Meet me!

Hi, I’m Janeen. I'm a 27-year-old University of Florida alumnus living in Gainesville, FL. I just returned to school to study Graphic Design. I'm working fulltime and going to school full time. On most weekends you can find me at a dive bar listening to a local band, cooking for friends, eating sushi at a swanky martini bar, romping in the woods with my dogs, fishing off the surf or cheering at a UF sporting event. For exercise, I enjoy a variety of things including kickboxing at a local dojo, stadiums, weights and walking. The kickboxing class incorporates techniques of American kickboxing & Western boxing with some of the techniques of Muay Thai boxing.

Since puberty I’ve struggled with my weight. I was always about 15-20 lbs overweight since the 7th grade.  At some point in high school I probably was just over 200 lbs.  I lost some weight my senior year by exercising. Then, after graduation from HS I joined a gym and made healthier choices. I didn't follow a particular diet and never tried diet pills.  I hovered around 150 lbs. In 2001, I graduated from UF and was in a happy relationship. I discovered I’d gained almost 40 lbs and it was affecting all areas of my life.

I decided to try WWers in May 2002. I weighed in at 189 lbs. I set my goal at 140, but I was very skeptical of losing any weight at all. I was diligent about working out and counting my points, and I reached 140 right after Christmas 2002.  I maintained that loss until I had some health issues in late 2004.  In early 2005 due to medicines, a damaged metabolism, and some overindulgences I was back up to 167.  I re-joined WWers online in May and had some very slow losses.  I reached 148 by Christmastime. However, I was weak through the holidays and shot back up to 162 by March.

I know WWers is a lifetime commitment. I know I'll struggle with the teeter tooter of the scale.  I hope sharing my story encourages those who are new to WWers and also those who have tried and failed and picked themselves up and tried again.  We never really fail until we completely give up.  I enjoy getting inspiration from the Awesome 20s board.  There is a story to match almost anyone’s weighloss struggles. It helps to find a friend who understands your same trials. The regular posters on the board have big hearts and sometimes strong passionate opinions, but all in all they are a very helpful bunch. I look forward to meeting a lot of them.