I started a weight loss journey because I needed to Take Back Kate. I didn’t recognize the woman staring back at me in the mirror. I actually did everything I could to avoid mirrors. It was past time to change that. I didn’t want the first thing someone noticed about me to be my size anymore. I didn’t want to be defined by my weight.

I hadn’t always been overweight. (Actually, I think at one point I was classified as “morbidly obese”. Stupid BMI.) I had been pretty average weight-wise growing up. I was athletic. I liked working out and lifting heavy. I played field hockey and basketball for over a decade. I liked walking and hiking. 

… But I loved eating. And portion control was not a concept in my book.

Needless to say, my 60 pound weight gain in less than 3 years was expected. 

It was due to a combination of many things and ultimately, I’m the only one to blame. 

I can sit here and blame it on:

• Trying to juggle too much senior year of college and making poor eating choices 
• Getting my first big girl job that required a 100-mile-a-day commute, so to make myself less miserable, I’d get takeout for breakfast (McDonald’s or Starbucks), work cafeteria for lunch, work cafeteria for the 2 PM chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven, and then a pit stop for a sugary iced coffee and donut from Dunkin’ for the 90 minute commute home 
• Moving to a new city to have a shorter commute to work and not having a great roommate experience so I’d work 7 days a week between two jobs to avoid being home, which resulted in almost all of my meals being takeout
• Getting my own apartment in a city where all you could see for miles were restaurants that delivered 
• Being in an on-again-off-again relationship with the same guy for three and a half years
• Breaking my ankle in January 2020 and then spraining the same ankle in August 2020 and spending eight weeks non-weight bearing and relying on takeout and quick meals
• COVID… ’nuff said!
• Moving again and being sad about the weight gain from my ankle injuries and self-medicating with food 

Should I keep going? Because I can! What’s the common trend? Using food to cope with life. Unhealthy… I know that. I knew that then, too, but I almost didn’t care enough to change my habits.

Don’t get me wrong, I was always trying some new diet but nothing ever stuck. I lost and gained the same 20 pounds over and over again starting in 2018. How is that healthy? It’s not. 

I was sick of feeling like I needed to hide. I felt like an embarrassment in so many ways. I had lost so many years to my weight gain and I didn’t want to waste more (I’ll talk about this more in another post). I was thrilled when I spoke at an alumni panel and had to wear a mask so no one could really see how big my face had gotten since college.

My health was declining, too. I had sleep apnea. My acid reflux was awful. I was at a higher risk for blood clots after breaking/spraining my ankle. I was out of breath going up the stairs to my apartment (only 2 flights!). I had no energy. I was barely working out. My acne was horrific. My eating habits did not help my new IBD diagnosis either. We had a difficult time getting my flare under control (I’m talking months of being sick with no reprieve).

I’m down 71 pounds now. It took me 18 months to lose 25 pounds. (This is phenomenal, please don’t get me wrong! I’ll talk about this in another post, too.) I’ve lost the other ~46 pounds with my fitness & nutrition coach, Steff Marko-Wood, at Total Fitness & Nutrition since September 2023. I haven’t quite reached the physique I want yet. (Belly fat is so stubborn!) This is another reason why I started the blog. I want to achieve maintenance and hold myself accountable. I don’t want another 60 pound weight gain to derail my life again.

My next blog post will be all about how I’m losing the weight with Steff, so stay tuned!

How about you? Are you on a weight loss journey?

See you on Tuesday!
~ K