A Pirate Looks at 140...

Hi, I'm relatively new to MFP, and while I'm starting out strong I recognize the need for support, which I might be a little too shy to ask for from my friends in the real world at this point. Not that they wouldn't stand by me, just that I've tried this before (albeit less meticulously) and failed, and I need to prove to myself that I can do it before I go around "bragging" about my weight loss goals.

I'm a veterinary assistant, so my work day includes pacing around a lab area, lifting/restraining dogs of all weights and sizes, and running back and forth between the prep table and the drug wall like a mad woman. Before I started MFP I was eating almost 3000 calories on an average day and maintaining my weight at 200lb. It wasn't that I felt I needed that many calories, just that I wasn't putting any thought into my food. I would regularly skip breakfast, binge all morning on sweets and goodies that our wonderful clients brought us as "thank you" gifts, and eat huge portions of delicious food leftover from the restaurant where my significant other works for lunch and dinner.

Some of my hobbies are less active, like boardgaming and videogaming, I also enjoy painting, sculpting, sewing, reptile-keeping, and minor household construction (like this great cat tree I just built) but the one activity in which I invest the most time and money is my Renaissance Faire acting. I'm not a paid actor, although I would love to be, but I loooove dressing up in pirate garb and tromping around the Faire grounds.

Piracy is my biggest inspiration for weight loss. Is that weird? Physically at my current weight I can handle a day's faire activities, but I could do better, and I will need to since I plan on doing 2 faire days back to back some weekends this year and next. Not only that, but the simple truth is that my current size makes outfit planning difficult and prohibitively expensive. The best costume pieces are hand-crafted, and if a merchant has the forethought to make something that would fit a bigger girl like me, they have to upcharge for the additional material used. Last year I brought a (very small) friend of mine and watched her walk into every single shoppe and be able to find something that fit her, and that made me a little jealous. I'm finally ready to do something about it.

While I'm already happy with the way that I look in the particular costumes I've arranged, I'm ready to expand my options, and I think it's also time that I was happy with the way I look in street clothes, which I am currently not. Ultimately I would like to weigh 140 or under, but I'm shooting for 160 for now and intend to see how I look and feel at that size before going further.

In keeping with my piratical motivations, I'll be rewarding myself with my first tattoo if/when I lose the first 40lb. I'm using the next several months of weight loss to design a tattoo, hoping that constantly updating and creating sketches will help keep me motivated. It may or may not have a pirate-specific theme, but my planned location is just over my heart, so that it won't be visible in my work clothes (although truthfully no one would say anything if I had visible tattoos, other girls at work do) but it will be visible in most of my street clothes and all of my pirate garb.

Thanks for reading, and if you'd like to team up to help keep one another on track I would love the support!

-Captain Tawny