Felt a little under the weather this morning but still felt chipper and clear-headed! Melatonin works its magic again. I figure I'll try going without it Saturday night to see if I've gotten back into the habit of sleeping through the night.
So I went straight into working out this morning and phew am I sore! My booty is feeling it from yesterday's exercise and my abs are aching from today's workout. The soreness is starting to build up for the day-to-day so I'm getting a little shaky after each workout. But I definitely feel like my muscles are building and my pants feel a little looser in the tummy area already! It could definitely be partly my imagination or my pants just stretching out from use, but I'm hopeful it's starting to go down!
This morning I ate some leftover fries (not awesome), but I purposely didn't use any ketchup or any condiment to add more calories. I also had half a pomegranate, which was deliciousss. I think for lunch I will sauteed some spinach with garlic and onion and a can of tuna. I know I shouldn't add mayo to the tuna, but it tastes so dry without it. I think I will just measure out only a tablespoon so that I keep it to a minimum. I'm thinking more and more about adding one more workout to each day starting next week and I think I'm gonna commit to it.
One thing I'm not so sure about is committing to two healthy meals a week starting next week. I talked about it on here before. But I'm not so sure I'm ready for it because I'm still kind of struggling to keep up with the one healthy meal a day, haha. But hopefully I'll get there. I can't wait to finally take a look at the scale on Friday also. I doubt there will be much difference, but I'm super curious to see the number. I just can't let myself get discouraged if the number on the scale doesn't change at all. I have to keep in mind of how great I'm feeling and that I need to stick with this to continue feeling that way.
Until tomorrow!
TTFN
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Best I've Felt In Quite Awhile!
So I've been having trouble sleeping for quite awhile lately. I think it's a combination of stress, the lack of sleeping hours that comes with working two jobs, and everything else involved. Last night I finally broke down and bought some Melatonin. One thing is, I hate taking pills. I don't like the feeling of dependency on medication at all. But by this point I was desperate for some relief from my waking spells all night long. I woke up this morning with the clearest head I've had in quite awhile. I woke up not feeling like I immediately wanted to go back to sleep, and that's amazing. I don't remember waking up at all last night.
I'm sure the fact that I only have one job now and don't have to wake up early anymore helps. And probably eating a little healthier and working out more consistently factors in as well. But whatever it is, it's making me feel 100x better!
The funny thing is, I feel like I might be developing a little cold. And yet, even with that, I still feel amazing. So that speaks for itself. I just made this all natural cold remedy and it's actually working pretty well! If you wanna try it, it is: 3 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of honey. It doesn't taste too bad at all! I just boiled it on the stove. It says to drink periodically throughout the day, but I'll probably just drink it slowly all at once.
Because I felt so awesome waking up, the first thing I did this morning was workout. Today focused on legs, which is my weak spot, as I've mentioned before. I had to stop a couple of times during the workout because it hurt so much. Hopefully my muscles develop there fairly fast. Maybe I'll throw in another session or two next week.
I ate some plain Greek yogurt mixed with a fresh chopped up green apple, some granola, two teaspoons of honey, and a few raisins. I wanted something savory, so I ate about a 1/2 cup of the black beans I had leftover from yesterday.
For lunch, I plan on eating the rest of my leftover green beans from yesterday, the rest of the black beans, and maybe a can of light tuna. It depends on how hungry I am.
But I'm going to say goodbye now! I've got a list of productive things to do today, like FINALLY updating my resume, shopping for my brother's birthday gift, and applying to a few jobs online.
TTFN
I'm sure the fact that I only have one job now and don't have to wake up early anymore helps. And probably eating a little healthier and working out more consistently factors in as well. But whatever it is, it's making me feel 100x better!
The funny thing is, I feel like I might be developing a little cold. And yet, even with that, I still feel amazing. So that speaks for itself. I just made this all natural cold remedy and it's actually working pretty well! If you wanna try it, it is: 3 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of honey. It doesn't taste too bad at all! I just boiled it on the stove. It says to drink periodically throughout the day, but I'll probably just drink it slowly all at once.
