I'll continue with my story in the next entry but felt like writing this one this afternoon.
2013 had been an unbelievable year so far... I mean, at this point, it was the end of July, I had lost almost 70 pounds, found some new friends, become more social than I had ever been, gotten a new job and was just a happier person. Over the summer I didn't get to see Renee' much but we kept in touch through email and text message. It was interesting to me how she said she could hear the happiness in the way I would write messages and emails. Your mood and personality can be reflected in so many ways than many of us, including me, realize. Although a lot of my journey has been about weight loss, that isn't the only thing we've been focusing on.
Part of me becoming a happier person and truly making this a lifestyle change is finding what makes me happy. I actually really enjoy working out. It's my "me time". Last year, my time for myself would have been spent sitting on the couch, watching TV and, if I'm being honest, feeling sorry for myself that I didn't have anything to do. By now, I realized that if I really wanted to have things to do, I had to look for them - they weren't going to find me while I was sitting in my house. This is so much easier said than done. But, I pushed myself (with a lot of help) and, in such a short amount of time, I felt so much happier because I was around people and not just staring at the TV 24/7.
I used food as a comfort. I am definitely an emotional eater and, to this day, when I have a bad day, I just want to eat everything in sight. However, because I am overall a happier person, I am finding that I don't have that many bad days. In fact, it's rare that I would call a day bad. I may have a more stressful day but instead of eating, I go to the gym and work my frustration out in a different, healthier way. I still enjoy the occasional lazy day (who doesn't) but I find I am much busier and much happier than I ever thought possible.
Eight months ago, I never thought I would be someone saying that nutrition is at least 80% of weight loss, if not more. When I've tried to lose weight before, although I've always cut back on food, I thought the biggest thing was working out. Exercise is definitely part of it but nutrition is so much more important than I ever thought. I think that is why I've been able to lose as much weight as I have.
Renee' tells me to keep "shocking my body" with different exercises, food, etc. Thank goodness she could tell me some things to do because I'm a moron when it comes to that kind of stuff. I could google exercises and most of the time there were pictures available for me to figure things out. Food was another story... I still get confused. But I'm slowly trying to figure it out and branch out...although I still haven't touched sushi since the first time I tried it.
With exercise, I was doing a lot of interval training. The elliptical was still my friend and I was doing a lot of sprint/jog because it would confuse my body with fast/slow. Then I would do some weights or some circuit training to keep confusing my body. I know all of these things have been keys to my success because every other time I've tried to lose weight, I would always do the same thing at the gym and think, well I'm burning calories so that's all I need to do. Nope! Always try to confuse your body - it will keep it guessing as to what you're trying to do and will help with weight loss and muscle building.
Hard to believe how much I've learned and changed in such a short amount of time. And, I am loving the new person I am becoming :)
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