Being Healthy

I started my journey to a fitter life last week and I have to admit it has been challenging and at times quite frustrating.

As someone who at one point could run for 2 hours and bike for almost a full day, it's strange to be tired after a 15 minute run. Even stranger was the intense muscle soreness I experienced after my first day doing the 300/30 ab challenge. I have never felt so much pain in my abs and hip flexors! Pain that almost pushed me back to my sedentary lifestyle. But that's not the solution and the pain actually made me realize that my body was showing me how out of shape it had really gotten and how important it was that I was finally taking these steps...

I've also got another source of motivation. Not only has my own health declined as my weight increased, but recently my cousin, a fairly obese 23-year-old, started suffering from seizures. The doctors have ruled out epilepsy, but still haven't pinpointed the cause. Of course I have no idea if her seizures are linked to her weight or unhealthy eating habits, but this isn't the first time she has gotten sick and the fact of the matter is: a person, who eats healthy and exercises, significantly reduces their risk of illness.

That to me is the key. It is not about dieting to look skinny. It's not about dieting, period. It's about making a lifestyle change so that I can be fit and healthy for as long as possible. I want children some day soon and when I have those children I want to not only teach them how to lead healthy lives, but I want to be healthy with them.

So here we are. Day 2 of the blog, but officially day 11 of my journey.

Cardio: 18 min run (I increased my time and decreased my miles/min today!)
Strength: 300 ab challenge with only some minor modifications
Calories: 1700
Weight: 164 lbs (Starting weight 11 days ago: 167.5 lbs)

Pretty good day, if I say so myself!

Starting Over

Pensamentunan (the original url of this blog) means thoughts and I guess when I first chose this blog name that was my intention; share my thoughts with the world. Like anyone wants to listen to my thoughts?! Well, just in case you're interested, my thoughts these days are focused on my weight. Actually less on my weight and more on my lack of fitness and general health.

It wasn't always this way. I was a dancer for 18 years of my life, then moved on to running, biking and some swimming. I've completed a sprint triathlon, 3 half marathons, a full marathon and a 5-day 200-mile bike ride. Needless to say I was pretty fit. Never super skinny, but always fit. Now, not so much. My weight has steadily increased these past 2-3 years and now, for the first time, I have this tummy that I am constantly, often unsuccessfully, trying to hide.

I recently read a blog about a woman who talks about her weight loss journey and how it started. She says that one day it just hit her and she knew it was time to change for good. I know exactly how she feels, because just last week the same feeling hit me.

Maybe it's the fact that I turn 30 in 3 days or maybe it's the fact that I no longer look good in any of my clothes or the fact that I hate getting my picture taken or maybe it's the fact that I see what being overweight and sedentary can do to you...I don't want that, not anymore. I also really just miss being active. Running, biking, dancing, I love it all. I also love to eat & drink and the truth is, in order to eat and drink all the yummy things the world has to offer you have to workout. You have to create a calorie balance of what goes in and what gets burned off. Calorie excess causes you to gain wait, calorie deficit (in healthy amounts) causes weight loss. So that's what I'm doing.

I'm not obese, but I'm definitely at least 25 pounds overweight and I want at least 20 of those pounds to come off! (I've taken pictures, but honestly I am not quite ready to share them with you). I realize, because this is not a diet, but a lifestyle change, it may take me a while to lose all the weight.

So here's my plan:

Cardio: 3X per week, starting with 20-30 minutes and building up to 30-45min. I plan to start with running and building it up slowly (last week I ran 3X, although only for 15 minutes since it had been over a year since my last run). Once the running is up to a solid 30-45 minutes, I'd like to up my routine to 4X per week and add biking and maybe some swimming to my routine.

Strength: I'm not too worried about this for now, although strength training has been known to be the secret to losing weight. I definitely want to work on that tummy of mine ASAP, so three days ago I started the 300 in 30 ab challenge which I want to try to complete at least 5 days per week. Intermix that with some lunge/squat/leg raise routines and I should be set to get my biggest problem areas back in too shape.

Food: Thanks to the MyFitnessPal app, I know that my calorie intake on non-workout days should be 1200-1400 calories, so that'll be my base. On workout days I'll increase to 1600-2000 depending on how much I do. Like I said I love to eat, so I'm not going to place too many limits, although I'll definitely be watching my fat and sugar intake.

That's it! That's the plan. I'm intrigued by CrossFit (doesn't everyone doing it just look so fit?), so I may try that out after I complete the 300/30 challenge. I also want to run another half and do another sprint triathlon, so I may have to add official training schedules once I've signed up for those, but I think in general this will be a good base for improving my fitness.

Any suggestions are definitely welcome! And if you're ready to get fit, join me! We can become MyFitnessPal friends and motivate each other!

*Note: The images were found on Pinterest. If you know the original source, let me know, so I can cite them.