Because I felt so awesome waking up, the first thing I did this morning was workout. Today focused on legs, which is my weak spot, as I've mentioned before. I had to stop a couple of times during the workout because it hurt so much. Hopefully my muscles develop there fairly fast. Maybe I'll throw in another session or two next week.
I ate some plain Greek yogurt mixed with a fresh chopped up green apple, some granola, two teaspoons of honey, and a few raisins. I wanted something savory, so I ate about a 1/2 cup of the black beans I had leftover from yesterday.
For lunch, I plan on eating the rest of my leftover green beans from yesterday, the rest of the black beans, and maybe a can of light tuna. It depends on how hungry I am.
But I'm going to say goodbye now! I've got a list of productive things to do today, like FINALLY updating my resume, shopping for my brother's birthday gift, and applying to a few jobs online.
TTFN
Monday, October 28, 2013
Day 3
Just finished my scheduled workout! They are still feeling fairly easy, although The workout's involving my legs are pretty difficult. I guess that struggle comes with being a bottom-heavy kind of girl.
I've also worked out my finances now that I', gonna have a lot less money coming in with only one job. I haven't updated my resume yet, but that's planned for tomorrow. My room is also clean and organized, so I feel like overall I've had a pretty successful day so far! Now I've got work until midnight, so it will be a fully successful day at whole.
For my healthy meal today, I had black beans sauteed with some olive oil, onions, and garlic. I also had fresh French green beans cooked the same way. I used a little butter with both, but now more than a tablespoon and a half between both. The amount I made was also for two full meals, so it divided up the butter I had further. The only way I marred this meal was when I put 1/3 cup of shredded cheese on my beans to perk up the flavor. This is what it looked like!
Yummy, right?
I've also noticed something else that's going to become helpful with tamping down my overeating. The workouts are pretty ab-intensive and challenge my them everyday. So my abs just keep getting more and more sore and staying fairly contracted. Since my abs always feel tight, it seems like it's making me feel fuller faster because my stomach can only extend so much before pushing on my sore abs. So hooray for sore abs!
Glad to say that I didn't struggle as much today overall as I did yesterday. Let's hope I can keep it up!
TTFN
I've also worked out my finances now that I', gonna have a lot less money coming in with only one job. I haven't updated my resume yet, but that's planned for tomorrow. My room is also clean and organized, so I feel like overall I've had a pretty successful day so far! Now I've got work until midnight, so it will be a fully successful day at whole.
For my healthy meal today, I had black beans sauteed with some olive oil, onions, and garlic. I also had fresh French green beans cooked the same way. I used a little butter with both, but now more than a tablespoon and a half between both. The amount I made was also for two full meals, so it divided up the butter I had further. The only way I marred this meal was when I put 1/3 cup of shredded cheese on my beans to perk up the flavor. This is what it looked like!
Yummy, right?
I've also noticed something else that's going to become helpful with tamping down my overeating. The workouts are pretty ab-intensive and challenge my them everyday. So my abs just keep getting more and more sore and staying fairly contracted. Since my abs always feel tight, it seems like it's making me feel fuller faster because my stomach can only extend so much before pushing on my sore abs. So hooray for sore abs!
Glad to say that I didn't struggle as much today overall as I did yesterday. Let's hope I can keep it up!
TTFN
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Setback
It's hard to say, much less believe, but I've already had a day that was a total loss. I started off with a huge headache today upon waking up. But it was nice because my mom made pancakes and bacon, i.e. a non-healthy meal. I went pretty much immediately back to sleep after I ate (already a bad sign).
I slept until about 10:30, until my mom woke me up to run a couple of errands with her. We went out to lunch at O'Charley's, which I've never been to before, so I decided to get a yummy fried chicken sandwich since they were known for their fried chicken. I only ate half and decided to save the rest, which was a good move, but it still wasn't a healthy meal. Then I topped off that with 2 Dunkin Donuts doughnuts >:(
When we got back home, I took ANOTHER nap. My headache finally started to cease after that nap, but then I went right into making dinner because Beef Rose takes about 2 hours to cook. Dinner wasn't that healthy either because it was red meat, butter, wine, pasta, and a lot of other unhealthy things aside from the mushrooms. I also had the other half of my sandwich as a snack just a few minutes ago. AND a Ginger Ale when I'm not supposed to be drinking soda .__.
