First off, I feel like I should apologize for adding even more information into the universe regarding weight loss and dieting.  It's completely overwhelming.  What do you do when you can't afford a personal trainer and you just want some straight information telling me exactly what I need to do to lose weight?  I still don't have an answer to that question.  Google the words "weight loss" and you will get 457,000,000 hits.  Seriously. 

I turned 30 this year and while I know it's cliche to say that I reached some epiphany, I  sort of did.  After 15 years of being a smoker, I decided to quit.  Just like that.  I didn't do it cold turkey.  I researched various smoking cessation methods and just decided to use the patch.  I was ready for it and it worked.  Now, I have been steadily gaining weight since I was 25.  Roughly 10 pounds per year.  I've been told by everyone around me that I don't need to lose weight and that I look just fine, but whether I should believe you or not...I don't see ME in the mirror. 

When I started out, I was only about 40 pounds overweight.  I'm not an emotional eater.  I was an uneducated eater.  I grew up with a high metabolism and the ability to live for weeks on end on nothing but cupcakes and potato chips.  Eventually it caught up with me and I was left completely clueless about how to eat.  So I began the google searching nutrition, healthy eating, quick healthy recipes and slowly I began educating myself how to re-think everything I ever knew about food.

Quitting smoking is a difficult task as you may know if you've ever done it yourself.   What I needed was to figure out how to apply the tools I used to quit smoking to losing weight.  And then it hit me...I quit smoking not because people told me to or I felt like it was the right thing to do.  I quit smoking because I felt lousy.  I was tired and out of breath and I didn't enjoy it anymore.  I needed a lifestyle change. 

And that was the difference.  I'm not trying to lose weight to fit into a pair of Diesel jeans or look cute.  (Ok, well maybe a little).  I want to lose weight because I'm tired of being TIRED and feeling 20 years older than I am.  I don't want to be unhealthy.  Now that I'm a non-smoker I have a really good chance of living a long and healthy life.  There's HOPE. 

 My focus is not on losing weight.  It is on healthy eating and staying active.  There are many ways to eat healty.  Some people are vegetarians, some eat only organic food, raw diets, low fat, low carb, high protein...and so on and so on.  While I haven't tried every one of these methods, I'm pretty sure they all work if you actually stick with them. 

For me, I decided to focus on eating lots of fresh produce.   I've been a picky eater my whole life so this is a very difficult thing for me to do.  The only vegetables I would eat as a kid were corn and potatoes.  But I decided to do what my parents never did and that was to force myself to eat my veggies.  And I needed to find easy recipes that were just as quick to prepare as the unhealthy junk I was eating. 

I went to the grocery store with a goal: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, whole grains.  Ground turkey, salmon, tuna, and chicken for meats and fish.  No white flour or rice, no refined sugar.  NO CHOCOLATE (at least for a while).  It's working.  I've lost about 20 pounds so far and I have about 25 to go.  I'm starting this blog to share the things I'm learning that work for me and share the new recipes I find.  Its' also a way for me to stay accountable for my actions. 

Changing my diet has not only helped me drop some weight, but it's also had so many other unexpected effects.  My skin is clearer and brighter, I have more energy, I have much less issues with anxiety and depression.  It has truly been a lifestyle change.  So I want to share this roller coaster ride with everyone and maybe it will inspire somebody else out there in the world to make a change too.