New Year's Resolution 2010

It's 12:35 of the 1st day of the year 2010 and like many people, I have made a resolution to lose weight. It is a resolution I hope to keep as I just weighed myself about an hour ago and was absolutely shocked by my weight.

A little more than 2 years ago I embarked on my journey to become a dietetian. I was about 135 pounds, trim and in good shape with lofty goals.

Flash forward to today. I am a shocking 178 pounds. I have gained more than 40 pounds in a little more than 2 years and I find it hard to climb the stairs of the city bus- reminding me of a family member who was decades older than me- Not a good thing! Even more shocking is that my thigh circumference is 27.5 inches; this is actually the size of some people's waists and only 0.5 inches more than my previous waist size of 28. I have thighs of thunder! Other bad stats are that my bust is 38 inches(4 inches more than my normal bust size), my waist is 35 inches, and my hips are 43 inches.

How did I get this way you may ask? STRESS. I am a stress eater. I eat when I am emotional as many people do. The past two and some years have been stressful. These stressors include moving to a new province and going back to school after being in the workforce, a rigorous academic schedule of dietetics studies at McGill, incompatible room mates, moving again, getting married,and last but definitely not the least, the unexpected death of my mom.

I have been procrastinating about weight loss, vowing to eat better and exercise when things settle down and I am less stressed. That time never seems to come- one stressor replaces the last stressor. So now my goal is to start taking care of myself inspite of the stressors.

Weight loss is often not just a matter of eating well and exercising. There are often other barriers to one's weight loss journey and one needs to take the time to recognize these barriers before one can lose weight in a sustainable manner.

I have realized that one barrier to not taking care of myself is my tendency to be a people pleaser and care what others think about me. I once had a room mate whom I wanted to convince of the hardship of my academic program. I signed up to take a yoga class and at times, skipped it when my workload was heavy just to show my room mate that "hey, see I'm letting myself go physically. My dietetics program is not a "bird" course." My scheme did not work. I gained nothing but extra weight. What are some of your barriers to weight loss?

Cheers,
Fat dietitian-to-be