On top of all of that, I didn't do my scheduled workout today. If it wasn't for my killer headache, I think today would have gone a lot differently. But it's still an excuse, even if it's fairly valid. So tomorrow will be damage control. Instead of starting the calendar over (that one whole day... haha), I'm just going to go straight to Day 2 as if today never happened. Getting back on the wagon is all I can do. And fortunately, its' easier to keep track of my diet and exercise during the week.
The only thing I'm weary of is having my "day off" on my workout calendar on Saturday instead of Friday now. But I'll make it work!
Sorry to have such a disappointing post today. But I can only let it inspire me to do better the next day instead of destroying myself with guilt and letting it discourage me.
I also wanted to mention that I've decided to only weigh myself once a week, maybe on my "rest day" so that I won't get too obsessive and discouraged about not losing weight every single day.
Hopefully this is the last failed day I'll have. At least for awhile.
TTFN
UPDATE!!!
I just convinced myself to do the scheduled workout today as a last ditch effort and it worked!! I'd really like to thank this blog in part. I think admitting my guilty day in writing honestly pushed me to put in some last minute effort. And I even did it with umph! I don't know if I would have been able to do it if it wasn't an ab-focused day. Ab workouts (though I don't really have any), tend to be the ones I'm best at. I don't think I could have gotten through a set of cardio or anything else. But none-the-less, I at least got in my workout and I'm right on schedule again.
Hooray for last-ditch efforts!
TTFN
I slept until about 10:30, until my mom woke me up to run a couple of errands with her. We went out to lunch at O'Charley's, which I've never been to before, so I decided to get a yummy fried chicken sandwich since they were known for their fried chicken. I only ate half and decided to save the rest, which was a good move, but it still wasn't a healthy meal. Then I topped off that with 2 Dunkin Donuts doughnuts >:(
When we got back home, I took ANOTHER nap. My headache finally started to cease after that nap, but then I went right into making dinner because Beef Rose takes about 2 hours to cook. Dinner wasn't that healthy either because it was red meat, butter, wine, pasta, and a lot of other unhealthy things aside from the mushrooms. I also had the other half of my sandwich as a snack just a few minutes ago. AND a Ginger Ale when I'm not supposed to be drinking soda .__.
On top of all of that, I didn't do my scheduled workout today. If it wasn't for my killer headache, I think today would have gone a lot differently. But it's still an excuse, even if it's fairly valid. So tomorrow will be damage control. Instead of starting the calendar over (that one whole day... haha), I'm just going to go straight to Day 2 as if today never happened. Getting back on the wagon is all I can do. And fortunately, its' easier to keep track of my diet and exercise during the week.
The only thing I'm weary of is having my "day off" on my workout calendar on Saturday instead of Friday now. But I'll make it work!
Sorry to have such a disappointing post today. But I can only let it inspire me to do better the next day instead of destroying myself with guilt and letting it discourage me.
I also wanted to mention that I've decided to only weigh myself once a week, maybe on my "rest day" so that I won't get too obsessive and discouraged about not losing weight every single day.
Hopefully this is the last failed day I'll have. At least for awhile.
TTFN
UPDATE!!!
I just convinced myself to do the scheduled workout today as a last ditch effort and it worked!! I'd really like to thank this blog in part. I think admitting my guilty day in writing honestly pushed me to put in some last minute effort. And I even did it with umph! I don't know if I would have been able to do it if it wasn't an ab-focused day. Ab workouts (though I don't really have any), tend to be the ones I'm best at. I don't think I could have gotten through a set of cardio or anything else. But none-the-less, I at least got in my workout and I'm right on schedule again.
Hooray for last-ditch efforts!
TTFN
Saturday, October 26, 2013
The First Day of My Journey!
Get ready, this post is all about embarrassing measurements and humiliating photos. So they always say it's easier to see how far you've come when you look back to where you started. In order to see the progress of my weight-loss journey, I figured I should document a bunch of details about where I'm starting out at.
