Hello, My name is Leslie and I Love Food!

I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't love food.  I love the way I feel after I eat a really good meal.  I enjoy preparing food and having people over. I like having so much food that everybody can take a plate of food home for the next day.  Along with my life long love for food, I have had a life long struggle with my weight.

This past year was a change for me in the since that I was able to loose 30 pounds and keep it off the entire year.  Most years it has been a process of dieting, losing 100 pounds and gaining it back. Of course 30 lbs was not my goal. I would have loved to lose more, but the point is that I am not going up and what I am losing I am keeping off. 

I think I have finally realized that I am never going to be one of those people that is going to write down my food every day, calorie count, count points, or exercise every day. I totally admire and respect those people, but it is just not for me. So what does that mean for me? Does that mean I just let myself eat whatever, forget about being healthy and just accept that I am likely to have a premature death. That is just not the route I want to go.

I have instead decided on a gentler approach. A plan that will work for me.  I want to take this 30 pounds that I have lost and build on it and more importantly make changes that will allow me to keep the weight that I lose off. 

The funny thing is that I have found that over the past few weeks I have become more excited than ever about cooking, having people over, and enjoying entertaining. I think I have felt like I should enjoy cooking or get excited about food because of my weight. When I was a kid I wanted to be a chef. I don't know that at 33 I am ready to break into that field, but I defiently want to try new things,experiment, and make meals that are both wonderful and healthy.

It is nice to see things from a different perspective, and look at my goal to become healthier as an adventure instead of a battle to stay out of the fridge. Sorry the fridge is going to win every time. I think at some point in our life we have to sit and look at where we are, where we want to go, and more importantly what are we WILLING to do to get there. I can read every diet book, self help book, and motivational story, but if I am not willing and excited about doing something I will never do it. It doesn't mean I won't ever do things that I would not rather do, but I atleast most days of the week need to enjoy it.

I am truly excited to see what the next 12 months bring, and I am equally excited to see what the spaquetti I have cooking in the crock pot tastes like :)