Hi everyone! I'm new here. I've been on a fitness journey for a little while now, and I wanted to share my story in the hopes of connecting with a broader community, and maybe also finding some folks who think about physical fitness in the same way I do. :) (Also, fair warning: I'm long winded!)
I'm 33F, 5'2, SW/CQ 170 and GW 145ish. I work in an office, am an avid reader and gamer, enjoy going out with friends, and spending time with my husband and dog.
Most of my twenties I sat at around 130 pounds and was happy with my weight. I've never been an athletic person—in fact, I hated gym as a kid and was weirdly proud of my inability to do even one pushup, but I got decently active in college and kept that up afterwards (running at the gym, biking and hiking for leisure), and I did a LOT of walking while pursuing a graduate degree in a small college town. My weight gain began in 2020, I suspect because my life became much more sedentary during the pandemic and I turned heavily to junk food and alcohol as a coping mechanism for work and pandemic related stress. I also turned 30...haha. So my metabolism probably isn't what it used to be.
I've gained steadily since then but didn’t really mind my physical changes (fat girls are cute too), but now my blood pressure is alarmingly high. I'm currently managing it with medication, but hell, I'm too young to be on the same meds as my 70 year old uncle who thinks mashed potatoes are a vegetable! So I cut back dramatically on junk food at the beginning of 2024, cut out caffeine, reduced my drinking, and made a commitment to cook healthier (lots more vegetables). I also began a strength training regiment with my husband about three months ago. I wanted to build some muscle before jumping into serious cardio, and I feel like that's gone really well. I'm by no means going to take home any weight lifting trophies any time soon, but I'm proud of my progress! (I've gone from 30 lb lat pulldowns to 70 lbs, 40 lb leg presses to 100 lb—still can't seem to get my shoulder presses above 20 though, ugh.)
So now that I'm feeling stronger (and enjoying the benefits of that strength, like less ambient pain, more stamina, more energy, better sleep), I'm ready to think about losing weight. Here's the thing: I'm hesitant to count calories because that has historically been a slippery slope to some very disordered eating for me. Here's another thing: I don't want weight loss/weight gain to rule my life. This kind of thinking is pretty common among the women in my family, and they're all miserable. I know there are lots of people who find pleasure in fulfillment in it, and I celebrate that for those folks, but I don't think I'm built for it. And in a lot of ways, I've gained confidence in my appearance in recent years, so for me "looking" like I've lost weight isn't really the goal.
So what do I want from this journey? To give my body the physical stimulation it needs for a long, high-quality life, and to lower my blood pressure, which necessitates some weight loss.
Maybe this is the place it makes sense to turn from my monologue to y'all, the community. I'd love to get some feedback on my strategy for this next phase of my journey. Right now, I'm focusing on portion size, eradicating late-night eating, and consistent daily exercise.
-I'm not weighing my food or counting calories, as I said earlier; rather, I'm making a meal I would've finished in two servings last me three or four. I'm asking myself if I want seconds because I'm still actively hungry or if I'm just craving the experience of eating more. I'm saving leftovers and letting myself get excited about having them the next day rather than finishing them immediately. -Nighttime eating is definitely my biggest weakspot. It's a bad habit I learned in grad school, when I'd go get drunk with my colleagues then come home and eat essentially a whole other meal. Now it's more like chips or candy or ice cream at around 9pm or even later, but I can't seem to make myself stick to a small portion. I just crave more...so I think the smarter move is to cut it out altogether. -Going to the gym every day isn't sustainable for me (my husband and I currently go at least 3 days a week), so I'm trying to add physical activities to those non-gym days. Just this week I started waking up a little earlier to take my dog on a 15 minute walk rather than just letting her out in the yard to do her morning business, and I've added some small strength exercises to my morning routine as well (some crunches, some squats). I'm REALLY not a morning person, so this has been hard, and I deeply do not enjoy it lol. But I know it should get easier! Ideally I'd also take my dog on a 15-30 minute walk when I get home from work, but I've found it hard to motivate myself to do this due to the mentally fatiguing nature of my job.
So...yeah! That's me. I'm open to hearing any advice or thoughts on what I've done so far and what I plan to do, as well as anecdotes from people with similar goals or similar perspectives on weight loss. Thanks for bearing with my wall of text! I'm hoping sharing this with y'all will help me continue to make healthy choices, and to stay excited about this process.
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