Here we go...

OK, I've never been a blogger. I've never felt that the world either needed to hear or cared what I think about anything. So this is weird for me.

That said, typed, whatever, I have begun a new venture, which, for me, is big. Really big. It's called Kayla on Weight Watchers. Yes, I know I've tried it before. But that was online, with no accountability, and frankly, no real motivation. This time, I've joined a meeting and I have a good friend there with me to keep me honest.

So why, you ask, am I blogging about such a mundane, boring topic? Well, I don't know. But I know I felt led to share my adventures in weight loss with you, the reader, and maybe as we go we'll figure out what the point was.

So. I guess I need to start out by telling you a little about me. I've always, and I mean ALWAYS, struggled with my weight. One of my most vivid memories is second grade, sitting in the bleachers in the old Pendleton Elementary School gym during PE class, when Coach Hamilton was, for some reason, calling out the students' weights. Everyone else was normal or thereabouts, around 50-something pounds or more...and then he called out, "Katie Landreth-47!" And the whole lot of them burst into laughter. Throughout my childhood I was scrawny, significantly underweight. I was just one of those kids who could not gain weight no matter what I did.

Fast forward to high school...here I am again, 80 something pounds.  I looked like a skeleton. I was healthy as a horse, but everyone assumed I was anorexic. I wasn't. We tried everything, from meal supplements to birth control pills, to try to put some weight on me. When I got married at 19, my wedding dress was a size 2...and we had to take it in!

Well, they say there's something about signing that marriage license...and slowly but surely, my weight began to normalize. Within two years of marriage, I hit triple digits for the first time. We actually celebrated my weight gain! But then, slowly but surely, it kept creeping up. I was so used to just eating whatever whenever that I never noticed when my metabolism started slowing. And sure enough, it caught up...with interest!

At the age of 23, at a very healthy 140 lbs, I was diagnosed with very high cholesterol. It is inherited, and not really related to my diet. I'm supposed to be on 20 mg of Crestor a day, but I'm not because I don't have insurance and can't afford the meds. When I started college at 25, I was still around 145. Still quite healthy. Then one day sometime during my first two years at Emmanuel, I was killing time between classes and went shopping in the local Rite Aid there in Royston. I stepped up on a scale at the back of the store and was shocked to find that I weighed 155 lbs...I was now OVER weight. I didn't worry too much about it, though, and I certainly didn't consider trying to lose. I just went on with life as I knew it.

Then I got pregnant. At my first appointment, I was at 158. And I stayed there until my 3rd trimester. I ended up only gaining 16 lbs during my pregnancy and because I nursed my son, I lost it all within 3 weeks of giving birth. But it came back.

And it brought friends.

I've tried everything. South Beach, Weight Watchers online. Nothing worked. Until one day I started thinking...I'm supposed to be a follower of Jesus. Well, ok. What would Jesus do? Would He pig out at every meal, knowing it was harming His body? Nope. It says in the Bible that because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our bodies are temples of Christ. Would you throw slime and gunk all over the pulpit of your local church? Would you spray paint the walls of the baptismal? No? Then why are you treating the temple of Christ with even less respect than that?

So. I'm the temple. Ok. Now what?

So I was talking to my friend who has been doing Weight Watchers since January and has lost 20 lbs so far. I asked her if she would be my accountability partner and help me do this once and for all. I have to get healthier. I have a husband and a son who love me, and I need to be here for them.

So, are you with me? Here we go!