Today marks one year since I sat down, decided I was unhappy with my body, and started taking steps to actively lose weight. Years of “oh, I’ll offset X with a salad tomorrow” had proven that approach ineffective, and with my daughter on the way, I decided it was time to stop being passive about my efforts.
I started tracking my meals and activity on MyFitnessPal; after a month or so (and weighing in at 12lbs less than when I started), I wrote a blog post, On Weight Loss, about what I had learned in the first month. It was an extremely personal post for me, but it also helped to keep me accountable throughout the rest of the year. I also received a lot of great words of encouragement, both on the post and through other channels, from both friends and total strangers alike.