Where was I?

Oh yeah, I was on a bit of a tangent there!  I do think health, activity and nutrition need to be part of our curriculum at every age.

It is mind-boggling to me that I had no idea how to read a nutrition label until I joined Weight Watchers at the age of 33.  And even then, I was only taught how to look at calories, fat and fiber.  Well, what about all of the other nutritional contents?  I'm still not sure how much sodium I should be consuming nor how much I am actually consuming on a daily basis.  Even my basic understanding of a calorie (KCal) is confusing.  No wonder we don't have the first clue as to what we are doing to our bodies!

So, back to my introduction.  I made it through my 20's at a healthy weight, but again, I never felt that way.  No matter what the number on the scale was, I always wanted to be 10 pounds less.  Why do we ("I") fixate on the number on the scale and then judge myself so harshly?  Does it really matter?  How is it benefiting me?  Here's the answer - it doesn't.  It will never be the right number and I will always feel like I am failing.

The end of my 20's brought marriage which equaled cooking & eating more and ultimately gaining weight.  I was still very active and had the mindset that if you wanted to lose weight, you just had to exercise and exercise more!  I had no idea that I should also be focusing on what I was eating and the portion size of what I was eating.  Then I got pregnant...woo hoo, I'm eating for two!  And apparently we are two adults as I probably more than doubled the number of calories I was consuming.  It was so sad to learn that when my little 7 pound baby was born, he decided to leave the rest of the 40 pounds I had gained for him!  Some nerve!  Oh, but don't worry - breast feeding your baby will make the extra weight just fall away...I was still waiting for it to take leave of some 18 months later and guess what, it didn't!!  I think the extra 55 pounds I was walking around with was awfully comfortable and in no hurry to be lost.  I'm sure it had nothing to do with what I was eating...right?