My journey is to lose weight and become the person I want to be. I have never been a thin person. I have always been curvy. Even when I went through Basic Training, I only lost 10# after 9 weeks of torture. Exercise has never been fun for me. I prefer to workout with a group. In AIT I discovered that I can run, and I was actually pretty good at it. However, at 15 weeks of total training (BT and AIT) I returned to Minnesota during the winter to small town with no gyms nearby. That was the start.
When I got pregnant I was 197#. I was okay at that weight. Had an easy pregnancy, ate well, and only gained 25-30#. By 6 weeks post partum, I was back to my prepregnancy weight of 197#. However I was nursing and tired, and ate to keep my energy up. For 9 months I ate to keep going. When I stopped nursing/pumping, I didn't stop eating. Top that with soda intake, the weight kept creeping up.
It finally came to a head this year when I had to buy new pants and clothes for work, and nothing was comfortable anymore. I realized that I had gained 10# in 8 months. With the new year, I got a physical and had a lot of blood work done. Overall my numbers are good. High cholesterol but not a big deal. I had already stopped the soda by the time I had my physical, so I was down 4# by then. After talking with my doctor, we decided to try dieting/exercising before considering any meds for the high cholesterol.
As of January 7, 2012, I joined http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ and am tracking my food and exercise. I am on a journey to lose a lot of excess weight, specifically about 90#. My high point was around Christmas time at 244.4#. Hated it. I have a hard time tieing my shoes since my belly is getting in the way. My joints hurt and in general I did not like the way I felt. I felt fat!
I realized through MFP that my diet wasn't horrible. I really just needed to work on excersing and getting rid of the excess calories. I'm not starving myself by any means. My goal is to lose 1# a week, but I often find myself eating a bit less to more of a 2# loss. I'm still trying to figure out my daily intake and how to get more calories in at the beginning of the day and not end up starving at the end of the day. Currently during the work week I eat light during the day since I have a desk job, and then eat the majority of my calories in the evening. Not the best thing for me. Especially since I workout in the evenings. So that is something I have to work on.
I am currently a month into the journey, and I am down about 11# total and 1.5 inches off my hips. Basically have stopped all soda. Very limited quantities if any. The really big change has been going to the gym and working out a few times a week. Hard work, but so worth it. I am working on getting back into running shape since it really is a great full-body workout for me. I don't believe I will ever be a distance runner, but I would like to be able to run a couple miles at a time and feel good about it.
So my workouts to start are mainly cardio, low impact with the elliptical and the ARC glider. Some walking or running intervals on the treadmill. It really is getting easier. I am using an app on my phone called C25K (Couch to 5K). It takes you through 3 workouts a week for about 6 weeks that use interval walk/jog to enable you to work up to 5K running. I was able to finish the week 1 day 1 workout a couple days ago with minimal issues.
Overall I need to take it slow and not overdo the workouts. The last thing I need to end up with is stress fractures and intense pain that prevents me from working out. So far I haven't been overly sore after any of my workouts. Early on I did one session of the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. That sucked. But I was forewarned about that. My legs hurt for 3 days after that. I do plan to continue using that DVD, but I might wait another week or so before trying it again.
I enjoy going to the gym. I try to go a couple times during the week while the hubby is gone for work (thank god for a child care room there) and each night when he is home so he can watch our daughter. This is my "me time", and I really need it. It helps me destress and feel better about myself. Ultimately my goal is to get down to 150#. At that weight I will be smaller than I was when I deployed to Iraq. I survived that, so weight loss should be easier.
So the next couple years are going to be hard work, but it will be worth it. Now if I can convince my hubby to join me in this, then we all will be happier and healthier.
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