Weight is a touchy subject. Understandably. I get almost daily updates on my facebook newsfeed about someone's weight loss (new diet/gym routine) or weight gain (expecting a baby). Exciting news that people want to document! It's never really been about numbers for me. I know people have an ideal weight- I tend to have an ideal range. I know if I look in the mirror and I am unhappy- that I need to do something about that. I also know that if I look in the mirror and I am happy, I should probably keep doing whatever I am doing, because it's working. That's where I usually taper off. My mom was never a "diet" person. She always worked out. She also encouraged us to work out and play sports year round. We were always active. We also had portion control and rarely soda in the house, etc. We ate at home most of the time, which would probably explain why I love fast food so much. The minute I got my drivers license, I would hit up every fast food chain on my way home. I was broke but it was great. I digress. We also never had scales in our house. I would probably only know my weight if I was at the doctors or at a friends where I saw a scale and curiously stood on it. I have never 'struggled' with my weight. I have struggled to keep muscle mass, tone, etc. I didn't really focus on weight, muscle, and health until college.
At a military college, we get evaluated for height and weight standards. Once a semester, I would have my height, weight, BMI, water weight, bone density mass, etc. measured. If you are over or underweight they put you on a health plan. You also have a physical fitness test once a semester as well which consists of pushups, situps, and a 2 mile run. You have to reach a certain number of pushups or situps in 2 minutes, the 2 mile had to be completed in 16-17 minutes. Needless to say, I was in the best shape of my life. My roommate was a health,education, sports science major who played D1 volleyball. She was basically my personal trainer. I normally weighed in around 122-125 lbs. Except for my knob year. Knob year, we really don't eat as much and the calories that we are taking in do not equal the amount that we are burning. I had a lot of proteins bars hidden during that first year. I dropped down to 106 lbs. I was literally bones and biceps. Once the upperclassmen realized I was ridiculously skinny and sick all the time, they began force feeding me. Typical guys, I had to eat a lot of eggs and ice cream sandwiches. The Citadel taught me amazing things about portion control, not needing so much food, and only eating until I barely got full. Enough to last me until the next meal. I never had soda, barely drank- (drinking calories is dumb), and I consistently trained. Being a SGT and later a commander, I did quite a bit of pushups each day with my subordinates. (Reps were 20 each time) On top of that, hitting the gym with my roommate KJ, where she would pull up Ipad workouts and smoke me. It was great! After graduating undergrad, I did something stupid. I stopped working out. I lost all that muscle mass and went down to 114 lbs for almost two years. I loved being so skinny and eating anything I wanted. I hate that I was easily sick, bruised like a peach, had no energy, and had zero strength. If I looked in the mirror and didn't like my abs. I would knock out 50 situps for a week until my six pack was back and continue on until the next time I didn't like my abs. It was/ is a vicious cycle. Now, I do daily or every other day stationary at my apartment. Situps, pushups, planks, flutterkicks, etc. Also whatever I find on pinterest that really interests me. I run but not as much. I really hate running. I walk the mile to and from campus and try to walk as much as possible. I hit the gym on the weekends doing an hour or hour and a half of cardio, weights, stationary. This morning was rowing, running, stairmaster, stationary, pullups, and weights. I also have the fitbit charge that I monitor for my daily distance, calories burned, heart beat, etc. However, I am still not happy with my body. I want to be back to my senior year of college fitness.
I weigh 128 as of this morning. So for Lent, I am going to do something I did for two years in college. I am going vegetarian twice a week. I would eat strictly veggies for the whole day. I had so much energy and felt great. I want to keep up with my workouts but I want to push the envelope and get over that hump. Since it is Lent for us crazy Catholics, I thought it would be the perfect time to kickstart this. We are supposed to abstain from meat on Fridays, so I will probably incorporate Tuesdays as well. You can't get anywhere by complaining about it. So I am doing something about it. I love my body but I know I can do better, starting today.
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