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.)