Well I have begun to notice some results from the change in our eating habits. I know that my face looks a little bit thinner than it has in a while and I have begun to feel a change in the way some of my clothes are fitting. Mark's noticed a difference in his clothes too.

A number of years ago, I stopped "dieting" and just started eating right. At that time, I dropped about 10 pounds and didn't gain any weight at all for about five years. For the first time for as long as I could remember, I was wearing my clothes out instead of growing out them. Over the past couple of years though, we have both gained weight. Due mostly I think to our domestic bliss and some occasional boughts of family-related stress (you know, the whole self-medicating through bad food choices thing). Also, we just plain old like to eat, good food, not junk, and my honey is a chef (an amazingly talented one too). We eat a lot of good food in our house but we fell into a bad habit of eating portions that were too big, too late at night.

For last few weeks we've been trying to eat before 6 p.m., and not eat anything at all after that. When we do snack during the day, it's on fruit. I also have been eating a lot less during the daytime then I was before. I find that if I have a much smaller lunch (like, a piece of fruit, bowl of soup and a yogurt), that will get me through the afternoon and then we have a nice dinner.

I've been reading a lot of other blogs about fitness and weight loss and it shocks me to see what some of these women are doing to themselves, the calorie counting and the beating themselves up if they deviate from their regime at all. My primary reason for us eating better and becoming more active it be more healthy. Of course, the end result of that is going to be some weight loss and better overall fitness. I don't want to create a "diet" for us that is impossible to follow or that makes me feel bad if I stray away from a some "program." The changes we have made to our lifestyle seem to be working for us, for now. Also, doing things in small steps and not all at once, it hasn't seemed like a hardship. I can honestly say that I haven't missed the cheese that I've stopped eating in the day, and when I do sit down to dinner at night, I fill up a lot faster (and I enjoy my meals more).

Unlike most fat girls though, I think that I have a healthy level of self-esteem and self-confidence. I have never felt that my fat held me back and, quite honestly, I never think about what other folks may say when they see me out on the street (as in, "oh my look at the fat woman"). I know that some people, who aren't as big as I am, are terrified to go out in public in a swim suit, I'm not. I got over that one a long time ago.

Now, I think that I want to purchase a scale. I had one, years ago, and threw it out. The numbers just weren't important to me for a long time. I can honestly say that I don't know how much I weigh at the moment. I think that is why I now want a scale. I don't have a set number in mind that I'd like to reach (although that may change when I get a scale and have an actual measurement of what I weigh and what my BMI is). I just feel like I would like to have some kind of goal and I'd like to be able to chart my progress as we get healthier in a "tangible" way.

I'll keep you all posted as I go along with this journey to wellness. So far, I am really getting into this and I'm getting a lot of inspiration from some of the people who's blogs I read every day as they go along on their journey's too. My only regret in any of this is that we didn't get started on it sooner.