Well I went to my old Weight Watchers meeting this morning and I think it confirmed what the majority of my blog is going to be about. Let me explain. 

I used to weigh almost 80 more pounds than I do now.  Like many of us struggling with weight, through the years I've spent many a fruitless dollar at Weight Watchers.  When I finally figured out that the very act of dieting (deprivation, obsessively tracking intake, weight) was fueling what turned out to be an underlying eating disorder, I quit dieting all together.  I learned through Geneen Roth , Evelyn Tribole and various other intuitive eating experts that when you legalize all food, it loses its power over you.   I tried that and low and behold, with very little struggle I lost 70 pounds in less than a year.

After suffering the culture shock of a cross country move I went into hibernation for a while and packed on a few pounds.  Yes I know that animals put on their weight BEFORE they go into hibernation but I didn't read the manual so....   Anyway,  I thought Weight Watchers would get me back "on track" and be a good way to meet people so I joined up.  Twenty pounds and a Lifetime membership later, I am now a rock star every time I walk into that meeting. 

Apparently I've reached mini legend status because even though I am rarely there, our fabulous leader talks about me and uses my anecdotes all the time.    Every time I show up at a meeting (which isn't very often I confess), she goes "remember that story the I told you about such and such?  Well this is the girl I was talking about!!" After the meetings everyone gathers around and asks me questions.

They are all so sweet and it's a great ego boost but I walk a fine line when I'm there because I now follow a Paleo/Primal diet so I have to be a bit vague in the answers and the advice I give.  Really, Paleo/Primal is like Weight Watchers Core/Simply Filling foods plan without the grains and tubers but I don't want to disrespect our Leader or the program so I am careful.  I only go there occasionally for the accountability.  Something about maintaining my Lifetime Membership status keeps me in line and after this very indulgent holiday season I needed a little nudge.

ANYWAY, I told you all that to tell you this.  When I came home I was on such a high from talking to everybody about this stuff.  I could have stayed there for hours.  I realized that my favorite subject in any given arena is nutrition and fitness.  It is my primary topic of interest, study and conversation so it is only natural that it be the focus of my blog. 

I started late in all of this (late 30s) so I also, by default have expertise through experience in the area of getting fit after 40.  I think that might explain my Weight Watchers rock star status because the average age of my meeting is the over 40 set. 

Now I know you can't swing a cat without hitting (I love that old saying) a "fitness" site on the web but my journey isn't exactly conventional so this might be a good place to answer some of the questions I get about what I do. Hopefully I can also gain some tips and knowledge from the experts in passing.

So there you are.  I am another step closer to putting some focus on my ramblings.  Bare with me, I'll get there.

Well, it's January 1st and I've been contemplating starting this blog for over a year now.   I joined Blogger in August of 2010, wrote a few posts and refused to publish them. 

You see, that's the rub.  I write fairly regularly on forums with like minded people but publishing my thoughts for all the world to see...now that's another story.  Who will read it?  What will they think of it, of me?  Well it's the New Year's Day.  A time for hope, promises and going out on a limb so here I go. 

I don't really know anything about the language and/or etiquette of blogging.   I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to write about and I've not even figured out how to design the blog properly yet but I have a feeling that if I don't publish something today, I never will so please accept this insane rambling as my first post and welcome to my blog (end run on sentence here :).