I'm 5'6'' and officially weigh 172.4 pounds. My first blog post had me at 174, so I guess my initial freak-out was over some bloating, but 172 is still not a very good number to be at. I'm still well overweight by anyone's standards.
Here are some embarrassing photos I took just moments ago on my Mac's PhotoBooth:
Excuse my extremely pale skin, but I've learned to embrace it. The face shot isn't exactly the prettiest either, but I really wanted to see if I could get my face to thin out just a bit. Anyways, I'm not the heaviest person ever, but you can tell by the photos that I could definitely use some work. Especially with just tightening up the skin in quite a few places. (Lol at my degree lying on the floor in the background. Go Hokies!)
So now for my measurements. I looked up a few sights on weight-loss to see where to measure yourself to track weight-loss. I found a decent description of how to go about it on this site: http://www.ivillage.com/how-do-i-take-my-measurements/4-n-142316 . I really wanted to try out these measurements because people so often say with getting healthy and fit, you can't always notice it on the scale. So these are the numbers:
Bust: 99.5 cm
Chest: 83 cm
Waist: 78.5 cm
Hips: 116 cm
Midway: 108 cm
Thighs: 70.5 cm L, 71.5 cm R
Knees: 47.5 cm L, 47 cm R
Calves: 39.5 cm L, 38.5 cm R
Upperarm: 34.5 cm L, 34.5 cm R
Forearm: 25.5 cm L, 26 cm R
For the most part, I'd really like to see all of the numbers go down a bit, but I'm really more focused on my tummy, butt and thighs above all else. I decided to go with centimeters rather than inches because I thought I'd get a more accurate reading of whether I'm going down in size or not.
I've also officially printed out my Blogilates Beginner's Workout Calendar! Here it is taped to my desk that I use everyday.
I figured it was better to put it on my desk than my wall since I have to sign it everyday. I haven't started my first workout yet today because I'm waiting for my breakfast to settle. Started off the day fairly healthy so far, btw! I ate a fresh orange and 3 slices of thin fried ham. I'm not counting it as my "healthy meal" for the day because the ham is processed deli meat from a container, but the portion size is much smaller than I usually go for. Normally I would make myself 5-6 slices of fried ham with my breakfast in the morning. The slices are pretty thin, but it's still more than a person should be eating. That's my biggest obstacle... getting past my over-sized portions.
But I have a healthy lunch planned which consists of sauteed chopped spinach with onions and garlic (about a cup) and a 3 oz piece of baked salmon with dill and lemon. It's going to be delicious and I'm honestly looking forward to it. And no processed food! Go Lauren!
However, my healthy lunch will be slightly off-set by my unhealthy dinner of Papa John's pizza, but it's game day people! My Virginia Tech Hokies are playing against Duke and we are ranked #14! But I will try to cut some calories by only eating cheese pizza and limiting myself to 3 slices. Three slices doesn't really sound like I'm limiting myself, right? Well, as I've been preaching - baby steps, people. I'm sure I could eat a few more slices than that if I really wanted to.
Now I'm off to kill my very first workout day! Wish me luck!
TTFN
Didn't mean to extend this post but I thought I'd share how my first workout and healthy meal went! From now on I think I'll try to refrain from posting entirely until after I'm done with both. Here's a photo of my healthy lunch!
It was very yummy, but I definitely expect to be hungry an hour from now haha. Got to get used to those pesky smaller portions. I'm definitely an American girl when it comes to my portions!
As for the workout... phew! I didn't really work up a full on sweat, but I definitely struggled a bit. All of the moves were fairly rudimentary, but the amount of reps you had to do was the hard part. Those legs circles and triangles were killer! Especially on the second leg. I normally amp it up a little with my own personal workout plans, but I want to do the first week with only the pre-scheduled workouts to see how my body responds soreness-wise. Plus it looks like she really only goes easy on the first couple of days. We shall see! Until tomorrow...
TTFN
I'm 5'6'' and officially weigh 172.4 pounds. My first blog post had me at 174, so I guess my initial freak-out was over some bloating, but 172 is still not a very good number to be at. I'm still well overweight by anyone's standards.
