Hello again,

This is shaping up to be a wonderful day. The snow is melting, the sun is shinning and I hear the birds every time I step out of the door. It is also a 3 day weekend. My day job is as a programmer – helpdesk person for a transportation project – I just happen to work from home. So while everyone else was off this week – I have been putting in my full time.

Any way, I thought you might like to get to know me a little bit.

I am 41 – born April 10, 1968 in Baltimore, MD. I was brought up – at least until I was 14 in Glen Burnie, MD. At this time we were allowed to go to our friends house, the park where ever without our parents worrying too much.

As a result, I was very rarely home. I was always out playing. I was 5'3” and about 105 pounds.

When I was 14 my family moved to Arkansas – again lots of places to walk and outdoor activities that keep my weight down.

When I was 15 I moved to Baltimore City, MD and this is where my trouble began.

I was no longer allowed to go where I wanted and when I wanted. The city was not as safe as where I grew up in the county. Not to mention all my friends were still in Glen Burnie. In addition, there were stores about 500 feet from my front door. The candy that I had to walk a mile to get as a kid were now within easy reach. I went from 105 to 135 in just a few month.

When I meet my now husband in 1997 I was about 165 lbs. Not too bad. Still my eating and exercise habits were really really bad and did not improved for many years.

While I was pregnant with my daughter at the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998, my weight went up to 190 lbs. Now I had another excuse for my weight gain. I had a child and was a working mother. For the next about 11 years – the 3 hour travel time too and from work, the 8 hours I put in etc all kept me from cooking at home. My daughter and I ate out – you know we had FAST Food diets. Than one day I get on the scale – I am at 242 lbs. In addition to this – I am getting sharp pains in my stomach every time I eat.

Oops. This can not be allowed to continue.

The first thing I need to do it determine why the pains. I go to the DR. He can not identify why any issues that would be causing my symptoms.

So I figure it has to be all the grease from eating out. We start eating at home. I cook more. Following a diet program the tells me what to eat and how to cook it. We start slimming down (about 5 pounds in a month) but the pain does not go away. It is now May 2009.

I try to observer what could be causing the problem and something a bit weird comes to light. IT is is only when I eat meat that the pain shows up. So I decide to go vegetarian. The pain stops and drop down to 27 pounds between May and November 2009.

Holiday season. Got to love it. I am still eating vegetarian but no longer watching what I what as far cakes, cookies etc as I was. Still I did not do too bad. Between November 2009 and January 2010 I gained 4 pounds.

Oops I do not like this at all. So back to the slimming eating plan I go. Only this time I decide to go vegan. (Personal choice. Milk really is not good for me). Now between 1/26/2010 and 2/12/2010 I am down I am down 6.2 pounds.

I know I have made the right choices for me. Between my new eating and exercise plan – I am dropping the fat and feeling better by the day.

I will do another post with some photos. To let you see what I look like.