Time for a fresh start!

And now for a break from house-building posts…

I remember looking at myself in the mirror when I was in high school and always thinking “if only I was a little bit skinnier”…”if only I could lose a little more weight”…

Not to be too clichéd but hindsight is always 20/20…

11 years later, I’d kill to be the size I was in high school.  I realize now that while I never had a super slender physique (and never will…it’s just not my natural build), I was in great shape.

And then college happened…I went to a university without a swim team so my main source of exercise wasn’t a possibility.  I actually joined the newly formed field hockey team my freshman year but was told by some of my teachers that playing a sport like that was a risk I wasn’t allowed to take given that I had received several talent scholarships for harp.  They weren’t willing to have me break a leg or an arm and be out of the ensembles for a semester.  Besides, I was kinda awful at it…

So, I didn’t really exercise and I spent the first year of college eating junk food at the snack bar on campus because the dining hall food was AWFUL.  It was a year of nothing but awesome patty melts, mozzarella sticks, and fries…

And even after that year, I didn’t gain the freshman 15…my metabolism for 14 years as a competitive swimmer must have stayed around for awhile…

But then I moved off campus…and learned how to cook.  And kept cooking more and more interesting (and usually fairly unhealthy) foods.  For a couple years I actually owned a  deep fryer so I could perfect my chimichangas and fried pierogies…*sigh*…

So I just kept putting on the weight…and mostly ignoring it.

It’s taken way too long to get here but I’m finally at the point where I know something has to change.  I’ve attempted lots of diets and such here and there over the years but never really stuck with anything.  I realize now that I can’t just attempt to “crash-diet” and there really is no miracle pill that will make it all go away.  This has to be a lifestyle change incorporating smarter food choices, new recipes, exercise, and a whole new mindset.

So, with that in mind, I’ve done a couple of things in the past few weeks.  First off, I changed gyms.  I enjoyed the Wellness Center but it was just far enough away to be something I didn’t make time for.  Body Renew has two locations: one less than 10 minutes from the current house and the other less than 10 minutes away from the new house.  And the location closest to our new house is gaining an indoor pool in less than a month!  Membership is also substantially cheaper so now both Steve and I have gym memberships for less than my single membership to the Wellness Center.  The new gym also has daily Zumba classes which are my absolute favorite!  I’ve already been to 2 and had a blast both times.

I also took the plunge and signed up for personal training.  My trainer just moved to the area and is building his clientele.  We had our first session this afternoon and I really think it’s a good match.  I’m looking forward to seeing what he will push me to do!

I’ve also started using the Lose It app again and have rejoined my team.  I belonged to a team challenge group last year and had a lot of success with it…and also made some great friends!  I look forward to getting back to the team and reconnecting with them.  Plus, Lose It is a great app for tracking exercise and food easily.  I highly recommend it!

I also found a great sale online today for the Bosu and went ahead and bought it.  My trainer had me doing some great ab work on the Bosu today and I look forward to having easy daily access to it.

And finally one of my students gave me an awesome end of the year/early house-warming gift of a Blendtec blender!!   It’s AMAZING…hands-down, my favorite kitchen appliance (even beating out my beloved Kitchen-Aid!).  It’s absolutely fantastic for making fresh fruit smoothies.  I’ve been having a daily smoothie of cherry yogurt, cran-cherry juice, fresh banana, frozen cherries, and a handful of ice cubes.  I love me some Tropical Smoothie Cafe but this smoothie beats TSC any day!  I’m looking forward to experimenting with ‘green’ smoothies, homemade soups, and nut butters.

So why am I writing all of this in a public blog post that can be found by anyone on the internet (if they cared enough to look for it)?  Besides the other things I’ve put into motion I figure that writing all this into a blog post might help make me a little more accountable.  And yeah, if you see me with a candy bar in my hand in the near future, please feel free to take it away from me…I promise I won’t get mad!

Here’s to a new beginning and a fresh start to a new lifestyle!