The beginning....My introduction

Hi!!
My name is Marsha and I'm on my way to being PHATABULOUS!!! I've heard the term P-H-A-T for some time now and for some it stands for Pretty Hot And Tempting. In Wikipedia, I saw a phrase I like... Perfect Hips And Thighs. Yep....I like that better and that where I'm headed.

This is my journey to ONE-derland. I've been part of the 200+ club for wayyyy too long and before I even THINK about getting comfortable here, I need to put a plan into place, so here I go!!

A little bit about myself. I'm Marsha from NC. I'm a 35 year old mother of two children, a 14 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. I work full time and in August I will be starting grad school to obtain my Masters of Social Work degree. I am really excited about that.

My family is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and Trinidadian cuisine is known for it's fatty meats and starches. A typical meal for me growing up could be was oxtails with peas and rice and callaloo, cowheel soup, curry chicken, curry goat, souse, macaroni pie, provisions, salads, black cake, soursop ice cream....the list goes on and on.
Of course these items were not eaten all at once, but you know what I'm saying.

Growing up I was always slim and always ate a lot because I kept moving. My metabolism was out of this world.

During high school, I remember there was a deli my classmates and I frequently went to for breakfast. The breakfast of champions for us was a bagel with cream cheese and bacon and a Snapple iced tea to wash it down. And YES, I stayed slim. People commented to me all the time how much I ate and how they were envious of my frame.

After high school I joined the Navy where I continued to eat what I wanted to but I was exercising daily, so there was no weight that came on.
When I went into the military I was 150 pounds. I am 5'10 so people usually told me it did not look like I weighed "that much."
My son was born in Key West Florida and at the time I did not have a car. I bought a bike and rode it back and forth to work which meant I spent 60-90 minutes per day doing cardio. The weight came off very quickly.

Once I got to the end of my obligated service, I moved to NC and progressively through the years the weight has come on a little bit at a time.
am now at a point where I weight 236, but people still say "you don't look like you weigh that much." I know that because I am tall the weight is distributed, but this is an unhealthy weight for me. I know that my eating habits are not healthy and what I must do is have a complete lifestyle change, not simply follow a diet for the rest of my life.

I'm what people would call a serial fad dieter. Everytime a new diet book comes out, I'm there. Dr. Atkins, Dr. Ian Smith, South Beach, Body for Life, The Zone....all of these books have sat on my shelf because the cravings for "regular" food are out of this world. Now, I understand that those plans have worked for some, it's just not for me.

Also, because I have two children, with those plans I would still subject myself to temptations.

This blog will definitely help me because I will have a sense of accountability because well sheesh...the whole world is watching right :)

So that's it. I will be posting daily, updating you on menus, moods, random thoughts, politics, humor, etc.

It's the beginning of the rest of my life to living PHATABULOUS!! I hope you come along for this ride with me.