Wow. Really? February?
Honestly, I had forgotten I had this blog. hahaha.
Life has been treating me well. I've still been living the "healthy lifestyle" and trying to gain more muscle and lose more fat. It has been a slow progression, but that's just how it is. I'm just happy to be down the weight.
Summer was awesome - when is it never awesome. Sadly, it is always never long enough, too.
Started back at work and I have to say this: I am so very blessed to still love my job after 12 years. Woot.
I suppose I shouldn't really spend a lot of time blogging here right now, seeing as I should really be going to sleep.
So, off I go. I just wanted to type SOMETHING so another year didn't pass before I posted an entry. HA!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
What a difference a few months can make!
Has it really been almost a year since I last blogged? I still find it amazing that I once invested the time into blogging. Don't get me wrong. I loved it at the time. I blogged almost daily - not on this site - and enjoyed the interactive commenting from readers.
...and then I stopped blogging altogether, but I have run into a few people who were surprised with where I have been - or what I have been doing - in the last year. So, I thought maybe a blog entry was due.
Last summer, sometime in July, I decided that I needed a lifestyle change. I just wasn't happy. Wait. I take that blanket statement back. I wasn't completely happy. Sure, I loved my work. Yes, I was blessed with a wonderful husband, two fabulous kids, supportive family and friends, and a little place I call home. What more could a girl ask for?
Honestly, there was one aspect in my life that had been bugging me for years - yes, years. I was fat. I'm not saying this to get compliments or to hear, "NO. You weren't fat." This is the truth: I was fat, medically fat. At my annual physical in 2007, my doctor told me that I should probably lose about 10 lbs. - eat healthy and exercise - in order to get my cholesterol under control, or plan to go on cholesterol meds in the near future.
Being the person that I am, I agreed with him, drove home, and proceeded to live in denial: I then gained 20 lbs.
What the...?
Yes, that's right. Over the course of the next few years, I proceeded to get more unhealthy, if that was even possible Truth be told, I had several health issues prior to gaining more weight: severe sleep apnea, fatigue, insomnia. It was bad. I was bad. And it went from bad to worse when I gained the additional 20 lbs.
However, barring one failed diet in high school I did with my mom (a 3-day diet where we ate particular foods in order to lose 5 lbs. based on some mumbo jumbo food chemistry), I had never been one to diet - and I still don't believe in diets as a whole. To me, the problem with a diet is that it is, in effect, temporary. People will say they need to go on a diet and then they either go off the diet or finish the diet when goal weight is achieved. Plus, the idea that people had to restrict themselves to a certain amount of food and only certain types seemed unrealistic to me. That was never going to fly with me.
So, I opted to overhaul my lifestyle. Last July, I decided enough was enough. I started by tracking my foods on a phone app called myfitnesspal. (It also is available online - synched and available for free.) That app helped me change my habits. I realized that I was eating way too much crap foods. Yea, yea. We all know that. And while I admit that I knew that, too, I didn't realize the extent of how horrible my eating habits were. Logging said food was eye-opening.
The first couple weeks were rough. After years of eating, by my guesstimation, 2000-3000 calories a day, dropping down to 1400-1700 calories a day seemed impossible. I learned quickly that if I worked out, I would be "granted" exercise calories. Meaning, I could then eat 2000 calories a day still, if I worked out.
I didn't want to work out at first - and I only did so because I wanted to eat more. The little, baby 15 minute workouts turned into 60-90 minute sessions on the elliptical trainer. Burning the calories allowed me to eat more.
This awareness made me a tad obsessed. I logged in my food daily. I never wanted to go over my calorie goal - because then it would be red, which meant failure to me. Couldn't have that now, could I? Also, I started researching more about healthy foods and exercises; I made better food choices and implemented a workout regimen. The elliptical trainer was easy. Shortly after I started working out 45-60 minutes on it, I added in a kettlebell workout routine - first with a measly 4 lb. weight, then a 7 lb. weight; My 10 lb. weight just arrived in the mail today.
I've eased up a little in the last few weeks. If I go over my calorie goal for the day, it's not a disaster. I don't hop on the elliptical late at night to burn off the overage. And I don't work out 7 days a week like I did for months. I'm trying to be a little less obsessed and wean myself off the insane workout schedule I had followed, but I still do work out 4-5 days a week: elliptical trainer mixed with kettlebells are the norm; taekwondo classes, occasional fitness DVDs, and fitness classes at the gym can substitute the elliptical trainer sessions in order to change it up!
It has been over 6 months since I started this healthy lifestyle - and I haven't felt this great since college. I feel better and I have more energy. Overall, I'm less tired (unless I idiotically pull an all-nighter) and I feel happier. I guess that's what losing 30+ lbs. does to a person.
