Day One

I feel like I'm always saying in my head, "Okay, this is Day One." Day One of my new life, my new diet plan, my new exercise plan, my way out of these 50 pounds that have crept up over the past few years. It seems that no matter what I start or how gung-ho I am in the beginning, my resolve fizzles out and I'm left holding the bag (i.e. expensive diet plans, an exercise machine, workout clothes).

I've struggled with my weight since I was eight years old. That's right about the time I started to get chubby in class pictures and noticed a difference between myself and the other girls in school. Their legs were lithe, tan, willing to spin them around the uneven bars on recess. Mine were pasty, thicker, and scared as hell to climb up on those things. I would've preferred instead to hole up under a tree and delve into the next chapter of Harriet the Spy. All while munching on a tomato sandwich on white bread, of course.

Now that I'm approaching my mid-thirties, I'm starting to realize just how much time I've wasted being overweight. I've bounced around from weighing 140 while dating unavailable men and drinking whiskey on weeknights to my current weight of *gulp* 200 pounds, which is something I never thought I'd see. I'm not happy with it, and certainly not proud of it, so I'm really desperate for a solution.

Enter my husband of 11 months, a recent addition to the fleet of letter carriers in Wichita, Kansas. He and I both have worked for the US Postal Service for more than ten years, but I've stayed in a sedentary supervisory role while he's taken to the streets, delivering mail six days a week and walking between eight and ten miles each of those days. Since he started carrying on February 25, 2012, he's lost 20 pounds. And honestly, that was 20 pounds he didn't have to lose.

My husband is 6'2". I'm 5'7". He should weigh more than me. Right now, he doesn't. That's all about to change.

I've committed myself to eating healthier, and I'm waiting on my first shipment of Body by Vi shakes to arrive. While I'm not a fan of meal replacement (I don't think it teaches you how to eat properly), I've got to jump start my weight loss. In the 20 months my husband and I have been together, I've gained 24 pounds. I'm not the girl he asked out, and I'm certainly not the girl who accepted. Back then I was exercising regularly and sticking to 1,500 calories a day.

So my food is taken care of (for now), and I've dreamed up this gimmick to shed pounds: Exercise like a letter carrier. That means I'm going to start by walking five miles a day, six days a week, for a month. After that I'll move up to seven miles a day, and then end at ten. I have these hours to spend at the Y right now and I plan on doing just that.

Come along with me on my quest to slim down and cheer up. I could use the company.

*Author's Note: This blog/workout plan is just something I've dreamed up. It is in NO WAY endorsed or created by the United States Postal Service. I just work there.