Weigh-In day!!

Hello all -

Welcome to my biggest loser blog! My school nurses office at Collingswood High School decided to hold a contest for the new year to help people stick to their annual weight loss goals in a community setting with some good-spirited competition. I enjoy writing and think doing so in a public forum may aid me in keeping to my goals. My hopes are to share tips, progress and stories that may help others in the competition to stick to their goals, get some advice and provide some feedback. I'll post my % weight lost through each week but I'll avoid posting my actual weight since this is public!!

A little about me and my weight first. I have see-sawed more than Oprah in the past decade! In high school I was very active, playing football, wrestling and lifting weights and running through the spring and summer. I weighed about 175 through football season. During wrestling I was anywhere between 150 and 171. I stayed active in the beginning of college until I had a lot of lower back pain and discovered that I had actually fractured 2 vertebrae, most likely during my senior year of football. I hit a huge lull then and started to put on weight. Since that time about 7 years ago, I have gone through many ups and downs, the most successful of which was 3 years ago when I lost about 40 pounds and trained for a 5k with my father and 2 brothers (I took 1st place!). A year later I still beat my dad and brothers, but barely. Last year my brothers beat me and I only edged out my dad by 30 seconds!! I didnt even run this year.....:( I am active in coaching - I coach wrestling at Audubon High School after 3 years of coaching at Old Bridge High School. Wrestling is a HUGE passion of mine and I luckily edge out the kids in the room because of my experience and knowledge (and the fact that I can sit on the side and call time out when my lungs feel like someone just lit them on fire!!) - but I hate being out of shape with them - its hard to preach to serious athletes when you are not in decent shape yourself!

I know I am so much more productive and happy when I weigh less - I have so much more energy and can enjoy life a lot more. Looking forward to the next 10 weeks!!