Thin Cherry: A Weightloss Diary

Once upon a time, I was a normal little girl. I was average height and average weight. However, everyday I was told I was fat and ugly by my mother, father, and boys at school. By the time I reached my sophomore year of high school, the fatness became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I went from a perfectly normal 5′3″ and 130 pounds as a freshman to 5′3.5″ and 172 pounds by the second semester of my senior year. It was at that point I became too busy to eat, dropping to 140 pounds in three months, and dropping to 127 by the end of summer vacation.

Most people think that 130 is “heavy” particularly for someone my height, but really, it wasn’t. I was down to a size 8 pants (I have hips, thank you very much), and I looked great. Besides, no matter what, I couldn’t drop anymore weight. I moved back up to 130 through the course of the year, but that didn’t bother me as three pounds were insignificant. Boys paid attention to me. I got a boyfriend. My roommate was in awe of the fact that I’d never had a boyfriend before that point. I was no longer fat and ugly, I was normal and maybe not unattractive at all.

Things went well until my junior year when my boyfriend moved to the same state I was in. We began going out to dinner, and we would cook together (I was very restrictive of calories for my two years of thinness) and within 2 years I was up to 168 pounds. After another year I made it all the way to 180 pounds. I was obese according to my BMI; I was shocked and appalled by this discovery. Over two years, I lost 20 pounds.

However, after awhile I got tired of counting calories. I didn’t gain weight for a year or so, but this past November and December I was without a scale, extremely busy with school, and careless. When I finally stepped back onto a scale, I was back to 172 pounds (from the 163 I had been previously). I was heartbroken. I’ve managed to get back down to 167 at least, but I’m tired of this. I need some way to hold myself accountable, and this blog will be it. I will keep a food diary and an exercise diary for each day, including my daily weight. I know people say not to weigh yourself daily, but when I don’t, I gain weight. I don’t obsess over the daily numbers, I just look for trends. I may also post various musings about how this is going, and I’ll include pictures and stats as well.

Stats:

• Weight: 167 pounds
• Height: 5′3.5″ (clearly this isn’t going to be changing)
• Bust: 38″
• Arms: 11.5″ (each–measured 4″ above elbow)
• Waist: 38″
• Hips: 15″ –> I think this was supposed to be 51″
• Thighs: 44″ (total, clearly)
• Calves: 15″ (each–measured 4″ below knee)

And finally, the photos, taken December 17, 2007. I’ll likely update them at the end of this week, since I am a bit lighter than when they were taken, and have been exercising at least a little since then.

I suppose it all begins again right here. Here’s hoping that forcing myself public will give me the motivation I need. If not, it’ll certainly give me a dose of humiliation.