Wow, an entire year and a half has transpired. I’m gonna pause and let that soak in for a second…there that should do it. But can you believe it? 18 months. Seriously though?! A. I never thought that I could lose the weight, B. I didn’t think it would go that fast, and C. I am upset that I fell off.
This blog is entitled a journey, because I am chronicling not only how I want to do more than lose weight, but it is also chronicling how I want to change my lifestyle, and how during the process I learned so much about myself. I didn’t know that I actually liked, nay, loved exercising. Those months where I kept a schedule and exercised made me into a stronger woman. I actually cared about myself and took care of myself. I was able to stand up to people and voice my opinion without having to be in an argument. I focused on my mental state, and I wasn’t worried about having a boyfriend, or constantly worrying about why men didn’t find me attractive. I was at peace and I loved myself and I was happy.
Although there have been very high ups, and extremely low downs, I’m still here.
So here is the year in a nutshell to catch you up.
2 things lit a fire under my butt to jump start my journey a. my mother lost damn near 100 pounds. Umm I know what I am about to say is grimy but I don’t care, I couldn’t let my mom beat me!!!! b. over the summer the 2 people who I hung out with EVERY single day started dating, and they excluded me from the circle. I am the type of person who does not hang around people who don’t want her, so I started hanging out on my own. But there is very little to do in Gainesville over the summer, and I had a lot of free time. So I decided that exercising would be a productive use of my time, in addition to picking up hobbies.
In the begining my exercise regimen consisted of running stadiums in the swamp (GO GATORS) ahem, sorry about that haha. Class ended at 5pm, I ate, and then ran in the stadium at 6pm until I finished. In the begining it took about 2 hours, and my best time is 45 minutes. Once fall classes started I had to change my time since the stadiums is the most popular place to exercise. So I ran at 6:30 am almost everyday.
In addition to running, I changed my eating habits. I cut my portions sizes in half, I simply ate the recommended portion size on the box of whatever I ate. And I attempted to keep my calories between 1500-2000 calories a day. I found that it was pretty hard to actually fill those calories when I ate healthy. I mean it is extremely easy to average 5000 calories a day when eating junk, and only have 2 or 3 meals. But eating healthy foods filled me up quick and kept me full, so it would be hard to actually meet that goal.
I weighed in once a week. Sometimes twice, when I was feeling very impatient. That lack of patience is what eventually messed everything up. When I hit the plateau it felt really bad, because I knew that I was doing everything correct, but the pounds weren’t falling off fast enough for me. But looking back, I think that I was so obsessed with losing weight that I was focusing too hard on moving the scale. And now I know that weight somehow seems to melt away overnight. One day I looked up and realized that I had lost 40 pounds.
Traineo.com, and writing down everything I ate helped tremendously. Seeing what I had eaten for the day, would let me know that a. I was doing well, or b. I was messing up! And it kept me motivated.
And in the end I lost 40 pounds. I hit a plateau towards the end of the fall semester, but I broke through it when I went to Nantucket. Although Nantucket helped break that plateau, it was here where I fit into a really nice pair of size 18 pants that I sequestered from my ma, haha. Yet even still, Nantucket was my downfall. I spent 2 and a half months of not exercising, and drinking lots of beer, but I did start my other journey, vegetarianism. I wasn’t exercising per se, even though I either walked or biked everywhere I went. It was awesome, the biking and walking that is. Our dorm was 20 minutes away from everywhere, the beaches were lovely, and the water was crisp. I love biking. And somehow I had lost an extra 10 pounds in Nantucket, breaking my plateau.
I came back to school in for the Fall semester, and all progress completely stopped. Although I rode my bike to classes or walked, I somehow GAINED 17 pounds. In my defense it was a rough semester. And I did invest in dance dance revolution. Which will be one of the many tools in my new fight against the flab. Yet I still gained 17 pounds. I somehow think that my weight issues are tied to my mom’s because she gained 20 pounds as well.
So I am back on the road. Not completely at square one, but not too far from it either. I am not one to quit! And now we are completely caught up. And the following will by my game plan to get back on my g!
Goals:
My absolute dream: lose 50 pounds before my mother’s wedding in June (I am the maid of honor).
My realistic goal: 20 pounds.
Ability to run stadiums without stopping.
Change my eating habits for life.
Purchase a completely new, wonderful wardrobe, and donate all of my old clothes to charity. But some of the nicer newer ones will be sold to a consignment shop.
Actions (to achieve my goals):
Watch portion sizes again (I had stopped, and I think that helped with the weight gain)
Limit tofu to once a day. I didn’t realize how calorie rich tofu is, plus its not really good for my tummy.
Eat more veggies. I am a vegetarian that doesn’t eat veggies!!! Weird huh…
Start jogging in the stadium again. I can’t run the stadiums without stopping unless I start again. Plus I am going to be honest I had gotten bored, but my interest is not piqued again.
Play DDR at least 2x a week. Best game ever. I’ll play it for hours and not notice. You should get on that
Make a schedule. If I don’t eat on time, I’ll eat EVERYTHING in sight! Or I’ll simply not eat…and according to my friends I get incredibly cranky and bitchy. Not good. Not good at all.
I think that should do it. I hope to just stay on track. If I can watch what I eat for a week, then it will become a habit, and then my lifestyle will change. I lost weight the first go round, but I didn’t change my lifestyle. I take that back, for a while I did. I ate less, and felt full, I exercised, and I stayed on schedule when it came to meals. But several things happened that I allowed to get me off track. I got bored with the stadiums, I didn’t have any high impact exercise while in Nantucket, I got too busy last semester to exercise (although I have noticed I make the most progress during the Spring semester, fall and summer semesters are just lost causes, I have come to accept that and simply try to practice maintainance during those months).
So ta for now! More updates to follow…
P.S. I almost forgot…I am in the middle of writing my thesis. So posts about that, and how my progress on the thesis is affecting my weight loss progress will definitely pop up periodically.
P.P.S. I am also growing my hair out for my mother’s wedding. I want it to hang down past my ears at least…So posts about hair will probably crop up as well!
