10 Down - 5 More To Go: A Weight-Loss Journey

Over the 6 months or so, I've been working out seriously.  99% of it is cardio-based, i.e., walking, but it's exercise nonetheless.  I'm currently at 220 lbs and am excited to reach my goal of 215 lbs in the next few months.  I've been losing a pound or so here and there roughly every 1.5-2.5 weeks.  I haven't weighed 215 in almost 10 years!

What kicked off the need to get fit was getting pregnant again.  It'd been 7 years since the last child was born and now I'm a bit older.  The idea of having to run after a kid at middle-age and being unable to keep up with them seemed very unappealing to me.   Also, my body was starting to have inexplicable pains here and there; it must've been the years of doing improv that took it's toll 😉.  I had a very acute pain literally in my rear end; I pulled a muscle roller-skating and it hurt no matter what position I was in.  I couldn't get in and out of the car, sleep too long on my side, sit too long in a chair, or stand too long without it hurting.  The only thing that seemed to help it was walking for 30 minutes or more to get blood going into my muscle.

So, I began walking just to avoid the pain. I also figured that I should probably shed a few pounds just in case the added weight to my frame was complicating things in a way unbeknownst to me.  I've had my Fitbit for a while and at first was really into it; I lost weight in the past by tracking my food intake, counting my steps, and feeling good about "taking charge of my health".   Then I got complacent and bored and went back to all of my bad habits of eating too much, not exercising enough, and sleeping too little or too much.  Thanks to this pain in my ass, I was motivated to get that under control.

I've also joined a group of improvisers who also have Fitbits and we have weekly competitions to see who can walk the most during the work week and on weekends.  One of the participants is a professional dog walker.  She average 30K+ steps a day when the weather is good and the holidays aren't around.  She consistently beats us; which keeps me motivated; however, there are times where conditions favor me maybe winning and I go full-bore into exercising.  I've actually won a few weeks here and there.  Everyone in the group is supportive of each other and we do our best to motivate each other to move.

The weather lately has not been cooperating with me.  I was contemplating during the spring/summer when I started all of this to try to get into enough shape where I could run a 5K non-stop.  When the brutally cold weather came in, it really put a damper on my willingness to train for it outside.  I have a treadmill that cooperates with me roughly 70% of the time but it has issues so running consistently on it is hard. So, I've been relegated back to just walking.  Hopefully when it warms up a bit I can get back to hating myself and wanting to pass out and die behind someone's tool shed when I get back to jogging :)

Current soda of choice.

I've recently began cutting out non-diet soda out of my diet.  Cot damn that is hard.  I'm an avid soda drinker but lately the amount of sugar I've been taking has been just way too much.  I can feel it hampering me from losing more weight.  I've switched over to diet drinks to ween myself off them completely over the next few weeks.  I've been drinking more water as well (if they could just make water compliment my meals better, I'd be done with soda!).

So, here's to losing the last 5 pounds.  My reward for doing so will be the new headshots I've wanted for a while.  I have been featured in a lot of pictures recently and I can truly say I feel like I look good in them.  It's nice not wanting/needing to Photoshop yourself to enjoy  a picture anymore :)

Time to go for a walk!