"But Ms. G, you're running out of time!"

It's been a while since my last post... I'm not so sure I'll be great at this whole blogging thing. I've been doing a lot of thinking about relationships lately. Most of my friends are now in serious relationships, getting engaged, married or having children. All of these wonderful, life events are happening for them and here I am, single and 25 (which isn't the worst thing). It's funny how life happens and how it turns out completely different than what you thought. I remember growing up and thinking that I would be married with kids at 22...I was sure of it. I look at my life now and laugh because I am in a completely different place and have grown so much in just 3 years.

 According to my students, I'm running out of time because after all, I'm 25, almost 30 and I am going to be 80 before I know it!  Apparently being single at 25 is this tragic thing to them in their eyes. If you asked me last year or 2 years ago I probably would have said the same thing... my feelings have changed now. The past year has been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. I got out of a serious relationship, I've gone on dates with crazy/weird people (I once received a 21 pound life size stuffed bear sent to my job because they thought "my kids would love it"...umm what?! I wish I was making this up), and lived alone. It has been a crazy ride but I have learned so much about myself and love my life right now. Someone recently told me that I "kick people to the curb too quickly." I don't think that's the case at all though..I think that I know what I want and when I find it, I'll know. If not, time to move on. I keep referring to this time as my "selfish" phase and I don't feel bad about it. Maybe when I start getting close to 30 I will begin to panic a little...but for now, this pretty much sums up my life. ;) 

This Salad Tastes Like I'd Rather Be Fat

Before moving here and even during my first year (2012) I tried a lot of the fad diets but always failed… my “favorite” is always during the first year when my roommate/Big Mandy and I tried this 3-day military diet plan-we found out that you could lose 10 pounds in three days without “strenuous” exercise or prescriptions… umm hello, sign me up, right!?! The goal of the diet is to boost metabolism and burn fat. We put it in our minds, and this is what our food intake looked like:

Day 1

Breakfast: 
½ grapefruit
1 slice of toast
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
Coffee or tea (any brew, as long as it’s caffeinated)

This was manageable to me.. I’m not a big breakfast eater but I still got coffee! After that, you just drink A LOT of water. I hate grapefruit so I plugged my nose and ate it and was not happy about it. Whatevz.. 10 pounds was on my mind.

Lunch:

½ cup of tuna
1 slice of toast
Coffee or tea

Okay I was starving and thought I was going to choke on dry bread and tuna. Again, 10 pounds! I got this!

Dinner:

3 ounces of meat (any)
1 cup of green beans
½ banana
1 small apple
1 cup vanilla ice cream

I raced home from work to eat this salad plate sized meal and I ate it in about 5 minutes…not even sure if I chewed it. I wanted to go to bed immediately afterwards so I could eat again the next day. I chugged water instead.

Day 2:

Breakfast-

1 egg

1 slice of toast

½ banana
*again, commence the choking of trying to swallow a dry egg and slice of toast.

Lunch-

1 cup of cottage cheese (or 1 slice cheddar cheese)
1 hardboiled egg
5 saltine crackers

I’m feeling slightly “hangry” (hungry + angry) today. I hate cottage cheese so opt for the cheddar. I cut my egg into small pieces to trick myself to think I had a bigger meal than it appeared… it didn’t help. Still hangry.

Dinner-

2 hot dogs (no buns)
1 cup broccoli
½ cup carrots
½ banana
1 cup vanilla ice cream

Rejoice! Not 1, but 2 hot dogs AND vanilla ice cream! I am not ashamed to admit that this was the highlight of my day.

Day 3-

Breakfast-
5 saltine crackers
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 small apple

My day is starting off with 5 saltine crackers and cheddar cheese… I can tell it is not going to be a good day. I am going to be a full on grump today.

Lunch-

1 hardboiled egg
1 slice toast

…I have no words. I drop my kids off at lunch and go to my lunchbox. As I see this hardboiled egg and slice of toast in my lunchbox I believe that I have a moment of insanity. I was beyond Hangry and I am ashamed to admit that my poor students experienced another side of me this day. I am having 2^nd thoughts about this diet and am beginning to think I would rather just keep the 10 pounds. I was a nightmare the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner**-
1 cup of tuna
½ banana
1 cup vanilla ice cream

**Amber did not make it to day 3 dinner. In the end, she came home in a rage and ate everything in the fridge (seriously). She lost 4 pounds and went to bed happier than she had been in 3 days.  The end.

I did not exercise during this 3 days because I did not have enough energy and wanted to keep all my calories to myself. WORST DIET EVER.

 

Rock Your Body

I have now lived in Northern VA/DC for 3 years. The first year was really hard for me but I absolutely love it now. Of course there are downfalls (traffic, cost of living, traffic, being away from family, traffic, gas prices, traffic, etc.) It always feels good to go back to Williamsburg because one thing that I never fail to hear from my family and friends back home is “you look amazing, you are really slimming down!” Never in my life has anyone ever said that to me and made me actually believe it. I left college at an all-time high weight of… (yeah right). It was bad and I never realized it until I go back and look at pictures of myself and it mortifies me!

 

Spring and Summer 2012

 

 Now I am 45 pounds lighter and I can honestly say I have never been happier and healthier. I do want to lose around 10-15 more pounds, but right now my clothes fit better and I’ve dropped 3 sizes, I feel happier and just generally healthier. People always ask “what’s your secret” and honestly, I don’t have one. I finally came to the realization that there is a direct correlation between diet and exercise- who knew!?

Summer 2014 and Winter 2015

 

The first year the weight came off as I mostly just changed my eating habits, made food at home with some substitutions and portion sizes and worked out OCCASIONALLY… unless you count working out chasing 6-7 year olds all day around a classroom. The past 2 years I took more of an interest in working out…I joined a gym and slowly started going. I got a trainer 2x a week who really whipped me into shape, and then I began to try some of the group exercise classes until I came across the amazing class that is BodyJam.  Let me tell you- it has changed my life. BodyJam is essentially a dance/high intensity cardio class with A LOT of choreography to all kinds of music- I always say it is “hip-hop based” but it’s really not.. it uses a lot of today’s music and is seriously like a big party.

 

 

The class has become a part of my schedule and is now in my routine so much that I won’t schedule anything on the nights that I have the class- I genuinely LOVE going and I look forward to it the 2x a week that I go. I started off as really self-conscious in the class and always went straight to the back… Now I feel pretty confident on it (except on launch) and will go in the front or at the least the 2^nd row and not care about who is watching anymore. It is amazing- if your gym has it, I recommend going! It is so much fun, even when you look and feel awkward. J I am determined to get the Les Mills Reebok shoes for the class, but not sure if I am quite bold enough to wear them out… stay tuned. J

 

 

 

 

 

Is this real life?

The past year of my life has been a rollercoaster…From my career, trying to finish grad school to my personal life, I have seen my fair share of accomplishments and let downs. I’ve also had my fair share of good times with amazing people, and some of the things I experience don’t seem like real life. My friends and I have this motto of “My life is not real.” I often find myself texting/calling my mom or friends to tell them the things that go on, and I often hear “you should just start a blog”. So, I thought I would give it a try. I tend to be private in the fact that I don’t always like to share what is going on in my life except with those close to me, but the idea of a blog has sounded more and more interesting to me to get some of the thoughts out of my head. I’ve always been pretty good at expressing myself in writing…whether you read it or not is completely up to you. Cheers. J