old news

Yesterday, while trying to find something I had misplaced, I came across my very first weight loss/fitness journal.

It was from 2006, the year I became serious about fitness. It was shortly after the birth of my 3rd child. I had gained a LOT of fat during my pregnancy. I was on bedrest for nearly 3 months. And if you've never had to stay in bed for that long, you have NO IDEA how awful it is. And what do we do to comfort ourselves in situations like these? Well, eat, of course. I was stressed out, worried and bored. I watched a lot of movies, wrote a lot of letters and ate a lot of food. That's about all I could do. I lost any muscle tone I did have and gained fat in it's place.

Luckily for me, the bedrest worked and I was able to carry my baby to term (first time in 4 pregnancies). But my body paid a price. As soon as I got the "all clear" from my doctor, and had enough sleep and energy to begin, I started working out. Pre-pregnanacy, I was around 122lbs. and I wanted to be there again.

Here's where my journal stats started:
July 24, 2006
146 lbs
waist 35 inches
lower belly 36.5 inches
hips 43 inches
thighs 24 inches
arm 10.5 inches

One year later, July 30, 2007 stats:
111.8 lbs
lower belly 27 inches
hips 35 inches
thighs 20 inches
arm 9 inches



This is what I've been able to maintain for the past 5 years. Actually, I've gotten even leaner since. My waist is at 24 inches and my belly button measures 25.5.

Losing all that weight made me feel SO good! I felt successful because I set out to achieve a goal and surpassed it. It sparked a love for fitness and healthier eating that can never be extinguished!

I did come to a point, nearly two years later, where I had regained some weight. I had to take a couple months off of exercising due to medical reasons and the weight started to pile on very quickly. Proof that when you get down to a low weight, it takes a lot to maintain it. It was astonishing how tight my pants that once fit so loose had gotten! It was very depressing. And it took me a very long time to lose it again. Over a year.

Back when I first started, in 2006, I didn't know what "clean eating" was. But I started out the best way I knew how at the time: replacing all white starches with 100% whole grains. That was the first and biggest switch. I'm not sure what it was next. But slowly, I began to change my diet. I was forming good habits!

Almost 6 years later, I'm still at it. Working out consistently every week and trying to eat as good as I can while still allowing myself to indulge now and then.

I will admit, that my initial slim down was almost all cardio. There was maybe one light weight training session a week, but that was it. And while it did prove successful in helping me drop weight, it did nothing to improve my shape. I was the same pear, just smaller. But I didn't know any better. I hadn't built any muscle. And even though I was dreadfully skinny, I felt lumpy and soft because I had no tone. And thus my quest for muscle was born.

Thank goodness too. Because I am not the kind of person who could stand the same old cardio, day in and day out. Just imagining waking up knowing what was in store for me.....same as yesterday, same as last week, last month, last year....same, same, same....YUK!

Once I realized that I could shape my body through weight training, I was hooked. Fun and challenging weight lifting routines replaced all those awful cardio sessions. I started to notice changes in my body composition. And I felt really good about my body for the first time since I was a teenager. Cardio has it's place though. I still do cardio now and then, but it certainly isn't the main focus of my workouts.

I am still learning when it comes to what works for my body and what doesn't. And I still have yet to perfect it. Some people are lucky to find something that works early on, I feel as though I'm still going through trial and error after 6 years of honest effort. There is so much information to soak up, a lot of it conflicting. And the more we read the more confusing it can get. We have to be careful who's advice we listen to because it might not always be the best for our own personal situation. But through my blog, sharing my experiences - successes & failures - I have come to know that people like me are a dime a dozen out there. All striving for the same goal. All finding out how incredibly difficult it can be.

I used to be afraid of aging. Afraid to get old. But it's happening, and quicker than I'd like to admit. Being 3 years away from 40 seems so impossible to me. Wasn't I just 18? But I choose to embrace it. There's nothing else you can really do. And to be able to say that I am more fit and look better at 40 than I did at 20 will be one proud and defining moment in my life!