And so it begins...

Good day!

What is this blog? The short answer is that this blog is here for me to track my journey to my fitness and nutrition goals. I hope to make it enjoyable for others as well if any happen to stumble upon it. (Or I thrust it upon them. Hi!)  For a longer explanation of my background, buckle in and keep reading!

My awareness of my weight and need for better nutrition began in 2009. I started my first desk job right out of grad school. This change also included a move back home to Colorado from Paris, where my school was. (My adventures there can be found in my other blog here, Born A Woman But Been Abroad A Year). My daily schedule changed drastically. In grad school I had fairly open hours with class a few hours a week, ate what I wanted, walked everywhere, and lived on the 4^th floor of an apartment building that didn’t have an elevator. (Lugging groceries up those stairs entailed one tough work out!) My new schedule included sitting at a desk for 40 hours a week, living in a two story house and working on the first floor, eating what my family was eating, and driving everywhere. This schedule change sapped my energy. My routine quickly became: wake up, drive to work, work 8 hours, drive home, collapse on the couch, watch TV, go to bed. 

Not surprisingly, this resulted in massive weight gain. I had started at a size 12 or so. I didn’t pay attention to sizes before. I just wore what fit. I skipped to a size 16 without even a glance at size 14. Just flew right by that sucker. I happened to have doctor appointments one week apart. In that ONE WEEK I gained ten pounds. My overall weight gain was around thirty pounds. At my heaviest I hovered under 200 pounds close to 190 pounds. I was a skinny string bean kid and average thin through school. It was quite a shock when I started dating a guy around the same time and in response to something I said he replied, “That’s why I like big girls!” I didn’t identify myself as a “big girl.” I’d always been tall for my age and gender at 5’9”. But now I was being called a big girl. It was a punch to the gut since in my head I was still that thin girl from high school. (And in case you’re wondering, that guy didn’t last).

Gaining weight as fast as I did was not normal even considering the lifestyle change. A later blood test at the doctor’s office revealed that my thyroid had quit on me (that lazy jerk). Without my thyroid pumping out its hormones, this added to weight gain, slower metabolism, and feeling tired all the time no matter how much I slept. I could sleep nine hours and feel like I didn’t get any sleep the next day. This is obvious in retrospect; however I was completely unaware at the time. I simply thought I needed to catch up on sleep. When I tried to go to the gym to work out, I saw no results and only felt more exhausted every time.

The doctor got me set up with medication to help regulate my hypothyroidism.  Lucky for me, they were like magic pills.  I got more energy. With this added energy, I was more active and able to go to the gym.  I began lifting weights in addition to my Zumba classes at the recreation center.  My brother, a 6’4” beefy former football player, helped me get started on some good weight routines and a good eating plan.  Some of the pounds seemed to melt off over the following months. I slept well and felt more awake at work. The pills helped fix some of the problem. Through working out and becoming more aware of my diet, I managed to cut my weight back down to 170 pounds.  I also moved into an apartment that was walking distance from work. I tried to style my life around how I lived in France. I still couldn’t walk to the grocery store, but I was at least getting much more movement in my daily routine. I was able to walk to the nearby recreation center as well.

So where am I today?  I moved out of the apartment next to my work and into a house with my boyfriend (a much healthier relationship than the last one).  I am driving to work again but still walking on my lunch hour.  I gained back about thirteen pounds.  It’s not an impossible amount to lose, but I definitely want to do something different now to curb that gain.  The only thing I want to be gaining is muscle.

I recently joined Nerd Fitness to help kick start my fitness and nutrition.  A lot of the information I will be posting will be related to the steps and goals set out there.

So without further blather, I present to you my Super Sale Blog!