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After a long winter in which I felt particularly unwell much of the time, I started, this spring, to work towards getting healthier. Most of my efforts have involve getting more exercise and losing weight; I'm not particularly vain, nor am I size-conscious, but I just wasn't feeling good, and it's not rocket surgery to blame the 50 pounds that I've gained since my first pregnancy.
I've been tracking my food using MyFitnessPal and my exercise using BodyMedia, because I don't do well with guesswork, and I've been able to lose 23 pounds so far without actually that much stress or fuss; I wonder if I would have started getting healthier sooner if I'd known how different the options are from that first crash diet that I was put on back in the sixth grade. That first experience is the one that makes me feel kind of panicky and upset still if I get too hungry 25 years later, so there's absolutely none of that nonsense now. No tiny little kitchen scale, no tuna, no English muffins--Weight Watchers in the 1980s was a piece of work, I'll tell you that.
My major focus, though, is the amount of healthy exercise that I'm trying to get each day. I wear a BodyMedia armband that tracks it, which is often the main thing that gets me back on the treadmill for another fifteen minutes after dinner, because I want to meet my activity goals, or gets me to that Wednesday morning cardio class, because my armband reads it as "vigorous" activity. I'm teaching myself to run, even though I don't love it and I am definitely the slowest runner on the planet, and I've finally gotten the girls used to the idea that every trip to the park must also include the .8-mile trek AROUND the park, as well.
And so now I have a bunch of clothes that don't fit! I actually am not in love with that fact, because I don't like to shop, and when I do shop, I like to shop second-hand. And second-hand is NOT the way to go when you need a new wardrobe of pants right this minute. I actually had to go to Target last weekend to buy a pair of pants. I am looking forward to altering, modding, and reworking all my T-shirts, though.
But the big question... Yes, I feel SO much better today than I did six months ago. Just in general, I feel so much better! How great is that?
Way to go, Julie! Congrats on your weight loss.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love the "duck face."
So awesome! Way to stick with it, and I am so happy that you feel better. It really is amazing the difference getting healthier can make.
ReplyDeleteI was just saying to the hubby how I hate the thought of having to go out and buy another pair of "work" jeans because mine are now so big that I can take them off without unbuttoning them. Same with my sports bras (which is all I wear). I don't buy cheap bras, so I hate that I need all new ones...
Any tips on making jeans ans sports bras smaller?
My sports bra, at least, is a feat of extreme engineering, but I do have plans in the making to post a tutorial on shortening the straps of my other bra.
ReplyDeleteMy bras, too, are very expensive--I order them online from a company that only stocks bras for women of immense cleavage--so I, too, am dreading having to buy new ones. Fortunately, I think the alteration that I'm going to do on one bra will allow it to fit me until I lose another significant amount of weight, and my sports bras, having been uncomfortably tight for a while as I resisted buying new ones that reflected my weight gain, are now quite comfy!
Stupid bras.
ReplyDeleteI actually tried to make myself one a while back, but it didn't work out. Then I started classes and haven't had time to try again.
Again, stupid bras. Sometimes I really envy people who don't have to wear them.