All About Kiki

I've been meaning to write a post about who I am and how I've gotten here on my weight loss journey... when I found this on Briy's blog. Thanks for putting it together (and anyone can be sure to steal this to fill it in for themselves... I am curious to see where y'all are coming from).

1. What's your name? Or at least something we can call you that's less of a mouthful than the name of your blog. :)
My name is C., but my family has called me Kiki for years. It's a nickname that my mom hates, and yet, almost every male relative I have still calls me that (it usually goes something like this: "Hey Kiki!.... I mean, oops, C." You would think they would give up on the other name all together, 'cause I really don't care). I guess you never grow out of some things.


2. Give us a paragraph (as much or as little as you'd like) about your weight loss story, including at least your goal. (You don't have to give actual numbers if that's not your style. :)
I started gaining weight around 14 or 15 years old, to the point where I was self-conscious about it (I probably wasn't more than 160 pounds on my 5'1 frame). By the time I graduated from college, I was 185. By the time I was hooded for my PhD? I would guesstimate (I never stepped on a scale) somewhere in the range of 230-240 pounds. I seriously can't believe I just wrote those numbers up here. How did I get started? I got started when my marriage started falling apart. Those were the loneliest and most frightening days of my life. I barely ate anything, especially for someone who used to snack all the time. I basically was so depressed that I ate about two mini-meals a day. I lost some weight, but I knew I had to stop doing that. After I moved into a place of my own, I made it a point to start eating right. I actually started planning out my meals and not buying the junk that my ex insisted that I buy every week when we went grocery shopping. This was in September 2007. I kind of stopped worrying about diet and exercise until the beginning of the new year 2008, which is when I started blogging (yay!), exercising regularly (first with BL, then I joined a gym in May, and started C25K around the same time), and food journaling.


3. What kind of exercise do you do? What works best for you? What doesn't work for you?
I've really been exercising hard core since January. From January until the end of March, I did the Biggest Loser Vol. 1 DVD. I think that really helped me transition from someone who was super stationary to someone who was a lot more active. In April, I started the C25K (Couch to 5K... go to Coolrunning.com for more info) and by the end of the month, I joined a gym. I try to work out at least 5 to 6 times a week. Working out in the morning works best for me. I have a pretty active social life, so I like to leave my evenings open if an opportunity for dinner or drinks arises (and if not, I do have my TV to keep me company... hello, Dr. McSteamy!). What doesn't work for me are group classes (had some bad experiences at my gym with some of them... one instructor not being coordinated to begin with) or working out after work. The gym's super crowded and it doesn't help me get ready for bed!


4. What are your biggest struggles?
Munching. Period. I'm a grazer by nature. I love to be constantly eating things. Also, in my line of work, I spend a lot of time at the computer, writing or analyzing data. Throughout grad school, I used to constantly be munching on things that were bad for me, like chips or M&Ms. Now, I eat a lot of dried fruits, roasted peas or chickpeas, or chew on gum. My daily diet coke (I know, I know) also helps me get through those times. I'm also a big night time eater. I have to say I've cut back a lot on that (mainly because I don't keep bad things in my house), but it's still something that I continue to struggle with.

5. What are three of your hobbies that aren't weight loss-related?
#1) I like to read. A lot. And not really anything related to my work. I read a lot of "fluffy", chick lit type of books. I think some of my colleagues would cringe if they heard me admit that, but seriously, that's what I liked. If you do X all day, spend years of your life researching X, on your down time, are you seriously going to spend more time doing X?? Heck no, she says, sipping on her Diet Coke and reaching for the latest Jen Weiner novel...

#2) I do like my TV, but I've recently cut my cable back to about 25 channels. The reason why I did this was that most of my social life revolved around my TV the year after I left my ex. Mondays: Dancing with the Stars, Tuesdays: Biggest Loser, Wednesdays: Project Runway and Private Practice, Thursdays: Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy... and Sundays: Desperate Housewives. Not to mention that I'd spend most of the day on Saturday watching some HBO movie for the 1000th time or another marathon of the Real Housewives of Orange County or whatever Bravo felt like showing that day. By cutting my cable, I have two shows I like to watch (BL-- of course!-- and Grey's) and whatever's at home on Netflix (usually Frasier DVDs). Needless to say, my life has expanded past TV since then, but at least I recognized that I was turning into the old lady who never leaves her house except to check her mailbox.

#3) I love to cook and bake. If I lived in a house with a huge kitchen, I would probably have people over all the time for dinner parties. I love to play hostess, which is so hard to do in my shoebox of an apartment. So, when I finally buy my own house, you know, sometime in the next decade... my friends will be sick of me and my dinner parties.

6. Tell us one cool, unique thing about you.
I'm first generation American. My mom emigrated from Italy to the United States when she was 16, along with her parents and my aunt and uncle (her younger brother and sister). I guess most first generation Americans today are Asian or Latino, since most Italians and other Europeans were already over here prior to World War II, but not my family... we had to be different. I grew up speaking a mixture of Italian and English, mainly because my mom insisted that we speak English at home so I wouldn't have any language problems in school. That did work, but I do regret not being able to speak Italian fluently.

So... tell us about YOU!!!! I'm curious to see where y'all started your weight loss journeys, and I thought it would be something helpful for those of you who just happen to stumble across my board recently.