about

My name is Kiersten. I am 22 years old, 5'3.5" and when I started this blog I weighed 189lbs. I graduated from a liberal arts college last May, and over the course of my 4 years there I gained 45 pounds. The freshman 15 was the freshman 20, and the rest of college gave me another 25. I know I'm not alone in this, as a lot of people gain weight in college. Anyone who doesn't exercise and has a large appetite would, what with all the late night pizza, pasta and dorm food. This blog represents my efforts to go back to my pre-college weight (145) and stay there. 

Since graduating, I came home to the Bay Area. I spent the summer living at my parent's house and commuting to work in the Financial District of San Francisco. I hadn't really bothered much with dieting yet, there was too much going on and I didn't have the motivation to start and keep dieting. I was aware of what I ate, but I didn't make a deliberate effort to change anything. 

In November, I moved into the city to live with my boyfriend Jonathan. Any care I had been taking with what I ate disappeared. We ate out a lot, ordered in, generally didn't cook and ate a lot of what I would now consider cheat foods. I gained more weight because I had kept the college lifestyle going the second I was out on my own again. In early January I made the decision to change my diet and drop out the sugar and the carbs except for one day a week. At the very least I made the commitment to myself to limit my consumption. That's when I started this blog. 

I started buying groceries, cooking and eating right at work (or trying, those goldfish are tempting). I am highly conscious of my sugar and carb intake. It doesn't mean I don't binge when I'm not supposed to (my diet has built in cheat days) but it does mean that I know exactly what I have to do and I accept the non-loss or gain consequences. My diet is completely in my control, even if my willpower isn't very strong. 

Over time, this blog will move away from discussing my weekly ups and downs (though as of this writing, I'll probably keep that going for a long while yet) and begin to discuss more and more how I eat. I'm still in the "figuring it out" stages, but as I discover particularly tasty, cheap, quick and easy meals, I will share them.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and I hope that you'll stick with me and keep me going as I try to undo college.