Day 1.

Welcome to Project: Hot by 30. I'm Kacie. This blog is pretty straight forward. I'm going to be 30 on February 4, 2013. And I'm vain. So I'd like to be hot. By the time I'm 30. So I have 487 days to change my life. I've been overweight since I was 12. I had surgery that knocked me on my ass for a solid six months and a mom that cooks amazing, delicious, decadent food. It was a fatal combination. But I'm not here to bitch and moan about why I'm fat. Not today at least. I expect sometime in the next few months I'll get to that.

I know that I am capable of losing all the weight. Even though I have a lot to lose. Spoiler alert: the number has 3 digits! I'm really dying to waltz into any store in the mall and buy something off the rack. And not pay the fat tax! You guys know about the fat tax, right? That cute cardigan at Target that's only $17.99. Unless you need an XXL. Then it's $19.99. Fatty.

I want to not carry around an extra person when I'm walking in the 3-Day. 60 miles is difficult enough, let alone when you've got all that extra weight on your back (and front, and legs, and feet). And that is something I'm not willing to give up, but as I told my wonderful boyfriend last month "I can't put my body through it again next year if I haven't lost a huge chunk of this weight."

I want to not be "the funny fat girl." Do any of you know how EXHAUSTING it is to have to be funny ALL THE TIME? Because unfunny fat girls are just depressing to the rest of the world. Guess what? Funny fat girls are depressing to themselves a lot of the time. Tears of a clown, baby.

One last fat discrimination anecdote before I move on. The absolute discrimination. I've been passed over for jobs that I was more qualified and more experienced and more talented for. The girl who got the job? A waif. I have no problem with losing out on a job to someone better qualified, but losing out on a job solely because of my size? Oh, that was a blow.

However, I don't intend for this to be a political blog, or a pity party blog. It's not a LiveJournal. So moving on, here is the plan: changing my diet. This should not be a huge issue right now. I'm borderline lactose intolerant, so most of the dairy is already out the window. I'm in training for the 3-Day, so I get up early and walk quite a few days a week. On those days I have a Luna bar for breakfast and usually another for a snack in the mid morning. Then a LeanCuisine for lunch and (my favorite) whatever I want for dinner (within reason. I still stay away from the dairy most nights.) I've temporarily broken up with beer, which I hate. I prefer beer, but vodka tonic is a better option. And they make diet tonic water! Amazing!

The second part of the plan: I have all my workouts scheduled through June 2012. Did I mention that I can be extremely Type A? Because I can. And I don't just want to be thin. I want to be strong. I want to be an athlete again. So to that end, I'm working out. Hard. Go big or go home, right? Here's what this week looks like for me:

Hey, my student loan payment was due yesterday! Whoops. Tomorrow will have to do. The darker pink is my 3-Day training schedule. I am not always able to do the long training walks on the weekend, so I try to add miles during the week and hope for the best. I'll get into the 3-Day lifestyle next week. The training plan also calls for 2 days a week of cross training. The lighter pink is my workout schedule. I have MANY things scheduled between now and June. Yoga, Kettle Bells, Couch to 5K, and more. So today Zumba and Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD more than covered my 45 minutes of cross training. I've also been doing (don't laugh) the Shake Weight workout every day. It's a quick 10 minute workout that DOES make a difference. I'm planning on wearing a wedding dress sometime in the future and I want my arms to look fantastic. 

My amazing friend Bonnie and I have been "playing" for the past few weeks - tennis, volleyball, zumba -- everything that's not a scary workout has been fun with Bonnie. We laugh at how ridiculously bad we are at things (or how the Zumba moves remind us of Ronnie from Jersey Shore), we sweat and burn calories.

I'll be screencapping my week and sharing it with you every Sunday, as well as recapping my previous week's workouts. I do NOT expect to hit every workout, but I will be doing my damnedest. Also I'll be posting before photos next week. Again, because I'm vain. I haven't done my roots in a while and don't have a cute progress photo outfit picked out. Like I said, vain.

So. There we are. 487 days to get down to the goal weight of 170 (yes, 170. I am a rather tall young woman). In the next 487 days I expect to laugh, cry, freak out, get stronger, have weak days, run races - from 5K up to half marathon (then a full marathon in my 30th year!), make a difference and become the best version of me. Feel free to come along for the ride.