Weight

Height: 4'11
Current Weight: 220 pounds
Goal Weight: 120


The Background:
I've always been overweight. The summer between 8th and 9th grade I lost 30 pounds, primarily by starving myself, using a workout bike, and walking 3 miles on the beach multiple times a week. I gained that back and by 11th grade I weighed 195. I starved myself again, this time getting a gym membership to the gym behind my house and working out for an hour in the morning before school, and 2 hours afterwards. I got down to 150 at my lowest but could not maintain it without keeping up the starving and intense workouts. Even when my weight was that low, I was only two sizes smaller than what I currently am at 220. Now here I am, 22 years old and in need of a change.

The Plan:
I live in an apartment complex with a 24/7 gym. I will use that gym daily for 30 minutes of cardio. I may have to work up to that over the next week or two. I also go to a college that offers exercise classes for $20 a semester. I will attend at least two of those a week. Finally, I have a meal plan for campus. They happen to have wonderful salads that I tend to go for more often than not anyway, so I will stick to those. On the weekends, I will eat small portions of the mashed potatoes and pastas I have, rather than ordering out like I tend to do.

Other:
Sodas- I don't drink them anyway so that won't be a problem.
Water- I carry a water bottle with me everywhere, so that's not a problem either.
Candy- Not a problem, I'm not really a fan.
Motivation- Definitely scary. I don't know if it will stay at the level it needs to be at. Losing weight is a difficult thing. The workouts are grueling and sometimes your energy just isn't there. I'm hoping this blog and the ability to see my progress and document my struggles and successes will help.


Well there it is. Everything I can think of at the moment. I will post a starting picture tomorrow before my first workout. I will keep track of my feelings, and update my weight every month when I check it. I'll post my work out schedule and the foods I've eaten on a weekly basis, more than likely in the form of a scanned, hand-written schedule.

Wish me success!

The Beginning

I'm not going to bore you with clichés, or waste my time trying to think of them. This is about me trying to get what I want out of life, and keeping a blog to hold myself accountable. I don't even know if anyone will happen across this, but if they do maybe they will find inspiration or a "What Not To Do" story.

I'll start with some background into who I am, so that I'll be able to keep track of where I'm going and what progress I've made.

I'm a 22-year-old female college student from South Carolina. I'm majoring in Actuarial Mathematics and have a year and a half til I graduate. I plan on applying to graduate schools in London for Financial Mathematics, and my dream school is London School of Economics. I hope to intern and eventually work at Lloyd's of London. My reasoning for grad school in London as opposed to grad school in  the US is that I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for 6 months and loved it. I developed a overwhelming wanderlust and can't let go just yet. I want to enjoy my youth while I still have it.

I have a few other significant goals that I wish to achieve as well.

The first one is quite common, and has always been a source of frustration in my life. I'm overweight. Quite a bit overweight, actually. I will get into detail on that in my next post. I wish to lose enough weight to get into a healthy range. It won't magically solve all of my problems, but I will be healthier and not feel like such an outcast when looking for clothing or going out to social events.

The second goal is a bit less time consuming, but will be difficult for the first three weeks. I've had a habit of sucking my thumb since I was young. I've quit for a year, then started back on two occasions because of stress. I want to quit for good.

Third: In my introduction I mentioned education and career quite a bit. I do not want to become a drop-out or skip out on grad school and regret it. I don't want to end up in a dead-end job with no opportunities to travel. With that being mentioned...

My fourth goal is to travel. I traveled through 13 countries in Europe, some by myself, some with one other friend, and some with a group. I want to see the world, backpack, live in youth hostels, and live off of whatever I can find.

Finally, I'm an adrenaline junkie. I have quite a few things on my bucket list like bungee jumping, sky diving, and rock climbing that I would like to achieve. These are on the back burner and I will get to them once my larger goals are satisfied. At some point I will make a list.

So this is it. This is me quantifying my goals. Marking them down and making them tangible. Now onto my first goal.