I was just scrolling through my archives. And laughing at myself as I scrolled. I can't believe some of the crap I've written over the past 9 months or so.
As evidenced by my last post, I've made a pretty drastic life-style change recently. And I'm happy to say that it truly has become a life-style change and I can't imagine going back to the way I was before.
It all started a few weeks before I began Boot Camp Challenge in June. I'd just finished running my first 5K (did I even post my results? I'll have to check...) and I was prepping myself for Boot Camp... i.e. running at least 4 days a week and starting to cut calories. Any normal person probably would've just waited til the class started but I wanted a "good" mile time during testing at the first class. God forbid I show up and show them all how horribly out of shape I really was.
Anyway, a BIG part of Boot Camp Challenge is nutrition. My fabulous instructor really focused on the fact that you cannot make a big change to your body with fitness alone. I've really embraced this theory, and holy shit, it worked! To track my nutrition, I've been using an amazing site called SparkPeople . I cannot even describe how helpful it's been to my transformation.
It's really easy to track my food intake on the site and I've found that it's become kind of a game to me... it's fun to see how much food (wine!) I can squeeze into a day while staying within my calorie limits. I'm also having a blast discovering new low-cal foods and healthier versions of recipes I've made in the past.
SparkPeople also has some pretty great articles and features. I've made even made a few online friends through the site who help keep me in check using things like a daily accountability message board.
On top of my nutrition make-over, I think completely differently now about exercise. Boot Camp has been AMAZING, to say the least. I've learned that I can push myself to limits I never thought I'd reach. I used to be such a lazy worker-outer... I'd go to the gym, get on a treadmill for 20 minutes, think to myself "eh, at least I did something" and leave, probably having burned only 150 calories. Then I'd go home and eat a bowl of pasta, wondering why I wasn't losing weight. I'm a smart one, I am.
I'm now seriously in love with exercise. I even dragged myself out for a tranquil run through the Hamptons while on vacation last weekend. I've NEVER worked out on vacation before. And I honestly think I'm in better shape than I ever have been. It's a nice feeling.
Ok, now that I feel like I've updated the blog-world on who I've become (am becomming?), I feel better. Looking at my old posts is almost embarassing. Here's hoping I continue this upward battle towards life-style improvement!
