Hello, Hello, Hello!
Well most of you have probably met me in the comments of your posts, but now I’ve been invited to become an official member and I can write proper posts to my heart’s content 
. So here I go…
Hi, I’m Debs. I’m 24 and I live in Walthamstow which is North East London (and at the end of the Victoria Line on the London Underground, just in case any of you ever come to London and want to come visit. That’d be so cool!).
I’d say I’ve been overweight, or just downright FAT most of my life. I can remember at school one time, I must have been about 8, we were making these passport things which included stats like height and weight. I distinctly remember knocking some off my weight just because I was embarrassed about it. I was embarrassed and hated the way I look, but I’ve never really been able to stick to any sort of dieting plan. I’m the fat girl that would listen to my stick thin friends complaining about how fat they thought they were, and think “you’re not fat, I’m the fat one”, but not know how to deal with it.
One of my problems is that I comfort eat. I hate the way I am, but instead of doing something about it, I just stuff my face with more junk. I think one of the great things about OWOA is that I’m beginning to, very slowly, change my mindset and take control of the negative way of thinking. You ladies have introduced me to a fantastic alternative and I’m striving to try to live it out.
Ummm, Blest suggested saying a little bit more about me and what I am\do etc. Well, it would take an awful long post even to scratch the surface of all the changes that have taken place in the last couple of years, but I’ll try to keep it brief….
I love kids and they love me. For about forever I’ve known that I wanted to work with them (and maybe have some one day - a few minor details need to fall into place before that one though!). The obvious choice seemed to be being a primary school teacher. I went to university and did my degree and then my one year PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate of Education that qualifies you to be a teacher). Actually I didn’t finish the PGCE - I was on my re-take of my final placement in September 2005 when I finally woke up to the fact that it would be ok to not be a teacher. I didn’t have to continue stressing myself out and making myself ill. I could just stop and leave the course. So after much discussion and prayer I did just that. God had his hand on my life, however, and the school I was in offered me a job (which ended up lasting the whole school year). I also did several other jobs (see a post I wrote on my blog for more info on God’s hand on my life)
This summer (2006) that job (working one-to-one supporting a boy with various ’special needs’ including being on the autistic spectrum and being French - so having to learn English) came to an end and I moved back home to London to live with my parents. I didn’t have a job, but I’d decided that I needed to do something about my weight. It was around that time that I started reading Blest’s site and also going across to the original OWOA site. God was so in control of my life! 
Since then I’ve got a couple of jobs - childminding a 16 month old boy, and for the last 3 weeks working in a primary school (5-11 yr olds), again one-to-one with a couple of different people (one in the morning the other in the afternoon before anyone asks how you can work one-to-one with 2 people).
Sorry, this has got really long, but I kinda wanted people to know a bit about me and where I’m coming from (quite literally!). I’ve got two sisters, one (Bekki, 27) who now lives and works in Cambridge (which is where I was at university and lived last year) so I can keep my links there. Hannah who is 19 is at university down in Exeter in Devon. (Sorry if these place names don’t mean anything to you!)
Finally, I wanted to mention that I’ve got two blogs. The one linked to on the sidebar is my weight-loss journey, and the other one is called It’s My Life and is all the other general stuff. Please pay me a vist sometime
Oh, finally finally, I started this journey weighing 21 stone (294 pounds) and I’m aiming to lose one third of my bodyweight (at least) to get down to 14 stone (196 pounds). So 100 pounds\one third of my current body. Guys, I hope you’re gonna be around a while, cos I’m really gonna need you
(And I’m new to this wordpress thing, so hopefully this post will turn out right)
)…
, then you still have four days to get a move on! For our purposes, a week starts on Monday and runs through Sunday. Come Monday, you will be telling your team leader how many days you were moving and a’groovin, and they will relay that info to me. 
Every week I’ll announce the winning by Wednesday. Maybe we’ll even add something cute to the sidebar showing which team is winning… For now the only prize will be bragging rights and better health, but I’m thinking of offering a prize for the overall winners come the end of the year. 
Debs,
How about cucumbers? Hard-boiled egg? Tart apple? Mandarin oranges? Radishes or green onion?
Wraps are easy and quick for lunch. Not low-carb though… sorry. How ’bout soup? Tuna, chicken, or egg salad without the bread, maybe with a side of yogurt?
That’s all I got for now.
Comment by lady laura — November 3, 2006 @ 11:30 am
I love adding some type of bean to my salads. Chickpeas or garbonzo beans are very nutricious. A lowfat cheese can add some great flavor. I also like to add beets. They are good for you too, though some diets won’t allow them. The best salad that I had at a resturant has tomato, beets, chickpeas, red onion and a vinigrete dressing. They also have rolls swimming in garlic butter, but I won’t go there or else I will get WHOMPed again. I promise I rarely eat the rolls. I promise, blest. Cross my heart and hope to die.
Comment by Leigh Ann — November 3, 2006 @ 12:04 pm
Oh, yeah. I forgot about beans. I like to do that too. Red kidney beans, rinsed of course, are tasty also.
Comment by lady laura — November 3, 2006 @ 12:15 pm
Oooh yeah, I love chick peas and beans. Thanks guys - part of the problem is having things to think of putting in. Maybe I’ll make a list of all these ideas and stick it up in the kitchen for when i’m feeling stuck
Comment by Debs — November 3, 2006 @ 1:20 pm