Hi, my name is Julie. I got on the scale last week and I was horrified by my weight, though I already knew I was heavier than I've ever been. I lost 45 pounds a few years ago doing Joe Cross's green juice fast for 10 days plus swimming 45 minutes a day at my best, but I slowly fell off the wagon of good nutrition over the following months and gained all I lost + 20 lbs. I've always felt like I was a fat person because I believed the people around me who told me I was fat. But looking back on pictures of me in my 20s, I was slim! I have felt betrayed by my body dysmorphia for awhile, but the truth is, I really am very overweight now. My XXL clothes are on the verge of not fitting at all. My A1C is teetering at the edge of the numbers that define full onset diabetes. I have pitting edema in my lower legs. My blood pressure is starting to read abnormally high. I'm developing sleep apnea.

My goal is to turn this big long train of bad habits, bad self care, and bad looming consequences around so that I can live the rest of my life in a healthier way. I work in the medical field and I know exactly how people who don't take care of themselves go down. It's sad and it doesn't have to be that way. I don't want to wait until I have real problems like actual hypertension, actual strokes, actual heart attacks, actual diabetes, etc, to make me realize how important it is to get my weight down. I want to feel better in my body, and I want to live to see my goddaughter, nieces, and nephews grow up. I want to get old with my wife and spend my money on lots of traveling and adventures, not on medications and hospital/doctor bills.

So, I am embarking on a journey to better eating and weight loss. I am combining green juicing with a markedly reduced caloric intake of solid foods, and I am going to tame my sweet tooth if it kills me.