I’ve always been on the “bigger” side–to put it nicely. Judging by my school pictures, I started putting on weight in the second grade, and I just continued to gain weight each grade level. I wasn’t really an active child. I enjoyed riding my bike around the neighborhood and playing outside, but that didn’t help anything with the type of food I ate. (Plus, I honestly think it also has a lot to do with my genetics–BUT, I’m not blaming it all on that!)
When I moved away to Tuscaloosa for college, I had a meal plan for my first two years since I lived on campus. That meant that if I was hungry at 1:00 AM, I could run over to Paty Hall and go eat at the 24 hour diner, and you bet I did. Then my senior year hit and I started student teaching. I have never been so stressed in my life! I really over ate during that period of my life. (My student teaching would have to be another post…let’s just say I cried everyday and am so happy I survived!) Add in that I wasn’t active AT ALL!!
Fast forward to graduation–I graduated in August of 2010 and something clicked the week before. I don’t know if I was trying on clothes or looking at pictures, but I decided that I was overweight and needed to do something about it.
I started Weight Watchers! It was so weird going to the meetings listening to people talk about their eating struggles, but it did help. I learned helpful tips about snacks that were low points and learned that people struggled like I did. One thing I loved about Weight Watchers was that it allowed extra points during the week in case you had a birthday to attend, a bridal tea, or if you just wanted to eat a piece of cake. The most important thing though was to always track your points–even if you took one bite of something..track those points! (I don’t do WW anymore, but it has taught me so much about how I eat and should eat.)
This is where exercise came into play. If you exercised, then you got to add back points based on intensity and duration. I decided running would be the easiest option. Since 2010, I’ve gone from only being able to run 30 seconds before I was out of breath to running a half-marathon! Training and discipline are key–in exercise and weight loss.
I hit my 60 pound weight loss mark in May of 2012. It may have taken almost 2 years to lose the weight, but I have learned that slow weight loss results in lasting weight loss. I’ve added maybe 5-7 pounds back since then, but I’ve kept it off regardless. It’s a struggle every day since I can never go back to eating the way I used to. Even after 4 years, I still struggle with wanting to eat a million sweets or over eat. The title of this post is accurately named because this is a journey that is never-ending for me. I’ll be eating healthy and exercising all my life.
