In my efforts to live a healthier, happier and skinnier life I have decided to share my experience on this blog, in sharing my weight loss journey, I hope it will provide an informative and inspirational account. Feel free to ask questions!

I grew up stick thin (Age 13: 5'8" and 110 lbs thin). I endured teasing and questions about if I had an eating disorder all through middle school.
High school rolled around and I practiced my independence (poor food choices), experimented with friends (hello munchies) and my depression hit me full swing. I didn't exercise hardly at all (huge boobs, reduction at 16 and poor body image = lack of interest to work out.).
At 19 I became pregnant and put on even more weight. After having my son, I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life. I knew this is not how I wanted to live, but I wasn't sure how to change.

I have tried a few weight loss programs:

Age 20; Optifast:
When B was 7 months old, and I was the heaviest I'd EVER been I researched and joined a Doc's office in town for the Optifast weight loss program. Out of desperation to lose weight, I chose a program that was totally unsuitable for my eating habits and comfort level. Won't be doing that again.
For me I really feel this was the worst program ever.
It was hella expensive, the "food" (boxed nutritional drinks, like slimfast) were disgusting and the rapid weight loss (30 lbs in almost 2 months) paired with being obese/having recently been pregnant caused my body to have gallstones... which led to quitting the program out of medical necessity and then needing Gallbladder removal surgery. Yikes!
The only helpful part of this program was having a medical team (doctor, nurse and nutritionist) to consult weekly, a supportive group (about 8-10 women & men) and education about nutrition, portion size and exercise at each weekly gathering.

Age 24; The Belly Fat Diet:
I heard about this through a friend. Her husband went on the diet and lost 17 lbs in a few short months, without much effort. After some coaxing, Ryan agreed to try it with me.
Basically, the diet's purpose was to cut out all carbs/sugar/packaged crap and live off of only whole grains, proteins and lower fat options aka EATING HEALTHY! DUH!
The recipes were easy to make and tasted fine (they also were surprisingly filling!) but it was a pain to need to replace all of my pantry. I live in a small town and didn't have half of the suggested food products/brands available to me. It was a stress to grocery shop attempting to substitute most ingredients (and still stay on program).
Ryan lost almost 15 lbs and I lost about 8 in the few months we adopted the Belly Fat lifestyle.
Ryan still raves about how great (energized, satisfied with smaller servings and didn't crave junk food) he felt following this lifestyle change... I didn't get those results.
I was hungry a lot, as I mentioned before the frustration in trying to find brands/products to use was annoying, and I didn't see much weight loss.

Perks to this program? No frankenfood! All the food you eat is basically organic/whole/healthy. It felt good to know I could feed my whole family (and even a few brave friends) my altered recipes and it was all natural foods.

Age 26; Weight Watchers:
I don't think I have to explain much about WeightWatchers. I know lots of friends/family who have followed this eating program and have seen wonderful results.
My Poppa offered to pay my membership fees, as long as he was seeing some results. I was so motivated to lose the weight (this took place right after my Nana had died, from health complications due to years of Diabetes) because I didn't want to end up with Diabetes (I still don't!). I wanted to make myself and my Poppa proud by finally taking off the weight I'd gained the past 6 years.
I joined the online program (you can go to meetings if you want, but it's not required). I loved it!
It was so simple to use their website, browse through their recipe archives (lots of yummy ones!) and to track my daily intake on my profile/iPhone.
I tried this for 3 months, to the letter. And guess what? I lost the first week (about 4 lbs) and then gained. Yes, that's right. I gained weight for the next 11 weeks. 14 lbs total.
Besides feeling like a total failure, I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. WHY wasn't I losing weight, when I was striving so hard to adhere to the program? I'd seen people around me lose lots of weight and keep it off.
Out of sheer frustration and wanting to save my Poppa money, I stopped the program after 3 months.

Perks? The ease of logging your day (the website helps keep you on track for daily intake/exercise/water etc) was great. I loved that aspect of the program.
The recipes tasted great (again, my friends/fam braved the lifestyle change with me) and we were eating real food.

Since May of 2011, I have been introducing actual exercise (see this for some background info) back into my routine! The Elliptical at home, walks a couple days a week and LOTS of house cleaning (clients, family and my own) has helped me maintain my current weight. I fluctuate by a few lbs every few weeks, but I am not seeing anything major.

A coworker and I have been talking about The Dukan Diet for a couple of months. There is a teacher at one of my schools who has lost 57 lbs in less than 7 months following Dukan. My coworker started the diet, and within the first week lost 7 lbs (then, had a death in the family and had to travel for 2 weeks and went off program).
I researched the program online, ordered the book (which is a combo of the diet book and all his recipes) from Amazon, and after a 4 week wait it finally arrived!

Ryan and I started the diet yesterday (Tues the 20th), my philosophy is it never hurts to try a life style that has worked so well for someone you know. Look for a follow up post in 7 days.

Here goes nothin!