my WHY?

Why do a blog like this?  For me it's partly about accountability for myself and partly about helping motivate others.  This morning when I got on the scale I weighed in at 253.4.  Yesterday it was 257.4.  I don't believe I really lost 4 lbs in 1 day, but I do think that water contributed to that decrease.  I workout at the fitness center at my college alma mater about a mile and a half from my house.  Last September I decided I'd stay home and workout there, after all, I have a weight bar with 2 10lb and 4 5lb weights, a bosu ball, resistance bands, 3 kettle bells, a wii, and numerous fitness dvds and video games.  Needless to say, that didn't work and 20 lbs later, I'm worse off than I started.   I went and renewed my gym membership yesterday and rock climbed and did the elliptical for 1 mile last night.  I know I can do more, but I didn't want to over do it the first day back after so long.  This is a new beginning for me. 
As a child, I was very active.  I grew up in the country and would play outside almost everyday.  I loved the swing set my dad made, climbing trees and fences, running down the super long driveway, riding my bike, and playing hide-n-seek in my dads shop.  When i was around 12 and hit puberty, I started putting on weight, though I had always been larger than most my age.  As I look back now, I wasn't fat, but I sure thought I was.  I started in gymnastics when I was in 2nd grade and did that for a few years.  When I was in 6th grade a friend asked me to play soccer with her and since my mom only let me do one sport at a time, I quit gymnastics and started soccer.  We quickly became the top team in our age group and won championships for our division.  It was a great time.  I played until my senior year of high school.
When I was a sophomore, I got 2nd degree burns on my foot and could not play for a while.  At the time I had been playing year round for several years, between 2 rec seasons, 2 indoor seasons, and a school season each year.  The sudden stop in play caused me huge weight gain.  After I recovered and was able to play again, my body wasn't the same and I continued to gain.  In the year after the injury I gained 2 clothing sizes and was an 18.  I am still an 18. 

My smallest in recent history front & back

I have been as large as a 20 and as small as a 14 in the 15 years since high school, but for the most part I have been a consistent 18.  My last year of law school I had a personal trainer and was able to lose 60 lbs.  I was under 200 for the first time in recent history.  After moving home and not having a job to pay for a gym, I started gaining.  I held it to about 10-20 lbs at first but over the last 4 years have gained it all back.  I have been successful before and I know I can do it again. 
I have made a plan of what I am going to do and will post that here.  I will also post my accomplishments and pitfalls.  I will post pictures to show my progress.  The goal is to get to a healthy 150 lbs.  Doing this at a rate of 2 lbs per week, it should take right at 1 year to get to my goal.

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Please join me on my journey to weight loss.