Here are some embarrassing photos I took just moments ago on my Mac's PhotoBooth:
So now for my measurements. I looked up a few sights on weight-loss to see where to measure yourself to track weight-loss. I found a decent description of how to go about it on this site: http://www.ivillage.com/how-do-i-take-my-measurements/4-n-142316 . I really wanted to try out these measurements because people so often say with getting healthy and fit, you can't always notice it on the scale. So these are the numbers:
Bust: 99.5 cm
Chest: 83 cm
Waist: 78.5 cm
Hips: 116 cm
Midway: 108 cm
Thighs: 70.5 cm L, 71.5 cm R
Knees: 47.5 cm L, 47 cm R
Calves: 39.5 cm L, 38.5 cm R
Upperarm: 34.5 cm L, 34.5 cm R
Forearm: 25.5 cm L, 26 cm R
For the most part, I'd really like to see all of the numbers go down a bit, but I'm really more focused on my tummy, butt and thighs above all else. I decided to go with centimeters rather than inches because I thought I'd get a more accurate reading of whether I'm going down in size or not.
I've also officially printed out my Blogilates Beginner's Workout Calendar! Here it is taped to my desk that I use everyday.
I figured it was better to put it on my desk than my wall since I have to sign it everyday. I haven't started my first workout yet today because I'm waiting for my breakfast to settle. Started off the day fairly healthy so far, btw! I ate a fresh orange and 3 slices of thin fried ham. I'm not counting it as my "healthy meal" for the day because the ham is processed deli meat from a container, but the portion size is much smaller than I usually go for. Normally I would make myself 5-6 slices of fried ham with my breakfast in the morning. The slices are pretty thin, but it's still more than a person should be eating. That's my biggest obstacle... getting past my over-sized portions.
But I have a healthy lunch planned which consists of sauteed chopped spinach with onions and garlic (about a cup) and a 3 oz piece of baked salmon with dill and lemon. It's going to be delicious and I'm honestly looking forward to it. And no processed food! Go Lauren!
However, my healthy lunch will be slightly off-set by my unhealthy dinner of Papa John's pizza, but it's game day people! My Virginia Tech Hokies are playing against Duke and we are ranked #14! But I will try to cut some calories by only eating cheese pizza and limiting myself to 3 slices. Three slices doesn't really sound like I'm limiting myself, right? Well, as I've been preaching - baby steps, people. I'm sure I could eat a few more slices than that if I really wanted to.
Now I'm off to kill my very first workout day! Wish me luck!
TTFN
Didn't mean to extend this post but I thought I'd share how my first workout and healthy meal went! From now on I think I'll try to refrain from posting entirely until after I'm done with both. Here's a photo of my healthy lunch!
It was very yummy, but I definitely expect to be hungry an hour from now haha. Got to get used to those pesky smaller portions. I'm definitely an American girl when it comes to my portions!
As for the workout... phew! I didn't really work up a full on sweat, but I definitely struggled a bit. All of the moves were fairly rudimentary, but the amount of reps you had to do was the hard part. Those legs circles and triangles were killer! Especially on the second leg. I normally amp it up a little with my own personal workout plans, but I want to do the first week with only the pre-scheduled workouts to see how my body responds soreness-wise. Plus it looks like she really only goes easy on the first couple of days. We shall see! Until tomorrow...
TTFN
Friday, October 25, 2013
Last Day at the Restaurant!
So today was my very last day working at the restaurant! I'm a little sad because I'll miss some of the people I worked with, but primarily relieved for the opportunities that will open up now that I have more free time.
Tomorrow is when I officially start my new healthier, happier lifestyle. I'll start the fitness side of it with a pre-made calendar by my absolute favorite fitness blogger, Cassey Ho. She has a series on YouTube called "Blogilates." I found her about 2 or 3 years ago online and have fallen in love with her as a fitness instructor. Her videos are well-made and it's basically like watching a pilates class online. She's bubbly and upbeat and just makes you feel happy, even when you're seriously struggling to follow along with her. She's pretty tough! I'm starting out with a beginner's calendar because some of her normal calendar's can get pretty extreme. And the best part is... if I want to do more than the scheduled workouts for the day, then I'm perfectly able to! Her schedule is just the bare minimum that I will allow myself to do. I know I won't love all of the workouts, but the points is to push through them as a challenge to myself and my body.
