Since this is my first blog post in quite a while, today's topic will be solely about me; an update on my life as well as what I am doing nowadays regarding my progress towards a healthy lifestyle.
The majority of my blog history has been about my weight loss (and weight gain...), so let me cover the change in my weight over the years. It is lengthy, but shows that I have successfully lost weight, and also gained it all back. When I first started this blog, I was able to lose about 50-60 pounds to get down to 200 lbs, the lowest I had been since early high school. This happened from the end of 2011 to the summer of 2012. I then slacked over the summer and fall after a very successful spring, and gained back 20-30 pounds. At this point, it's the beginning of 2013. My knees had always been a problem over the past few years, but they kept getting worse. With the help of a physical therapist, my knees began to recover, and with a very successful diet, I was able to drop all of my gained weight and reached 194 pounds, right around February/March of 2013. I was amazed at my progress, and I was not even running anymore, due to my knees causing me too much discomfort. This is my lowest weight of my adult life (even now).
At this point, I began working Zoo Snooze at the Oregon Zoo, and in turn, ended up travelling a lot between Corvallis and Portland. This meant less shopping for healthy food and more shopping for convenient food. On top of this, I ate a lot of pizza, so I started to gain back some weight. Probably 210-215 lbs by the beginning of summer. Bummer. Then, I worked with 6th graders at the zoo, which includes an overnight, and more pizza and other meals given to us. Less control of my food means weight gain. It's inevitable for me, as I cannot resist temptation very well when it comes to free unhealthy food. Over the course of rest of 2013 and beginning of 2014, my weight would fluctuate around 240 pounds. Very unfortunate. I would periodically try to lose some weight, and would just give up eventually. It never took long to give into temptation. Binge eating is my worst enemy, and even to this day, is hard for me to deal with. However, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. I worked an internship at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest during the summer of 2014 on a stream ecology project. This meant that I spent most of my days hiking to and from, in and around streams during the hot summer days. I burned so many calories during the work day as well as sweating a lot in waders that even while eating and drinking literally whatever I wanted and however much I wanted, I managed to get down to 220 pounds by September 2014. But rather than continuing my weight loss trend, I kept my unhealthy habit of eating and drinking, plus the football season ruined any chance for a diet, and I quickly got back to 240.
At this point, 2015 comes around and I periodically lose a bit of weight, then gain it back. Same old thing. But to make it worse, I manage to get up to about 250 before summer starts. Wonderful. I have not weighed this much in a few years. I end up working at the Oregon Zoo again during the summer and manage to maintain my weight for once! Sweet deal, but promptly after the summer, I manage to put on a bit more weight, getting me up to 260 pounds. September of 2015, I decided enough is enough, and I need to motivate myself to not only start losing weight, but keep losing weight. I start using a website called DietBet, which makes you bet money on your weight loss. If you lose enough weight over a specific period of time (1 month or 6 months), then you win and not only get your money back, but will earn extra money. If you do not lose enough, then say goodbye to that money you bet. Simple enough. Well, over the last 3 months, I have lost 17 pounds, bringing me to 243 at the moment. Not tons of weight, but I have continually lost weight, and am still doing so. It does not need to be a super fast loss of weight, but as long as I continue a trend of weight loss, then I will be happy.
Okay, that is out of the way. Oh, and an update on my knees - they still suck and hurt when I am overly active. I still cannot run consistently. Not being able to run is certainly not the reason why I have gained weight back, but it is a partial reason why it has been difficult for me to be successful with weight loss. Running was what helped me lose so much weight, so quickly, back in 2012.
Not my knee, but same brand and style of the knee brace I often wear. Maybe one day I will not have to wear it. Maybe.
So now, with the motivation of using DietBet to keep me accountable, as well as being careful about my diet (and if I binge eat, like I still do, that I at least recover from it and get back on track), I have been successful with losing some weight. I have a rowing machine so that I can do cardio without ruining my knees, and just this week, I purchased a weightlifting set. Last week on Amazon, a 300 pound olympic weight set went on sale from $260 down to $170, and the weightlifting bench I was interested in went from $160 to $90. Both were a steal in my opinion, and I jumped on that purchase. After receiving the heavy-ass packages the other day and putting together the bench, I now can lift weights in my garage. There's just enough room in there with summer deck furniture, as well as many items and boxes that belong to my brother and I that are being stored in there. But yesterday, Hannah and I started StrongLifts 5x5 and completed our first workout. SL 5x5 is a beginner weightlifting program that utilizes squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and rows. 5x5 simply means 5 sets of 5 repetitions, and you do 3 of the lifts per workout, with alternating workouts. Workouts are every other day. If you're interested, you can check out their website, StrongLifts.
Yes, I know, the garage is messy. Tough. Just be glad you don't see the rest of it.
To wrap things up, I am currently losing weight through simple dieting and starting to lift weights again with my own weight set. Although I will periodically update my blog with posts about myself and my current progress, I want to transition my blog into weekly posts about my take on health and fitness. If I can help one person besides myself with this blog, then it's a success.
Until next time, stay fancy.
