Trying to Shed a Few Pounds…

or 20 to be exact, but minor details right? ;)

Over the past 6 years (particularly the last 3), I’ve put on 20 pounds and I absolutely hate it! 

As I’ve mentioned quite a few times before, I was a dancer in high school.  Although at the time I never saw myself as skinny (Like the old saying, you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone! or the reverse in this case ;)), I never really worried about what I ate because I danced so often, I knew I would lose it right away.  I could have been a little skinnier if I had eaten a little healthier, but I was at a very healthy size and weight as you can see here in my senior prom picture (I couldn’t get that dress over my head now if I tried!)

When I came to college, I was dating a guy back home first semester, and because I didn’t bother getting to know anyone, I kept to myself and did my own thing and stayed in decent shape walking to class every day.  Near the end of the semester when things got stressful with the boyfriend, I would go run to relieve some stress.  Second semester, after the boyfriend and I broke up over Christmas, I continued to walking to class and added on running a couple of miles every morning with my friend Crystal.  this resulted in me actually being more healthy and even losing weight (isn’t that always how it works when you get out of a relationship ;))  This is a picture of my friend Crystal and I in February 2004.

Alex and I kind of got back together the end of that semester, but by the time summer rolled around, I was single again and staying busy with orientation so I didn’t have a chance to gain any weight!  I was proud of myself because here I was losing weight while all of my friends from high school were packing it on…I had escaped the freshman 15 :)

Alex and I started dating again the following fall, and school started getting busy as I started my education classes.  Having a boyfriend here really made a huge difference as we began going out to eat and eating more meals together (which meant less Lean Cuisines for me!).  Subsequently, I started gaining a few pounds.  By few, I mean, literally a few in like no more than 5, however, if you are only 5 feet tall like me, 5 pounds really show.  I originally chalked it up to water weight thanks to “that time of the month”, but I eventually realized that I was actually gaining weight :(.  (Picture:  my friend Jenn and I in April 2005)

I gained a few more pounds before summer rolled around and eventually realized I had to do something about it.  I started Weight Watchers with my friend Lauren that summer

I actually got within three pounds of my goal weight, but that following May my grandfather passed away and I put that weight back on and more over the past 3 years. (Picture from the following September)

I’ve learned to hide it pretty well with baggy shirts and cropped pictures, but overall I’ve gained 20 lbs.

This summer I’ve had lots of time to analyze every aspect of my life (because when I have free time, this is what I do) and one area that was lacking was the healthiness part of it.  Although I’ve not gained that much weight over the past year, it is definitely clear I have stopped taking care of my body.  All of this would of course be due to stress, lack of sleep and exercise, and of course unhealthy eating habits.  This is actually one of the main reasons of my doctor’s visit during Christmas break.  Not only was I shedding hair and physically sick all of the time, I was just overall unhealthy. 

Since my confidence is wavering due to previous circumstances, looking in the mirror to see my not so healthy self does not help things.  So this summer, I’ve tried to make some changes in my life, especially since I’ve heard several times that you’re metabolism stops at 25!

On Saturday, Josh and I walked to do some errands on campus, then walked to the rec center, walked over 2 miles on the treadmill, and then walked back home (a total of like 3 hours worth of walking).  Needless to say, it was quite a workout (and I felt it!).  Between my exercising and healthier eating, I’ve actually lost about 5 or 6 pounds which I am super proud of!  To make things even better, a friend told me tonight that I looked great and looked like I had lost a ton of weight :)

Anyway, one thing I really liked about going to weigh in at WW is that I got to share my successes with someone which held me accountable. Since I’m not going to weigh in anymore (I do the online version), I thought I would use my blog to share my successes and frustrations so on Wednesday’s, I’m going to share my weight changes so that I’m accountable and hopefully by February I will be close to my goal weight :)

I weighed on Sunday so I’m not going to weigh again until next Wednesday (I’m a firm believer in not weighing yourself every little bit) so I will start my Weight Loss Wednesday’s then! :)

Have a great Tuesday! :)