No more excuses

Wow, here I am, posting my first blog entry! Welcome! Before I ramble on, let me regale you with a short history lesson:

Gina and I have been friends since we were five or six years old. We used to race bikes through the neighborhood, roller blade around her basement to our favorite songs, and play cops and robbers with the other kids on our block till we passed out. In fact, we were all quite inseparable. Between drenching each other mercilessly with water guns in the summer heat and constructing fantastic igloos together in the dead of winter, the lot of us basically had the picture perfect suburban childhood. It's truly amazing that all these years later, we neighborhood kids are just as much the tightly-knit family we were back then.

Let me get to the point... Gina and I both came from the same place. We used to be wild, free, happy, healthy, and active. The question I want to raise now for the purpose of introducing this blog is, "What the HELL happened?"

I wish I had the answer. What really kills me is the photographic evidence that chronicles every step of my downward spiral into unattractive pudginess. I was a cute kid! Well, I guess some would say that I'm still a kid (I'm 22.) But over the past four years or so, my college years, I have allowed myself a lifestyle of binge eating, binge drinking, recklessness, and foolishness that has led to an undesirable figure and a worsening fear that I may never recover my health.

I feel as though my behavior is deemed socially acceptable by any college campus in this country, but the truth is, there's no excuse for it. None. Oh, hey you back there, you think you have an excuse for putting on the freshman 15+? No, that's not an excuse either. None of us have one. And it's time for me to own up to that. Gina and I, the great friends and sisters that we are, decided to throw off our shackles and reclaim our happiness together. If (and WHEN) we reach our goal weights, we are taking a long-overdue vacation together in.... drumroll please.... you guessed it, ITALY!

Here is my plan: I pledge to count calories, or at least use them as a guideline (I don't want to be eating much more than 1400 calories per day). I pledge to eat fruit instead of sweets. I pledge to eat whole grain and whole wheat instead of white breads and pastas. I pledge to forget about potatoes, regardless of my undying love for cheese fries. I pledge to drink LOTS of water. I pledge to work out with Gina three days a week this summer, and go to the gym with my mom in the morning when I can. I pledge to lose 40 pounds and have a rockin' body for those flawless Italian beaches.

I pledge to blog like it's my job.

No more excuses. I deserve to be happy and healthy, and I want my positive sense of self back... and I want to do it now, while I'm still young! This blog will serve as my diary every step of the way, and I invite you, dear reader, to follow along. It's gonna be an interesting ride.

So before I pass out, let me share my accomplishments on Day One of our adventure:

I burned 163 calories on the elliptical (not much, but since I NEVER work out, this was a strong start for me!) I had yogurt with fruit and granola and a hard boiled egg (without salt!) for breakfast, didn't have a chance for lunch since we were running errands (whoops), had an apple to hold me over, then ate half an enormous chicken caesar salad smothered in what's sure to be fattening dressing. I won't order salads from that place again, I assure you. But when all is said and done, and after consulting acaloriecounter.com, I didn't exceed my limit for today. Score.

Three things I'm thankful for today:

-Gina for being brave and taking this journey with me... I couldn't do it without her!
-My mother for supporting my decision to be healthy and taking me to her gym this morning
-blogger.com for having a KILLER website... you guys blow LJ out of the water, no lie!