Or at least, I would be… if I wasn’t so hungry! 
Greetings, world. Whomever may be reading this, I welcome you to my journey. I guess the best place to start is to give you a little backstory.
I was born around 32 and a little more years ago. I am happily married to quite possibly the most loving man, and I have 3 gorgeous girls – and by gorgeous, I mean smart, funny, and stunningly beautiful. I am proud that I made them. They are undoubtedly my greatest achievement. I work as the administrator of a NZ based Japanese paper company – we handle the wood fibre end. We export woodchip back to Japan, and are based in Northland. I really like my job, although it is one of the reasons I am on my quest today. More about that later.
I was your classic chubby kid. Only child, I could have (thanks to my wonderful parents) anything I wanted. As my parents were elderly when they adopted me, ailing health meant a more constant supply of takeaways. Every birthday was at a fast food place. Although, despite my Maori descent, I was never much into the boil ups, or seafood etc, I was indeed a fan of the fried bread, the copious amounts of butter and cream on everything and general love of food. Visiting my grandparents up north over the summer, there was your first breakfast of porridge or toast or cereal, followed by the fried flounder, or mince on toast, or braised steak and onions… which sounds delightful and is making my mouth water… but for breakfast? This was usually followed by jam, covered in cream, with bread to dip in and soak up the goodness. And it WAS goodness. At the time. Sigh.
Despite the occasional childhood teasing, I was a pretty popular kid. The mean kids who picked on me about my chubbiness hurt, as I’m sure there are a million tales of hurt feelings in the world. I got through by being super-smart, and funny. It’s a bit of a cliche, really. The chubby kid’s the funny one. But it got me through.
So despite an obvious weight problem, I got through school, I got into drama school, I got the boys I liked. A twisted and, at points, downright odd path led me to where I am today – a wonderful husband, wonderful kids and wonderful job. But the weight thing is still a problem and since I left a job where I was constantly moving 8hours a day to one where I sit at a desk and the only moving I do is to the cafe for lunch (where you can get steak, eggs and chips for $6-50 – less exspensive than a sandwich!), the weight has increased even more. But from today, from this very morning, I am taking a stand – I am going to lose weight and get healthy, dammit!
So, first admission – my weight. Blurry eyed at 2am, most likely still half asleep, I weighed myself in the bathroom and was shocked awake. I am 140kgs. I can blame the fact that it was a couple of days into my period so I may have been retaining water, but that ain’t 60kgs worth of water in there! I was horrified. And still am. But, and I guess this is the most important thing, it’s motivated me to do something about it. In this blog, I will regulary update my weight – hopefully it’s a declining number!
So it’s Day One. I attempted Weight Watchers a few years ago (and lost 10kgs in my first month – then left my then partner making me a solo mum with 2 kids and I turned to my dear friends for solace – Tim Tams and wine. This brought the 10kgs back and added some friends along with it!) so I’m trying to basically follow that eating plan again. I am keeping this, more as a reflectional tool, and a written diary with progress. A stumbling block to this quest to be healthy is that I loathe drinking water. Put 2ltrs of coke or orange juice in front of me and I’m a happy camper. I have, as I have been typing this, drank a whole glass of water. Probably not such an epic win on the grand scale of things, but a strong step none the less. I had one piece of toast with tomato for breakfast (with the necessary cup of tea!) and just snacked on some rice crackers. For lunch, I will NOT go to the cafe for the worlds BEST chicken fettucine, salad and chips – I will stay here, have my lemon pepper tuna (lite, of course) with some plain rice and fruit. Dinner will be steak (a palm sized piece) with salad. I will watch portion sizes and I will choose healthier. I need a mantra, I think. Feel free to suggest one.
If you’re with me on this journey – thanks. If you’re mindlessly browsing and stumble across this – cheers, thanks for reading. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and will put my stubborness to use for good, for a change! It’s my wedding anniversary this week, so the next 5 days of super-goodness means a little treat on our anniversary. Besides, the ‘marital exercise’ will give me a little leeway, surely…. 