As for the diet part of my weight-loss journey, I want to do something more progressive than extreme. I've tried cutting down and eating super healthy too fast before, and it seems to scare me off from maintaining the diet. I read a blog about going vegan and how the girl started by having one vegan meal a day until she was fully vegan. Now, I don't want to go vegan or even vegetarian, I'm a girl who likes her meat. But I want to apply this concept to "healthy meals." Healthy meals meaning non-processed whole meals with veggies, fruits and meat. The problem is that I really like food. And I don't mean it in the sense that I eat just because I'm bored or when I get depressed. I eat a lot of food because I genuinely like the taste and making really good food makes me happy. So I figure if I first commit to one healthy meal a day, as in fruits, veggies, and/or protein while avoiding any processed products, then maybe I can build up to two healthy meals a day and eventually all three. So my plan is to have one healthy meal a day the first week. By the end of it I can gage whether I can bump that up to two or maybe decide I need another week to get into the rhythm of it. Also, this whole committing to one healthy meal a day is doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have more than one a day, it just means I have to have one healthy meal at the bare minimum.
I'm also cutting out soda entirely, which I actually started this past week. In college, I never really drank soda. Maybe once a month max. It was just easier and more affordable to drink water. But now that I'm back home, where my Dad and brother are soda junkies, I've picked up the bad habit again. I know it's just useless calories that are holding me back further from my goal.
So tomorrow I will post my official starting weight, and I'm also going to buy a measuring tape after I get off work tonight so I can see how many inches I can potentially lose around my thighs and waist and such. I've never tried the measuring tape before. So I'm going to have to do a little research on how to go about it so I can have accurate measurements.
There's one last thing I have to mention because I'm so excited about it! I decided to ask my parents for a nice juicer for my birthday next month. I've never had one before but have always loved the idea of them. My dad decided to get me one that's top of the line and he ordered it today. I'll post more about it when my birthday actually comes around, but my hopes for it are that I can replace one meal a day with a juice concoction to cut a few more calories and get more veggie and fruit servings in during the day. I think I would only ever replace one meal with the juice because I don't want to develop any dangerous eating habits. I'm past that point in my life. I just want to feel light and free in my own skin and not be suffering from hunger or malnutrition constantly.
Tomorrow sparks a new beginning and I can't wait!
TTFN
Tomorrow is when I officially start my new healthier, happier lifestyle. I'll start the fitness side of it with a pre-made calendar by my absolute favorite fitness blogger, Cassey Ho. She has a series on YouTube called "Blogilates." I found her about 2 or 3 years ago online and have fallen in love with her as a fitness instructor. Her videos are well-made and it's basically like watching a pilates class online. She's bubbly and upbeat and just makes you feel happy, even when you're seriously struggling to follow along with her. She's pretty tough! I'm starting out with a beginner's calendar because some of her normal calendar's can get pretty extreme. And the best part is... if I want to do more than the scheduled workouts for the day, then I'm perfectly able to! Her schedule is just the bare minimum that I will allow myself to do. I know I won't love all of the workouts, but the points is to push through them as a challenge to myself and my body.
I'm also cutting out soda entirely, which I actually started this past week. In college, I never really drank soda. Maybe once a month max. It was just easier and more affordable to drink water. But now that I'm back home, where my Dad and brother are soda junkies, I've picked up the bad habit again. I know it's just useless calories that are holding me back further from my goal.
So tomorrow I will post my official starting weight, and I'm also going to buy a measuring tape after I get off work tonight so I can see how many inches I can potentially lose around my thighs and waist and such. I've never tried the measuring tape before. So I'm going to have to do a little research on how to go about it so I can have accurate measurements.
