You are what you eat.

This year I made a decision to get healthier. I hated the way that I looked in pictures and I was starting to have knee pain and feeling tired all of the time. I had tried so many diets and had failed so many times because they weren't things that you could stick to your entire life. I had convinced myself that I just couldn't lose weight.

Then I started keeping a food diary and counting all the calories that I would intake for a day. By doing that and getting a moderate amount of exercise I have lost around 60 pounds since the beginning of this year. Do you want to know a secret- (it wasn't even that difficult!). Now, I'm not talking about all of the claims that are out there that say- 'eat anything you want, don't exercise and lose weight!'. Yeah, I just don't believe that first, and second I think there may be some things that will cause temporary weight loss but they may not be healthy and they may not "stick". I've gotten so used to eating 1200 calories a day I don't really even think about it anymore. I don't have to be on a "special" diet, I can go out with friends and if I'm not perfect that's o.k. For me, looking at numbers (the calories) makes it so much easier than just saying, "don't ever eat this". I'm not good with absolutes I guess. Haha.

I like to browse the internet for recipes, articles, and advice. I was reading this health blog today and I found an interesting post on the correlation between food and breast cancer. This interests me because my mother is a breast cancer survivor and I've had three aunts who had the disease (one who is still fighting and two who lost the battle). So I think I'm probably pretty high risk. I found out in December that obesity can be a contributing factor for cancer. I think that was one of the reasons for my decision to get healthier (that and heart disease also runs in our family). Anyway, I was reading this article on breast cancer prevention and found out that they believe that a large amount of carbohydrates may contribute to breast cancer! Wow, that is crazy and also a little sad. I love my carbs. I tried the Atkins diet once and that was miserable for me. Hopefully since I limit my caloric intake now and also try to eat balanced my carb intake won't be too bad. This post also talked of a study where women who had the highest level of physical activity were the least likely to die from breast cancer. I have been thinking about buying a couple of tennis rackets and learning to play tennis. Maybe now would be a good time!