Where I'm coming from, part 1

So I originally started this blog for a couple of reasons
-To keep myself kind of accountable
-To track my progress
-To figure out if I really could still keep eating all the foods I like and get into better shape simultaneously

But, with all of this coinciding with me starting Weight Watchers, it's definitely been less about eating brownies and cheesecake and more about working out and watching what I eat.  This isn't a bad thing, but it's definitely indicative of the 'all or nothing' approach I usually take toward food and fitness.  So I thought now might be a good time for me to start figuring out my food issues and how I might make sustainable lifestyle changes.

I've never really had a weight problem, but for awhile I've had a problem with my weight.  Growing up, my parents were overweight and constantly bouncing from one diet to another, sometimes dragging my sister and I along for the ride (I distinctly remember their vegan phase, where we spent a lot of time at scary food co-ops because Whole Foods wasn't a thing yet).  When they weren't dieting, my parents were incredibly lax about what they let us eat - my mom kind of figured having something for breakfast was better than nothing, which is how my sister spent most of elementary school subsisting on Mountain Dew and peanut butter cups.  I mostly stuck to the more traditional but equally sugary breakfast fare of pop tarts.
Despite this, I somehow turned out with one of those metabolisms that let me spend all of high school eating frozen yogurt for lunch and not really gaining weight. It wasn't until college, with its endless stream of ordering in and study breaks with those Costco cookies that I started sorta gaining weight.  I noticed that pants weren't fitting like they used to, but it wasn't until I came home for the summer after sophomore year, when my mom took one look at me and said "Nice muffin top," that I realized I might start having to think about what I was eating.  This summer also coincided with my parents' latest diet attempt, Weight Watchers, and this one actually was working wonders, so I let my mom talk me into giving it a try.
It was a difficult journey for me, and started out with a lot of anger on my part.  How dare that Snickers bar be 7 points!  What had happened to me that I couldn't just keep eating whatever I wanted?  Why was celery so disgusting?  Why did Fiber One bear such a striking resemblance to rabbit food?  But then the weight started coming off and I embraced WW wholeheartedly.  I lost almost 20lbs that summer.
And then I went off to England for a year abroad and the butter heavy cooking and heavy beers meant that about 10 of those pounds would come back on, and it's the same 10lbs that I've been fighting an up and down battle with ever since. 
So, that's the extremely abbreviated version of where I am.  Plenty more of me trying to talk through my food issues to come.