Since hitting puberty, I’ve never really been thin. On my 5′6" body, I carry my weight pretty well. No one ever really thinks I weigh as much as I ever do. I probably started highschool at around 130 and it creeped up to 160 by the end of my junior year. My senior year was a little rough on my emotionally and I started binge drinking and only eating food out of vending machines pretty much. I dropped down to 135 pretty quick and actually worried my mother and some teachers. I snapped out of it quick enough and got back up to a compfy 145 for me.
Enter: College
My weight slowly crept up and up. Beer, pizza, free Subway (where I worked), and lack of exercise (other than dancing the night away) led me to a high weight of 186, a snug size 14. It took me about a year out of college to figure out that I wasn’t happy and needed a change.
November of 2007, I started out by counting calories. Pen, paper, and the internet to help me figure out how many I should be eating. I started with consuming ~1500 calories a day. I quickly ditched the pen and paper and found www.thedailyplate.com (now at www.Livestrong.com) and tracked on there for a good while. The first 2 months were relatively successful. I probably dropped 10 lbs or so.
By February 2008, I figured out that I really needed to start exercising. I joined a gym, and signed up for a personal trainer that I met with 1x a week. I would exercise 3-5x a week, for 30-60 minutes at a time. I was still counting calories, and I was "eating back" the calories that I was burning so I was still netting ~1500 calories a day. I really wasn’t losing a whole lot of weight any more. I was widdling away at a pound here and there over the next few months. I got cranky with (what I thought was) a lack of results. It didn’t matter that people said I looked great and that I had to buy new clothes. I had it in my mind that I needed to lose 50 of those 186 lbs to be happy with myself. I was hovering in the 150’s, I was so much healthier and happier. Yes, the weight loss was slow, but it ain’t coming back.
I took a break from exercising. I was exhausted. And hungry. So I upped my calories, as per the recommendation of some people on TDP. I didn’t weigh myself for a month. When I did, I was down 5-6 lbs! Wow! Eating more seemed to do me good – on the scale and for my sanity! So I kept eating more, started exercising again, and by November 2008, one year after starting my journey, I had lost 30 lbs.
During this time, throw in losing my job, a vacation to Mexico, and all the holidays, I kinda fell off the wagon by my weight never went above 160. I was ok with that. Come January, I was ready to start watching what I ate and exercising more. I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. I lifted heavy, 3x a week. I loved the feeling of getting stronger. I didn’t lose any weight. And I knew that I probably wouldn’t going into the program. That’s not what I did it for. I did manage to get down to 153, but I’d always bounce back up a bit.
I have come to terms with the fact that I will probably never reach my initial goal of 135. I think it is unrealistic for my body type. I’m not exactly comfortable with where I am at right now, there is always room for improvement but it’s a process. I am currently probably eating ~2000 calories a day, and exercise has been sporadic due to a recent move but I plan to get back on track and I hope this blog will help!
