Welcome to My World

I am a 40 year old professional dieter. Each time I have some sort of major transition in my life (college, marriage, baby, new job, turning 40) I put on anywhere from ten to forty pounds. Once I come out of my transition fog, I realize that I can't fit into any of my clothes and am forced to deal with it. I have done Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Adkins, phen fen, Body for Life, and Weight Watchers. I have read EVERY book out there on dieting and devour every magazine that exists on the subject. I watch Biggest Loser, Dr. Oz, or any show I can tivo about weight loss.

Now, about the working mom part...I am a middle school principal and I have one child. I am FAR luckier than most working moms in that my husband does work out of the house and I only have the ONE child. So, while my hours might suck, I do have some help (except when he travels), and I only have the one kid (who is in fifth grade). I have found that I have to adapt having a healthy lifestyle and losing weight around work and family and know that most women do-which is why so many times we don't. It seems overwhelming to find time in your schedule to make lunch when you already make it for your kids or exercise when your really, truly don't have an extra minute or frankly the extra energy. I am going to share with you how I manage these things and after all my research and through trial and error what has worked for me.

So, like most people in America right now, I have once again resolved to lose weight. In November I turned forty and started celebrating...There was a weekend with friends, a concert with my husband, and then in December a ten day cruise, followed by Christmas at my mothers house. I knew I was headed in this direction and I completely own it. I don't regret any of it and knew I would end up here.

I made the decision to write a blog for several reasons. As I said earlier, I have a ridiculous clearing house of knowledge about what works and what doesn't work in the dieting world. I have spent A LOT of time researching this and hope it can save somebody else some time. And, as I said to my husband when considering going to Weight Watcher's meetings, "I simply can not be out of the house one more night during the week." As someone who used to do some freelance writing, writing about it seemed the next best thing.

How much weight do I have to lose? This time around I am shooting for eighteen pounds. I lost about twenty five pounds two years ago and never really got to the "last ten" and I have decided to get rid of the seven I gained this fall and finally tackle the last ten pounds I have been screwing around with for two years. My diet of choice is Weight Watchers which is the most "family friendly" diet. Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem work fine, but I think it is impossible to manage in a house with other people.