Saturday, February 18, 2012

When a body gets eighty sixed

Oh hi there! It's been so long since I've been here--Nov 10th, is that right? So long that I forgot the password for a long time until I just found it. Ha ha! I hope all of you are well in 2012. I've been working on the ultimate eighty-six since October 31st...losing weight. I mean, how bad can it be to start a diet on the best candy day of the year?! UGH! Anyway, it's taken up a considerable amount of time and effort, but it's been really good for me and I feel a lot better--more focused, more driven to get things done. I didn't set out with a defined goal; I find weight loss can be a really depressing experience when you set a goal and it doesn't happen. I didn't really even tell anyone about it until I knew it would take. I just began by really working out and watching everything I ate. I did the Insanity workout program (also Zumba 2-3 times per week) and ate no more than 1600 calories a day and about two weeks in it started happening--I was losing weight and my body was getting thinner! I was 8 pounds down three weeks in, 12 pounds down five weeks in, and 17 pounds down by the end of the sixty-day program. It has been a life altering experience as anyone that has ever known me knows that I'm a night owl. That has all changed--I get up at 5:00 a.m. each day now to work out for an hour (a workout that at first made me wish for death, I'm not kidding, but now I love it), eat breakfast, and I'm at work by 7:30/7:45. The once sleep deprived me is almost always in bed by 10:00 p.m. getting 7 good hours. Now my grandma stays up later than I do! I've continued with my "diet", Insanity, and Zumba. I don't really want to call what I eat now a diet because I'm still eating a ton, just no real junk like tons of needless sugar and carbs. I do have a few cheats here and there--a beer, a piece of dark chocolate, or even a slice of pizza--but I'm still losing and I just passed the 20 pound mark a couple of weeks ago. The crazy thing is that I didn't even realize I needed to lose that much, but in looking at my body and thinking about how I really feel now, I know it was definitely the right thing to do. I don't have any concrete goals ahead of me for losing more, but I would like to get down 25 pounds total which is just a couple pounds over my college weight and get more toned. If it doesn't happen I'm still very happy with where I am right now.
I know only about five people follow this site, but I hope that maybe my small life success will inspire you to be a better you in 2012!
I may start another blog where I post a page of a book I've written every day...email me if you'd read it. We'll see where that goes.
Take care of yourself and I'll write again soon!