That's right - 33 freakin' lbs. to be exact. If I can lose 5 more, awesome. If I can't, I'm okay with that, too.
So, doc...I'm ready for my check-up. I'm down to the weight he had suggested about 5 years ago. How ya like them apples?
Just to show you I'm not making this up, here's a photo from October 2010 and then from last November 2011 (after losing 20 or so lbs.) I've lost 10 lbs. since the last photo, but you get the idea.)
...and then I stopped blogging altogether, but I have run into a few people who were surprised with where I have been - or what I have been doing - in the last year. So, I thought maybe a blog entry was due.
Last summer, sometime in July, I decided that I needed a lifestyle change. I just wasn't happy. Wait. I take that blanket statement back. I wasn't completely happy. Sure, I loved my work. Yes, I was blessed with a wonderful husband, two fabulous kids, supportive family and friends, and a little place I call home. What more could a girl ask for?
Honestly, there was one aspect in my life that had been bugging me for years - yes, years. I was fat. I'm not saying this to get compliments or to hear, "NO. You weren't fat." This is the truth: I was fat, medically fat. At my annual physical in 2007, my doctor told me that I should probably lose about 10 lbs. - eat healthy and exercise - in order to get my cholesterol under control, or plan to go on cholesterol meds in the near future.
Being the person that I am, I agreed with him, drove home, and proceeded to live in denial: I then gained 20 lbs.
What the...?
Yes, that's right. Over the course of the next few years, I proceeded to get more unhealthy, if that was even possible Truth be told, I had several health issues prior to gaining more weight: severe sleep apnea, fatigue, insomnia. It was bad. I was bad. And it went from bad to worse when I gained the additional 20 lbs.
However, barring one failed diet in high school I did with my mom (a 3-day diet where we ate particular foods in order to lose 5 lbs. based on some mumbo jumbo food chemistry), I had never been one to diet - and I still don't believe in diets as a whole. To me, the problem with a diet is that it is, in effect, temporary. People will say they need to go on a diet and then they either go off the diet or finish the diet when goal weight is achieved. Plus, the idea that people had to restrict themselves to a certain amount of food and only certain types seemed unrealistic to me. That was never going to fly with me.
So, I opted to overhaul my lifestyle. Last July, I decided enough was enough. I started by tracking my foods on a phone app called myfitnesspal. (It also is available online - synched and available for free.) That app helped me change my habits. I realized that I was eating way too much crap foods. Yea, yea. We all know that. And while I admit that I knew that, too, I didn't realize the extent of how horrible my eating habits were. Logging said food was eye-opening.
The first couple weeks were rough. After years of eating, by my guesstimation, 2000-3000 calories a day, dropping down to 1400-1700 calories a day seemed impossible. I learned quickly that if I worked out, I would be "granted" exercise calories. Meaning, I could then eat 2000 calories a day still, if I worked out.
I didn't want to work out at first - and I only did so because I wanted to eat more. The little, baby 15 minute workouts turned into 60-90 minute sessions on the elliptical trainer. Burning the calories allowed me to eat more.
This awareness made me a tad obsessed. I logged in my food daily. I never wanted to go over my calorie goal - because then it would be red, which meant failure to me. Couldn't have that now, could I? Also, I started researching more about healthy foods and exercises; I made better food choices and implemented a workout regimen. The elliptical trainer was easy. Shortly after I started working out 45-60 minutes on it, I added in a kettlebell workout routine - first with a measly 4 lb. weight, then a 7 lb. weight; My 10 lb. weight just arrived in the mail today.
I've eased up a little in the last few weeks. If I go over my calorie goal for the day, it's not a disaster. I don't hop on the elliptical late at night to burn off the overage. And I don't work out 7 days a week like I did for months. I'm trying to be a little less obsessed and wean myself off the insane workout schedule I had followed, but I still do work out 4-5 days a week: elliptical trainer mixed with kettlebells are the norm; taekwondo classes, occasional fitness DVDs, and fitness classes at the gym can substitute the elliptical trainer sessions in order to change it up!
It has been over 6 months since I started this healthy lifestyle - and I haven't felt this great since college. I feel better and I have more energy. Overall, I'm less tired (unless I idiotically pull an all-nighter) and I feel happier. I guess that's what losing 30+ lbs. does to a person.
That's right - 33 freakin' lbs. to be exact. If I can lose 5 more, awesome. If I can't, I'm okay with that, too.
So, doc...I'm ready for my check-up. I'm down to the weight he had suggested about 5 years ago. How ya like them apples?
Just to show you I'm not making this up, here's a photo from October 2010 and then from last November 2011 (after losing 20 or so lbs.) I've lost 10 lbs. since the last photo, but you get the idea.)
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