It's 2012, a new start.

Well as a new year starts, it's time for me to start my new year’s goals and every year one goal never gets achieved and that goal is.....WEIGHT LOSS! I decided to start a blog about my journey to my weight loss and my journey as well as my journey to getting pregnant.  Reading blogs have always motivated me, so I thought it was time for me to write my story instead of just reading them, who knows maybe I can be an inspiration to someone, as so many people have been to me.

Here's some background history:

Weight:

I am 30 years old and have struggled with obesity pretty much all my adult life.  I started gaining weight late in college (maybe my junior year).  It's a typical story, worked two jobs while in school which lead to terrible eating habits and poor exercise routines.  I've been on this journey for a while. Losing some weight here and there but never achieving my true weight loss goals.  I've tried about a million types of diets and workout routines.  I don't really have an issue working out, I attend title boxing anywhere from 3-4 days a week and used to run about 3 days a week (slacked off but getting back on track now). So what's the real problem...well it's my eating.  I don't have terrible habits but I don't have great ones.  I don't eat often enough (maybe twice a day) and when I do eat I don't always chose the healthiest options...so maybe I do have terrible eating habits. 

Conception:

I have been married for three years now and about 5 years ago I was told diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Sydrome) which would make it hard for me to conceive naturally.  I’ve been with my husband for 8 years and was only on birth control for 2 of those years so I knew some kind of issue existed, however because we weren’t really ready to have kids we just put off looking into for a while. Then a couple of years ago, I also found out that in addition to my female issues we also have male issues as well, therefore our chances for conceiving naturally would be about 5%.  So in October 2011 we started with our first round of IVF (Invitro Fertilization).  In December of 2011 we found out we were not pregnant.  Devastated we were but, we truly believe that God will make this happen for us.

So given that information, these two journeys’ I believe are solely faith based journeys because they are out of my hands.  I know people would beg to differ that the weight loss can be controlled by me; however I don't see it that way.  I've tried and struggled and have had too many failed efforts, thus this had led me to conclude that I need to trust in God, because He said He will give me the desires of my heart and when I can't do it on my own , I need to be led by faith.

So I am starting this year off like most people, making goals for myself:

1. Lose weight! Plain and simple....I've made goals in the past requiring pounds lost and non-scale victories.  This is something I will not do this year.  I plan to tackle this goal in the most simplistic form. Eating right and working out. So here is what I am thinking:

• Reduce eating out to once a week-no fast food at all
• Eat a fruit or veggie with every meal
• Eat at least two snacks a day (only fruit or veggie)
• Attend Title boxing 3-4 times a week
• Run 3-4 times a week (start C25K over and fully run my first 5K)

2. Work towards getting pregnant. In order to do this I need to do the following:

• Pay off all bills associated with last round of IVF
• I have one frozen embryo so be proactive about starting the FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer)
• Plan for another round of IVF (if the FET doesn’t work)

3. Prayer/Christianity walk.  I want to increase my praying and continue to build a strong relationship with God.  I plan to do the following:

• Pray at least twice a day
• Read at least one bible verse a day and study everyday
• Increase my ministry work and involve myself in other church activities besides choir

4. Build/Retain closer family relationships/friendships. The older I get the more important family relationships and friendships become to me.  I have a pretty small family with complex background issues (which I'm sure is pretty average) and I am distant with so many family members and friends.  I plan do the following to build better relationships:

• Call my close family members at least once every other week. (My grandma and father)
• Attend more family gatherings
• Host more family gatherings

Last year a couple of my friends and I looked into our goals quarterly, we started out strong but fell off towards the end, I plan to review my goals quarterly to track for progress.

So let’s get started in 2012! Every year I make a motto, this year’s motto is “Cashing it in, standing on His Promise”!