Day One of Blog...Day Four of Sore!

First off, allow me to say that I have amazing people in my life.  At one point in time, I was down to 155 pounds.  At 5'2", this is really nothing to write home about, but considering that I weighed in at 220 pounds BEFORE being there, it was a pretty large accomplishment for me.  Fast forward a little over 2 years, starting college and meeting the most amazing man ever, and it's almost all back on.  ALMOST!  However, before it all reared its ugly head again (and then some), I decided that it was time to do something about it (yet again).  So here I am, pretty much back at square one.  I am already using www.sparkpeople.com (amazing site, I'd highly recommend it to anyone) to track my food, find healthy recipes, and track exercise, but I thought that I'd also blog here for two reasons:

My primary reason is that, in making my journey a bit more public than just sharing with those also struggling with their weight, it keeps me a bit more accountable.  I don't really want to be admitting to anyone that I know and anyone that stumbles upon this blog how bad I sucked it up, so I like to think that this will motivate me.

My secondary reason is that I am not in it alone this time around....

Enter my amazing friend Tiffany.  At the end of the day, it was her that pushed to get back on it.  She has been running, and she looks great!  Mind you, I certainly don't plan on running, but back in the day, I took almost a sick enjoyment out of pushing myself on the elliptical trainers at the gym I was currently using.  So now, three mornings a week (ew, morning), we hit the gym together.  We will be weighing in with one another weekly, and we will be taking monthly photos for Before/After purposes.  So this blog is dedicated to the both of us, traversing the perilous path of weight loss together.  In college.  And she works with yummy bad-for-you food.  Ta-da!

I wonder what exactly it is about college that promotes weight gain.  On a traditional college campus, you walk all over the place.  I suppose that all of the amazingly greasy food options that campus dining makes available, along with not having your mother telling you to eat in nutritionally sound ways has a lot to do with it.  College is also stressful!  In my case, I was also working full-time (40+ hours per week) and managing a full-time class load in school, so time was not on my side.  Not to mention that my boyfriend works in a physically-intensive field, so he can eat whatever he wants and not gain an ounce (grr...).  I, on the other hand, am not so blessed.  I look at what he eats and gain 3 pounds!  It probably doesn't help that I have the tendency to place it all in my mouth...  That being said, he is extremely supportive of me, and blessedly not a finicky eater, so when I cook healthy, he happily eats it.  His only request is that I don't feed him rabbit food, and not being a salad-eater myself, I'm happy to oblige!

So, here Tiffany and I go, and to cement this little deal, I am posting pictures of the two of us.  Forgive the sweaty/nastiness of them; we had just arrived at my house from the gym.  Oh, and holy cow...my arms are killing me.  Mondays are arms days...and they feel like Jell-O.  Success!  Ouch...

As promised...the pics.  Hide your eyes children, you may be much frightened by me (in red).  Tiffany, however, is pleasing to the eye...enjoy!

Tiffany front:

Tiffany left:

Tiffany back:

Tiffany right:

Me front: 

Me left:

Me back:

Me right:

Togetherness!