There's one last thing I have to mention because I'm so excited about it! I decided to ask my parents for a nice juicer for my birthday next month. I've never had one before but have always loved the idea of them. My dad decided to get me one that's top of the line and he ordered it today. I'll post more about it when my birthday actually comes around, but my hopes for it are that I can replace one meal a day with a juice concoction to cut a few more calories and get more veggie and fruit servings in during the day. I think I would only ever replace one meal with the juice because I don't want to develop any dangerous eating habits. I'm past that point in my life. I just want to feel light and free in my own skin and not be suffering from hunger or malnutrition constantly.
Tomorrow sparks a new beginning and I can't wait!
TTFN
Thursday, October 24, 2013
The Day of My Realization
Today I woke up before a 14-hour workday to workout at 7:00 a.m. I decided to weigh myself before working out to see where I was weight-wise. My time of working two jobs is coming to a close after tomorrow and I've been extremely conscious of my weight and the anticipation of losing some pounds with the extra free time I will gain. But just because I've been conscious about my weight, doesn't mean I've really been doing anything about it thus far. When I stepped on the scale this morning, I weighed 174.6 pounds. This should not have come as much surprise to me since I only weighed about two pounds more than I had weighed earlier in the week. But somehow that sudden jump shocked me.
I remember telling myself when I was much younger that I would never want to weigh over 170 pounds my whole life. I don't know why I chose that arbitrary amount, but it's stuck in my head ever since. And now here I am, 22 (going on 23) years old and I'm almost 5 pounds over that.
The worst part is that only in a matter of 5 months after graduating college, I had gained almost 15 POUNDS! Isn't that disgusting? How could it happen so fast? Part of me wants to rationalize and say, "Well... that's only 3 pounds a month, which is totally healthy to lose in a month..." I hate myself for thinking it. Rationalizing gaining 15 pounds in less than half a year is insane. If I kept up with this rate for a year, I could gain over 30 altogether! I would be inching close to 200 pounds.
I've had issues with weight my whole life. In middle school I started getting chubby and decided to starve myself and workout in an insane way that made me lose about 25 pounds in less than 2 months. It was incredibly unhealthy and my mom threatened to take me to therapy. That snapped me out of it. But since then, I've maintained a pretty poor weight self-image. I was pretty thin in high school, staying about 125-130 with soccer and field hockey. But after I graduated high school, the problems intensified. I went to Italy for my graduation gift and within that summer, had gained about 10 pounds.
Then starting college made it harder with all of the delicious food at my fingertips. I started working out on my own, which I never really did in high school, so I saw it as an improvement. Since then, I've been back and forth with my weight, but gaining healthier eating habits. But those habits have gone now that I'm back home. My whole family is extremely overweight and does not value fruits and veggies. It's a "meat and potatoes" kind of home.
The truth is, I could come up with a number of valid excuses as to why I've gained weight. But ultimately it is my own fault. I let those excuses allow me to gain 15 pounds in 5 months. I am the one in charge of my own body and something needs to change, which is why I started this blog today. I've done journals and started fad diets before, but I'm hoping this time will make the difference. If I can't believe that, then I will continue to gain weight and potentially ruin my life and my career in television.
This blog is for myself alone. I actually hope no one reads it because it might be slightly humiliating. But I feel like trying something slightly more public might make me feel a little more accountable than all of the other times before.
Many fad diet plans say that writing your journey down is a huge element to success, so hopefully this blog will lead to my ultimate success.
So what's my goal weight? I am shooting a little higher so as to be more realistic. I would really love to get down to 140 pounds. I'm 5'6'', so 140 lb. is a perfectly healthy and reasonable weight. I'm not worried about being stick thin like I was when I was younger. I have joined the "fit revolution" as I like to call it. I love the idea that people are pushing on the internet about how women should focus more on being "strong and fit" than "skinny." As a feminist, I see it as focusing on your health more than your looks. And that's what I want to feel - healthy and strong.
I don't want to strategically hide my fat under my clothes anymore. I want to look in the mirror and feel happy about how I look. I want to work out hard and not feel like a wimp doing it.
So I want to be 140 pounds, but in what time frame? I have to admit that I'm afraid if I make a time frame and I don't make it, it will set me back entirely. But maybe I can make the simple goal of losing a pound a week for now. I know that seems kind of backwards since it's supposed to be easier to lose more weight in the beginning than in the middle, but I don't want to scare myself off this time around.
