The Freshman 29

My Story
When I was younger, I was as skinny as could be. My mom always said, “Most people live to eat. Jacki eats to live.” I just had no interest in food... except for M&Ms. I loved M&Ms. I remember accompanying my sister to her nutritionist once, and I came with an XXL bag of M&Ms in hand. The nutritionist told me it would catch up with me. I laughed it off, thinking the man was crazy.

Once high school hit, I started to fill out and gained some curves. I was completely comfortable with how I looked. Then I went to college. You know the freshman 15? Well, I decided to take part in a new phenomenon, the Freshman 29. Yes, freshman year alone, I gained 29 pounds (at 4’11’’). It was too easy. My friends and I would sit in the dining hall on weekends for lunch, and gossip and laugh until dinner hit. We’d be in the dining hall for hours sometimes, not even realizing how much time had passed, or how many times we’d refilled our trays. This continued throughout four years of college.

I could barely fit into my jeans but I refused to buy a bigger size. So basically, I looked pretty terrible in all my jeans. Once I was going out with a guy friend to the movies and he drove a Jeep. I went to step up into the front seat, and the back of my pants completely ripped, right there in front of him.

I did want to lose weight; I just wasn’t sure how to get started. A few years after college, my sister, who was already tiny, joined Weight Watchers. She lost 12 pounds in about two months. A month later, I was sitting with my good friend at Starbucks, saying how badly I wanted to lose weight, but I didn’t know how. I was fed up with feeling uncomfortable. I hated the way I looked in pictures. My friend told me that her sister went on Weight Watchers after having a baby. I had recently seen her sister, and she looked great.

A light went off during that coffee date, so when my boyfriend came home that night, we sat down and I told him I needed him on board with me. There was no way I could lose weight if he’d be bringing home pizza and making risotto at night. Also wanting to lose weight, my boyfriend agreed. Having his support made my decision to sign up for Weight Watchers even easier.

I learned with Weight Watchers that I could continue to eat some of my favorite foods as long as I started paying attention to portion size. When we used to make spaghetti at night, we’d make one box for the two of us... and finish it! Learning that one cup of pasta was a full portion was shocking to me, but it really changed my eating habits. After I lost my first two pounds, I was so excited that I joined a gym. Prior to this, I had never been to a gym in my life, and all of a sudden I couldn’t dream of not going. I went 3 to 5 times a week riding the bike for 30 minutes and sometimes doing arm weights--sometimes I’d even wake up early before work to go to the gym, which says a lot for someone who is not a morning person!

I started in April, and by July I had lost eight pounds. The weight loss wasn’t as fast as I wanted, but for the first time, I fit into a size 4 pair of pants. I almost cried of happiness in the dressing room. Unfortunately, July means July Fourth, and that’s when I fell off the wagon…. slowly I stopped recording any points at all. Luckily, the idea of portion size was still ingrained in me, so for the next few months I didn’t gain any weight back, but I didn’t lose any either. I also stopped going to the gym.

Then one day in September, I stepped on the scale and noticed I had lost a pound for a total weight loss of about 15 pounds. It gave me the confidence that I could lose weight again, so that day, I started to record my points again. I haven’t been as diligent as I was in the past, and I also haven’t gone back to the gym, but last week my friend got engaged and asked me to be a bridesmaid, which apparently, is all the new motivation I needed. I’m now back on Weight Watchers full-time and plan to start going back to the gym next week. We’re going dress shopping in a month, and I hope to lose another 2 to 4 pounds by then. It’s going to be hard because of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I have to keep reminding myself that from my past experience, it’s possible!

Editor's note: Do you have a weight-loss success story of your own? If you've lost weight or are in the process of losing weight, email editor.neversaydiet@nbcuni.com with "Weight-Loss Success Story" in the subject line and tell us your story. You may be featured on NeverSayDiet.com!