat that hangs over my jeans measures 39.5 inches, and my hips are 40.5 inches. I almost forgot to mention that I am only 4' 10"! As you can imagine my BMI falls in the obese category.

I can honestly say that I do not have an excuse for being this out of shape. Yes, I did give birth to twins almost 2 years ago, but that was 2 years ago!! I lost some of the pregnancy weight while our babies were in the NICU (they were born at 24w2d) but once our son came home I pretty much gained most of it back. I have been exercising sporatically and attempting to change my eating habits every couple of months but I never seem to stick with it. I started having chest pains about 6 months ago and it made me realize that I need to take better care of myself. Thankfully, my heart is fine. I had all sorts of tests done and everything came back normal. After a few other tests, it was discovered that the source of my chest pains was actually my gallbladder. Even more testiment to the fact that I do not have very good eating habits :O) My blood pressure has also been a bit high lately and I want to do something before it's too late and I end up on medication for hypertension.

With all of that said, I plan to post my diet as well as my exercise regimine on a daily basis. I will weigh and measure myself once a week and post the results as well. I am hoping that by doing so I will be able to actually stick to it this time and get back in shape. I will also post a "rough" picture of myself and take new pictures once a month. Hopefully, in a few months' time the "diamond" will shine through :O)