Welcome to Shrinking Cajun

This is my first official post of my new blog. I am a cajun living in South Louisiana, and this is my weight loss journey. This can be a challenge in itself living in an area that lives to eat! I really wished I would have started this blog from the beginning of my journey, but better late than never. I started my journey at the very end of August in 2009. I was thin in high school and even in college. I really didn't start gaining weight until 1997. I met my husband, and basically got lazy. There were some emotional reasons as well, but I will get into that on another post. I slowly gained weight and weighed a little over 200 pounds when I married my husband in 1998. I kept gaining, and was at 230 when I got pregnant with my first son. It didn't stop there but I was able to maintain for a couple of years and maybe even lost a few pounds. I didn't really pack on the weight until after we lost our second son. I got so depressed that I turned to food for comfort. I just stopped caring about myself.

Fast forward 6 years later where I finally turned a corner. I have tried several times during that time to lose weight like Atkins but I literally got sick on that diet. Each attempt always ended the same with me quitting after having lost some weight. I would go back to my old habits and pack on more weight. There are several reasons how I reached the point of sticking with it and not quitting. I really don't want to get into all that in this post, and have saved those reasons for a future post. The main thing was I wanted to be a better person for my son. I had to get my act together so I could help him.

I first started losing weight by not drinking soft drinks. Then I switched to eating whole grains and ditching refined white grains. I incorporated regular exercise a couple months later which gave me more motivation and energy. By taking small baby steps, I have been able to lose 100 pounds and keep it off 18 months later. I plan on sharing my success as well as what didn't work for me. I have reviews I want to do of exercise programs, diet tips, equipment and much more. I still have about 30-40 pounds to lose and have stalled for the last 4-5 months. I haven't had any loose skin by losing slowly. I am getting a little frustrated as to why I am still at this plateau. I'm excited to get this blog going. I am looking forward to hearing from others with their stories as well as share mine. Thanks for reading and I promise to add new material often.