Well the chances of me sticking to
this blog are slim to none but it would be nice to have something to look back
on.
My journey is much
like anyone else's that has struggled with their weight and health for any
given amount of time. Full of ups,
downs, victories, and failures. And each
time I hit a milestone, I turned around and doubled what I had taken off.
My struggle began in 1999... my first desk job. Before that my job was on my feet running
around chaotically at any given time but finally a desk job where all I have to
do is answer phones and eat. Fast
forward about a year and 40 lbs. I
looked at some pictures at my going away party and I wanted to cry. Who was that person?? I ended up dropping about 20 pounds by 2003
and by 2006 I was pretty close to my high school weight. Close enough for me
anyway. I felt great, looked great, and
was free and happy. Fast forward to
2008.. the job market crashed in FL, my (now) fiancé picked up his bags and
moved back to his hometown in Virginia.
I stayed back hoping that he would find something again in FL and return
but that wasn't meant to be. In the year
between when he left and when I was laid off of my job, I started working the overnight
shift again and went back to habits I had in 2003. I gained everything back. 2009 I came up to visit, had no job and was
stressed out of my mind but as fate kicked in, I had an interview on that trip,
landed the job, and a few short weeks later
I packed everything up and made the 16 hour drive to where I now call
home.
The move was difficult for me. It is cold here, and there's white crap, and
nothing to do. It's 3 hours to the
closest beach and no family anywhere close to me. To kill the boredom and de-stress, I took up
crocheting and knitting to distress and do something "useful" with my
time. In 2013 we moved to a new home and
right across the street there is a gym.
I can and have walked to it during the summer. I put my foot down and said enough is
enough. I'm joining this gym, hiring a
personal trainer.. no more playing around.
I saw my trainer 3 times a week for about 4 months-ish. I was food logging, watching my portions like
a hawk, and killing myself in the gym.
The scale barely budged. I said,
ok.. fine.. maybe it's that I'm gaining muscle.
But my clothes didn't feel any different, I just felt exhausted and sore
and defeated. There must be something
wrong with me. I went to the Dr. and had blood tests ran and got a full
physical. Surely something inside must
be out of whack. I just knew it.. At
this point I stopped paying for the trainer.
While waiting for my blood results to come back, I came
across a blog "The Food Babe" and to my astonishment I felt like I
found what the link was. Why I was
always tired, why I couldn't lose the weight.. I feverishly clicked through
each article and realized that my entire diet was based on trust in the food
companies. I had heard before to only
shop on the outside of the grocery store but I was still eating my cereal,
binging on ice cream from time to time, and various other staples that I just
have always had in the house. Peanut
butter (that’s healthy), pancake syrup (note, not real maple.. that stuff is
expensive I justified), “healthy” frozen dinners for lunch that always kept me
hungry, etc. My blood results came
back.. perfectly normal. There were a
few things that indicated that I needed to make some changes now but nothing to
be alarmed about. That was not the
answer I was looking for by the way. I
was practically begging for them to tell me that my thyroid is out of
whack. So now, stumped again but the
light was starting to turn on. I decided
to go see a nutritionist. Because of
some of the things I’ve found on the internet, I didn’t fully agree with her on
some things but took away some great knowledge.
Although (I’m NOT a knowitall btw) I felt like I was teaching her a few
things. So I moved on to another
nutritionist. I found her waiting in the
urgent care one night and they had a board that had all their doctors at that
practice. I looked her up.. she lives on
a farm, has her own animals and garden for food, believes in organic and whole
foods, etc… everything that I wanted to know more about. My meeting with her was phenominal and
enlightening. She gave me great articles
to read and told me about how important magnesium is. I will be honest, I’ve not followed her recommendations
to the T since I saw her last but I have incorporated a lot into my every day
life. I only eat foods that I can
pronounce, I buy organic whenever possible, I do like to juice and blend green
drinks, and I’m all about coconut and almond oil in/on everything. Only problem is, I was still beat at the end
of the day. I needed a coffee pick-me-up
on my way home from work to deal with the chaos when I got home, and just felt
blah…
Enter Christmas this year.. My friend just had a baby and
she was on Facebook blasting her new diet plan which included Shakeology. I had heard about it before but because of
this revelation that everything processed in some way is bad, I blocked it
out. It wasn’t for me. She invited me to join a weight loss
kickstart group on FB to which I agreed.
I’m all about supporting my friends and I love learning new things. And she just kept on and on and on about this
Shakeology thing.. so I bit. I asked her
what it was.. she gave me some links to look at and I spent a good month and a
half learning about it before admitting I was hesitant because I didn’t want to
buy a full bag without knowing how it tastes.
She sent me 2 samples. Vanilla
and Chocolate. I was hooked. Just those 2 days changed everything for
me. I was alert at work.. I wasn’t
dragging, and it was a new sense of energy that I hadn’t felt for a while. While yes, I am a coach and I will be happy
to tell you more about Shakeology if you inquire, that’s NOT what this post is
about. I just want to throw that out
there. The point is, now that I’ve
perked up.. my body was now getting something that I was unable to provide it
before, I’m excited about getting busy again.
Getting active. I’ve been using
the shake for about a month now. 2 weeks
into drinking it in the morning, I went back to the gym, reactivated my
account, and haven’t missed a day of exercise.
I don’t always work out at the gym but I have a new found appreciation
for being active.
After about 2 months of research (actually more but the past
2 months, it’s been an obsession) I finally decided on getting a fitness
band. I got the fitbit charge. I’ve had it about 24 hours now and so far I’m
impressed. Let’s see how it helps me in
this next chapter of the journey.. and if you made it this far into this
ramble, thank you for taking the time.
Until next time….
