My name is Diana. I'm a veterinary technician who just finished taking her final two prerequisite classes in preparation for entering vet school in Fall 2009. I hope to be a zoo vet specializing in African mammals and reptiles. I currently live in North Carolina with a dog (Shenzi), a cat (Kizi), and a fiance (Chris) who does all the cooking. Lucky me!

I've been overweight for a very long time. When I was a kid, I didn't have many friends, so after school, I would come home and watch nature and science shows and eat whole bags of cheetos. This was great for my brain and horrible for my body. As a result, by the time I was 15, I was going to college early, but I weighed 285 pounds.

My highest recorded weight was 310 pounds, recorded a few years ago, during a period of depression and extreme inactivity. It was very brief, but I'd been hovering around 300 pounds for at least 5 years. Now, after six months with CC, I weigh just under 240 pounds.

I'm pretty healthy, otherwise, at least as far as my doctor is concerned. My health issues (allergies, asthma, acid reflux, painful knees) are all minor, and the weight loss has definitely helped with some of them. My last blood tests were good, except that my triglycerides were a bit high. My doctor recommended I reduce my carb intake, which is something I had been thinking about for a while. There is no doubt that carbs are my biggest weakness. I have ALWAYS loved pasta, bread, and popcorn - although I have noticed that with a healthier diet, my cravings for those things has gone down considerably.

Thankfully, I also really like fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, jerky, and other healthy foods, so the transition to a lower-carb diet has been pretty painless, as far as feeling deprived is concerned. Now I just have to find ways to keep veggies fresh until I eat them!

My current rules are:

1) always eat breakfast.

2) always eat at least my BMR each day (I accidentally ate under for a week, and it took me two and a half weeks to get out of the plateau it sent me into.)

3) eat 4-6 servings of veggies and fruits a day - surprisingly easy, when you have juice and yogurt for breakfast and veggies with lunch and veggies with dinner.

4) eat a probiotic food once a day, and keep my fiber high, to improve my digestion.

5) eat a snack between lunch and dinner. We have dinner pretty late, because my fiance usually gets home at 7:30 and doesn't start cooking until 8 or 8:30. So I have determined that in order to keep my metabolism up, I need to let myself eat a (healthy) snack when I get home from work around 5, or at work during my dinner break on a late shift.

6) walk the dog for at least 15 minutes at least once a day. That's as much for Shenzi as it is for me.

Weight Goal:

The BMI says my maximum weight should be 165 pounds. I refuse to believe it, because the BMI doesn't take into account the fact that I'm built like a linebacker. I know I'm obese - but I think if I weighed 165 pounds I'd look like a stick insect. I have large bones and large muscles and I *like* them that way. My current goal is 200 pounds. When I get there, I'll reassess, but I doubt I'll ever want to weigh 165 pounds. My true goal is feeling good and being healthy, and no number - BMI, pounds, fat percentage, pants size - will every truly represent that.