I have officially joined the world of blogging...

I decided to enter to enter this crazy world of blogging...one that I have often wondered who reads these things and why would anyone care what I have to say??  I have a facebook account which I update occasionally, but have never felt the need to waste other people's time with what I am doing every minute of the day.  I do not have any current photos of myself on there & have even untagged recent photos submitted by others!  I just can't bring myself to show those who knew me 25+ years ago what I look like today!  Those who see me on a day-to-day basis or see me when I visit my hometown view the reality, but I will let the others see my children and/or old photos of me from "back-in-the-day".

For the past 2 years, I have worked out with a personal trainer (SPUF) 3 times a week.  I am definitely stronger & have lost a few pounds, but I am still have not been able to tackle this overwhelming amount of weight that I need to lose.  I realized (& others agree) that I need to get out of my environment & relearn how to take care of myself.  If I continue like I have been, my current age of 45 will be well past the half way point of my life!  This is why in less than two months, I will be visiting the Biggest Loser Ranch at Fitness Ridge in Utah for a month.  Bottom line...I'm leaving my family for 4 weeks in order to extend my life!  I want to set a good example for my children & be around to meet my future grandchildren (but not anytime soon!).

The whole idea of sharing nitty gritty details of my life with the world thru a blog quite frankly scares me!  Most people who know me now would be quite surprised to learn that I actually went to a Biggest Loser audition for the tv show!  Yep, me, a good friend & hundreds of others waited outside for hours just to get a chance at getting help.  The thought of jumping on a scale in a sports bra & bike shorts & having America watch me sweat & have emotional meltdowns would be excruciating to me...but that just shows how desperate I have become!  I was actually relieved to not receive a callback to be on the show and I worked out a way to go the the resort instead.

On facebook, there is an discussion group that anyone can join called something like "Biggest Loser at Fitness Ridge Alumni".  I have read lots of comments & found it quite helpful to learn what to pack & find out more about what I am getting myself into!  Once I read the discussion posts, I began to read the blogs of other people as they have gone through their weight loss journey.  I found I really enjoyed reading them & found myself being encouraged to hear of others' successes!  I have only told a handful of people that I am doing this & a few mentioned they would like to track my progress while I am at Fitness Ridge.

There are people who will criticize me for leaving my family (even though I have a support system to fill in for me) and I really don't want to try to explain it to them.  I am a bit paranoid about my privacy, so I decided the only way that I could do this crazy "blog" thing was to come up with a nickname.

As a little girl, I remember reading about a girl named Mitzi & decided then & there that I was going to name my daughter Mitzi!  A number of years past & I no longer felt the strong desire to name any girls (female or canine) that name.  I did throw out the name when we were discussing names of our most recent pet, but my family just looked at me like I was crazy!  Somehow, the name Mitzi popped into my mind and seemed to fit as a good nickname for me...certainly sounds like she would have a lot of energy (which I could really use!), did not take herself too seriously (which I certainly don't want to do!) & she might just wear pigtails in her hair when she works out (I did that recently & brought some smiles & laughter to all who saw me!).

Don't worry, I won't go around referring to myself in the third person...but I just might type some things that I wouldn't have the guts to reveal to many people...let alone the world wide web!  I will try to keep my blog posts short & to the point (unlike this first post), but I will try to keep it somewhat interesting as well.  I am hoping for success in my weight loss journey & maybe I will inspire someone else...or just bring a smile to their face!

Mitzi