Leana's last 5lbs: My story.

I have struggled with weight for as long as I can remember. Even though I was an active child always running around and playing, I was still the “chubby” kid. As a teenager, I would think how unfair it was that my friends could eat junk food and stay skinny, yet I would eat it and see the scale climb up. I first started dieting when I was 17, and for the next 6 years I would try every diet I could think of. My weight would go down 20-30lbsand then back up 40-50lbs. But on March 17, 2009, age 23, weighing in at 259lbs, I decided to take control of my life.

I started to focus on small changes in my diet, like not eating carbs at dinner time, and trying to eat a lean cuisine everyday at lunch. I went to the gym more frequently, and working harder when I was there. I love the way going to the gym and eating healthymakes you feel, but despite how great that feeling is, it’s still easy to fall into a slump. Iwould work out consistently and eat right, then all of a sudden fall off the wagon. That cycle repeats its self often, it’s been 4 years and I still do this. Weight control is something that will always be a battle for me. But when I started this journey, I came up with a theory, and it has been something I have lived by for the past 4 years, “You'll never fail if you never give up.” Every time I go off track, that saying gets me right back on track.

When I started my weight loss journey I thought I would lose a 100lbs in a year. Its over 4 years later and I weigh, 169lbs, exactly 90lbs loss since the start. I still haven’t reached that weight, but I still haven’t given up and now I am closer than ever, and look and feel better than I ever have. I will be the first to admit I am not the healthiest Icould be. I love greasy takeout food, sweets, beer, wine… all the foods that our “unhealthy’for you, but somewhere along the way I have learned to manage it. This blog will be about the ways I have learned to manage my weight, try and find ways to be healthy and most importantly maintain happiness through it all.