C’est Moi!

Welcome to my Diet Book!

I am Valerie, a 35-year-old mother of two who has been engaged in a personal-transformation journey for about the past two years.

Like many people, I have been struggling with my weight off and on since adolescence. Ironically and sadly, also like many women I didn’t really have a need to lose weight when I began – but I yo-yoed my way into a big problem. I became fat, unhealthy, unhappy, and disgusted with my life. At my heaviest, I weighed 210 pounds on a 5′4″ frame, and suffered from high blood pressure, GERD, hypoglycemia, joint problems, and a variety of other medical issues directly attributable to my unhealthy lifestyle.

It wasn’t until June of 2006 that I truly realized just how bad I had gotten, and that there was only one way to change things – to really and truly make a change. I was helped to this realization by stumbling across the Biggest Loser Online Club, a weight-loss site spun off from the NBC series. Now, say what you like about the show or its commercialism, and I will probably agree – but this site was a life-saver for me.

Through increased exercise and a vastly modified eating style, I have – since June of 2006 – lost 52 pounds. At my height and with my build, my doctor would like for me to weigh 150 pounds. I would like to weigh around 135, but I recognize that with increased muscle mass and tone, I may not need to go so far. For the moment, 135 is my official goal, but I strongly suspect 150 may be the key.

However…for me, the focus is no longer really on losing weight – despite the blog title. For me, it’s about being strong, healthy, and happy…loving and honoring myself and doing everything I can to live a long, healthy life, and to be the very best me that I can be.

This blog is my way of recording that journey. Since starting this process, I have become successful at integrating a healthy lifestyle – eating whole grains, lean proteins, limited amounts of healthy fats, and lots of fruits and veggies, with a focus on controlled calories, limited sodium, good fats, whole foods and adequate hydration, as well as regular and healthy exercise that includes circuit strength training, straight cardio and my favorite, yoga – into a life that involves a husband, two kids, a full-time job, an elderly and disabled mother, and all the usual attendant details. Though all of these are very important and much-adored parts of my life, they are also distractions from any attempt to lose weight or become healthy, and I have become determined to find ways to “have it all”. This blog will hopefully help serve as a roadmap, or at least a starting point, for anyone else on the same path. “What works” isn’t the same for everyone, I know – but again, at least it might offer some insight or some support. I hope so! And just as importantly, it will be something to look back on, for me, to see exactly how and why I made the changes I have made. I never want to forget, because if I forget, I risk returning to a lifestyle that made me not only fat, but unhealthy and miserable.

Wish me…not luck, because luck doesn’t enter into it. Wish me strength, wisdom, common sense, and self-discipline, as well as the ability to enjoy every moment of this wonderful life. And I wish you the same, whatever your goals and whatever path you’re on toward them.