I need to lose weight. I've known this for a long time. Hell, I've been overweight since kindergarten (possibly before). We didn't have a lot of money when I was young, and the presence of fresh fruits and veggies was definitely not a consistent one. Portion control wasn't really a concept that I gave a second thought until my early 20s.
I planted myself firmly in the world of denial in my 20s. "Well, yeah, I'm fat, but I'm not having any health problems becuase of it, I'm perfectly healthy, so I can just go on like this and be okay."
Yeah, right. I believed that for looooooong time. Then my grandma died, which I honestly believe wouldn't have happened at age 78 had she been taking proper care of herself. Then my knees started to hurt, then my mom had a heart attack. I've also been realizing that the more I weigh, the more introverted, quiet and agoraphobic I become. I tend to only want to go out when I have my husband or my closest and most trusted friends with me - having one of them around is like a security blanket for me. I've had a membership at the Y since March and yesterday was the first day I went, because I was too much of a chickenshit to go in by myself.
In short, it's been a really rough year for my family, a really rough year for me, and I've realized that life is way too short not to get the most enjoyment out of it.
So... Bryan and I went to the Y yesterday. I got on the treadmill for 30 minutes. 30 minutes may not sound like much, but for me it's a start.
For me, motivation does not come easily. I've done some research on motivation and have come to the realization that while health, longevity, ability to keep up with the physical demands of raising healthy children (not to mention setting a healthy example through having an active lifestyle) are VERY important to me, for some reason they're not enough to motivate me, and I need something more tangible to grab hold of. I've decided that at certain intervals, I will reward myself with things I've been thinking of doing for myself anyway, but have been putting off due to the expense - i.e., having my hair straightened (if you've seen how my hair can get when it's humid, you'll understand why that's a biggie for me), buying myself a nice piece of jewelry (if you know anything about me, you kow that I love pretty, sparkly things), treating myself to a day at the spa, etc.
Since I'm so overweight, I will most likely lose the first 50 or so pounds fairly quickly once I get started, so I've set my first reward at 75 pounds. Once I lose 75 pounds, in I go to have my hair taken care of. Squee! :)
A couple of my girlfriends have encouraged me to start scrapbooking. I haven't started yet due to the expense (due to circumstances beyond our control, we've been struggling for the last couple of months), but when I get down to it, I think I will start a scrapbook dedicated solely to this journey. I even have a couple of VERY unflattering pictures of myself to use as the first page. It will probably be pretty painful to actually scrapbook those pictures, but pictures don't lie. Those pictures may not reflect what I actually see when I look in the mirror, but they reflect what I truly look like and how other people see me.
Births
1452 - King Richard III of England (d. 1485)
1538 - Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal (d. 1584)
1644 - François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (d. 1724)
1722 - Leopold Widhalm, Austrian luthier (d. 1776)
1737 - Francis Hopkinson, American author and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1791)
1768 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (d. 1854)
1798 - King Charles Albert of Sardinia (d. 1849)
1800 - Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising (d. 1831)
1828 - Charles Floquet, French statesman (d. 1896)
1832 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)
1847 - Paul von Hindenburg, German officer and politician (d. 1934)
1851 - Ferdinand Foch, French soldier (d. 1929)
1852 - William Ramsay, Scottish chemist (d. 1916)
1869 - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader, Father of the Nation (d. 1948)
1871 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1955)
1873 - Plum Warner, English cricketer (d. 1963)
1879 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
1882 - Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian military commander (d. 1945)
1890 - Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
1895 - Bud Abbott, American comedian and actor (d. 1974)
1901 - Alice Prin, French singer and artist (d. 1953)
1904 - Graham Greene, British novelist (d. 1991)
1904 - Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (d.1966)
1907 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1911 - Jack Finney, American author (d. 1995)
1913 - Karl Miller, German footballer (d. 1967)
1914 - Jack Parsons, American rocket scientist (d. 1952)
1917 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1917 - Charles Drake, American actor (d. 1994)
1921 - Albert Scott Crossfield, American test pilot (d. 2006)
1921 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
1926 - Jan Morris, English writer
1928 - George "Spanky" McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)
1929 - Moses Gunn, African-American actor (d. 1993)
1930 - Dave Barrett, Premier of British Columbia
1932 - Maury Wills, American baseball player
1934 - Earl Wilson, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1935 - Omar Sivori, Argentine football player (d. 2005)
1937 - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., American attorney (d. 2005)
1938 - Rex Reed, American movie critic and actor
1938 - Waheed Murad, Pakistani film actor and director (d. 1983)
1943 - Franklin Rosemont, American artist
1945 - Don McLean, American songwriter
1948 - Avery Brooks, American actor
1948 - Donna Karan, American fashion designer
1948 - Chris LeDoux, American musician and rodeo performer (d. 2005)
1949 - Richard Hell, American musician
1949 - Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
1950 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (d. 1998)
1950 - Michael Rutherford, British musician (Genesis)
1951 - Sting, British musician and actor
1951 - Romina Power, Italian singer
1955 - Lorraine Bracco, American actress
1955 - Phil Oakey, British singer (The Human League)
1960 - Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 - Robbie Nevil, American singer and songwriter
1964 - Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
1966 - Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoai, Samoan wrestler (d. 2000)
1967 - Frankie Fredericks, Namibian athlete
1967 - Bud Gaugh, American musician (Sublime)
1967 - Gillian Welch, American singer and songwriter
1968 - Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player
1968 - Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey players
1969 - Mitch English, American actor
1969 - Damon Gough, English singer
1970 - Kelly Ripa, American actress
1970 - Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress
1971 - James Root, American guitarist (Slipknot)
1971 - Tiffany, American singer
1973 - DeShaun Holton American musician (ex-D12) (d. 2006)
1973 - Lene, Norweigan singer (ex-Aqua)
1973 - Efren Ramirez, American actor
1974 - Paul Teutul Jr., Co-Star of American Chopper
1974 - Sam Roberts, Canadian singer and songwriter
1974 - Simon Gregson, British actor (Coronation Street)
1976 - ME!!
1978 - Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer
1981 - Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
1982 - George Pettit, Canadian singer (Alexisonfire)
1986 - Camilla Belle, American actress
1987 - Phil Kessel, American ice hockey player Boston Bruins