I have some ideas on how to develop my diet and exercise plan, but I'm running out of time and need to start getting ready for work soon. I really want to post every day and hope I will. I like how I feel thus far about it and hope to continue it. So cheers to a new beginning that will hopefully be the rest of my life.
I'll post more tomorrow on my plan of attack, but I will officially start my new beginning on Saturday when I'm finally free of Mt. Vernon Restaurant hopefully FOREVER.
TTFN
I remember telling myself when I was much younger that I would never want to weigh over 170 pounds my whole life. I don't know why I chose that arbitrary amount, but it's stuck in my head ever since. And now here I am, 22 (going on 23) years old and I'm almost 5 pounds over that.
The worst part is that only in a matter of 5 months after graduating college, I had gained almost 15 POUNDS! Isn't that disgusting? How could it happen so fast? Part of me wants to rationalize and say, "Well... that's only 3 pounds a month, which is totally healthy to lose in a month..." I hate myself for thinking it. Rationalizing gaining 15 pounds in less than half a year is insane. If I kept up with this rate for a year, I could gain over 30 altogether! I would be inching close to 200 pounds.
I've had issues with weight my whole life. In middle school I started getting chubby and decided to starve myself and workout in an insane way that made me lose about 25 pounds in less than 2 months. It was incredibly unhealthy and my mom threatened to take me to therapy. That snapped me out of it. But since then, I've maintained a pretty poor weight self-image. I was pretty thin in high school, staying about 125-130 with soccer and field hockey. But after I graduated high school, the problems intensified. I went to Italy for my graduation gift and within that summer, had gained about 10 pounds.
Then starting college made it harder with all of the delicious food at my fingertips. I started working out on my own, which I never really did in high school, so I saw it as an improvement. Since then, I've been back and forth with my weight, but gaining healthier eating habits. But those habits have gone now that I'm back home. My whole family is extremely overweight and does not value fruits and veggies. It's a "meat and potatoes" kind of home.
The truth is, I could come up with a number of valid excuses as to why I've gained weight. But ultimately it is my own fault. I let those excuses allow me to gain 15 pounds in 5 months. I am the one in charge of my own body and something needs to change, which is why I started this blog today. I've done journals and started fad diets before, but I'm hoping this time will make the difference. If I can't believe that, then I will continue to gain weight and potentially ruin my life and my career in television.
This blog is for myself alone. I actually hope no one reads it because it might be slightly humiliating. But I feel like trying something slightly more public might make me feel a little more accountable than all of the other times before.
Many fad diet plans say that writing your journey down is a huge element to success, so hopefully this blog will lead to my ultimate success.
So what's my goal weight? I am shooting a little higher so as to be more realistic. I would really love to get down to 140 pounds. I'm 5'6'', so 140 lb. is a perfectly healthy and reasonable weight. I'm not worried about being stick thin like I was when I was younger. I have joined the "fit revolution" as I like to call it. I love the idea that people are pushing on the internet about how women should focus more on being "strong and fit" than "skinny." As a feminist, I see it as focusing on your health more than your looks. And that's what I want to feel - healthy and strong.
I don't want to strategically hide my fat under my clothes anymore. I want to look in the mirror and feel happy about how I look. I want to work out hard and not feel like a wimp doing it.
So I want to be 140 pounds, but in what time frame? I have to admit that I'm afraid if I make a time frame and I don't make it, it will set me back entirely. But maybe I can make the simple goal of losing a pound a week for now. I know that seems kind of backwards since it's supposed to be easier to lose more weight in the beginning than in the middle, but I don't want to scare myself off this time around.
I have some ideas on how to develop my diet and exercise plan, but I'm running out of time and need to start getting ready for work soon. I really want to post every day and hope I will. I like how I feel thus far about it and hope to continue it. So cheers to a new beginning that will hopefully be the rest of my life.
I'll post more tomorrow on my plan of attack, but I will officially start my new beginning on Saturday when I'm finally free of Mt. Vernon Restaurant hopefully FOREVER.
TTFN
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