My decade in review - 2004. Also, my Weight Watchers story

I keep forgetting things! I guess that is what happens. This was 6 years ago. (Ack!)


To begin 2004 I have to give you some back story.

I was one of those college freshmen who discovered a whole new way of eating when I got to the dorms. All of a sudden there was JUICE (we drank a lot of water at home) and doughnuts and tater-tots and pizza EVERY day. I had a rather warped idea about exercise (a 1990's entry) and decided not to exercise at all (besides walking to and from class). So I gained 30 pounds those first few years.

In August of 2003 I was busy unpacking while Bill was at his 2 weeks. We had moved without any physical injury. One day I bent over to pick up my purse and - yanked my lower back muscles. This isn't something new. This has been happening to me since I was 14. I've even competed at a regional (high school) gymnastics competition on beam and vault with a pulled muscle - just loaded up on Ibuprophen, but this is also part of the 1990's so....moving forward. Pulled another back muscle. After 8 weeks of trying to recover I went into the doctor to get it checked out - since I'd never had the healing process take quite so long. There was nothing "wrong" (other then the fact I had a pulled muscle) but she did say "I don't know where you put it, but you can't carry that kind of weight around." Needless to say I became one of the only 20 somethings on campus with the absolute necessity to have a roller backpack. By the end of 2003 - the pain had gone away, but not the problem.

At the beginning of 2004 I decided to take the aerobics class on campus. I went every day for a month and did step-aerobics, kickboxing, cardio dance - whatever aerobic stuff they had. After a few weeks I started developing shin splints (another gymnastics problem) I was being so hard on my legs. So I had to start doing yoga or pilates a couple times a week to balance all the pounding. Interestingly enough, that was when I began to lose weight. I did not lose very fast (Those Biggest Loser people don't know what they are talking about when they think they haven't lost fast) 5 pounds in 3 months.

I had a class with my friend Alison - who I hadn't seen for a few months -she looked fabulous! She had lost weight with weight watchers so I decided to give it a try. Carolyn and Karen and Toni took excellent care of me. I lost 5 pounds those first 2 WEEKS.

So 2004 was a mixture of Weight Watchers, school, and being newly married. My step-sister graduated high school! Bill went to his 2 weeks - where we learned a 2005 deployment was likely.

The fall of 2004 I reached my goal weight and become a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. Bill's unit trained like mad-men (every weekend for like 2 months) to prepare for upcoming deployment. I was a bridesmaid in Jessica's wedding. In December I graduated from college!

Wow - looking back - that was a HUGE end-of-year....