I like to cook. I love to eat. I like working out alright. Although I've been overweight ever since I left University, I've found ways to be active and maintain a healthy, fit-ish chubbiness that gave me a good balance between having good self-esteem about my body while not feeling deprived. I learned quickly in my late twenties that calorie counting diets were not mentally healthy for me - they made me miserable and put all my focus on every little thing I was eating or thinking about eating. For many years I instead chose to simply keep active enough that I could eat the foods that I liked and stay at my softly curved 160lbs. On my 5'5" frame it was a plateau that I could deal with. I liked (and like) my body just fine - I could walk all day, help you carry a sofa upstairs, touch my toes, I was content.

Three years ago I discovered and fell in love with roller derby. I fell hard for the sport and I got in great shape, fast. For the first year I could eat whatever I wanted and my body loved derby. The second year I noticed I should probably be a bit more careful with my food, as the muscle gain slowed down and my cardio improved enough that only changing things around a bit was going to keep me steady. I finally made a team last March and what an interesting year that has been for my body. To cut a long year of questionable choices into a short story - I found myself pushing 180lbs on the scale and figured there was really no excuse for me. I took our winter hiatus very seriously this year and I am now into my late thirties - that combined with an increasingly lax attitude to proper nutrition meant I needed to made a decisive change in my eating.

I know where my weaknesses are but dieting always made me stressed and anxious, I would really rather stay heavy than feel like that all the time. However, my mum had good results with Weight Watchers in the past, and when a friend tried it and seemed to be doing well on it, I gave it a look. And so here's my blog.