Dunkin’ Donuts with a Side of Butter

From June of 2013 to today, I have gained about 35 pounds.

Holy. Freaking. Carbdensedietcoveredinsugarwithasideofdunkindonuts.

It happened fast. My senior year in college, I basically threw caution to the wind and decided to step away from the scale and allow myself to enjoy the last year of my life when Starbucks was a part of my meal plan, drinking was legal (and encouraged. See: Senior Nights and School-Sponsored Drunk Buses), my roommates were my best friend, and when the nights where ordering chicken wings with grape soda and ranch dip were as sacred as Thanksgiving dinners.

And then I graduated, realized that I was heavier than I had ever been in my life and I decided to make a change. I got myself a new pair of running shoes for my birthday and starting on June 1st of that year, I hit the road. Literally. I started training for races and I loved it. It made me feel strong and healthy and I was addicted. My jobs were active and it was easy to fit in well over 10,000 steps a day. I was lifting and hauling things, hustling and schlepping. I lost about 25 pounds and was in the best shape of my life by Christmas of that year. I was a huge fan of the BodyPump classes at my gym (which was about 2 minutes away from where I was living at the time…convenient, right?). I would go to that about three times a week, (although I was convinced it was making my hips thicker– and not in a good way). I ate all of the healthy things. All of them. Even the ones I didn’t like, but it worked.

I took another job that, while still very active, also involved a LOT of travel and a LOT of road/ festival food. For a while, I kept up with my regimens. I would exercise in the hotels, try to pack healthy snacks (so that the funnel cakes seemed less funnel-y and delicious) and that worked for a while.

And then, I moved. I moved into an over-priced apartment in the middle of nowhere that was miserable. Getting a parking spot that was in a safe part of the area and that didn’t involve a 20-mile trek was a feat. One that involved careful traffic-timing and absolutely NO after-work outings. That’s when my yoga practicing went to the wayside. I slowly became stressed and depressed and even though I knew the isolation wasn’t helping anything, I continued to take the path of least resistance and stayed home most of the time when I wasn’t working (which I worked a LOT at the time, so that’s not saying much.)

My meals went from being full of nutrients and power-packed ingredients to being mostly made of carbs and nitrates (see: lots and lots and LOTS of pasta).

Eventually, I landed myself at a desk job that sucked up all of my days. It was stressful and upsetting and when I got home, the last thing I had ANY interest in doing was exercising.

So, add all of those factors up and you have a girl who went from being a lean, mean, fighting machine, to the me of today. A little bit slower, a little bit softer, and a little bit weaker.

Well the good news is, that I have decided AGAIN that it’s all going to change.

No more of this “I-don’t-have-a-gym-buddy-I-can’t-find-socks-I’m-way-too-tired-fat-is-fun” excuse-making anymore. I’ve got some new sneaks and I’m going to lace ’em up and hit the road again.

And here’s my plan:

• Incorporate as much activity as possible in my daily life. Bryan and I love spending time outside, we love going for walks (especially with the Allie Dog!) and hiking and kayaking, but we don’t do it enough! There is SUCH a short window of time where the weather is nice in Upstate New York and it’s time to start taking full advantage of it.
• Stop making excuses. I have been saying for the longest time that I need a gym buddy. Well, right now, that’s just not the case. So I need to start being my OWN gym buddy. I should be just as careful not to break gym dates with myself as I am with others, right?
• Cut the carbs. I like pasta. A lot. But here’s the thing, it’s really not that filling and is void of essentially ANY nutritional value whatsoever.
• Think ahead. I am a pretty organized person (as long as we don’t count what the inside of my purse looks like…), but for some reason, planning snacks and meals ahead of time is NOT my strong suit. In fact, there was a time when I was making a conscious effort to double, or even triple, recipes so that I would have enough for leftovers at work, but for some reason, I could never get it quite right and would end up making an awkward amount of food that which ended up being a GREAT way to make over-eating real easy.
• Sleep. I know how important sleeping is, and sleeping WELL, but it’s also just so easy to talk myself out of. This really became a problem when I was working at my last job and was so miserable all of the time. When I would get home, it seemed like my night was already shot, so rather than calling it a day at a reasonable time, I would stay up too late deescalating, reading, watching TV etc. so that I didn’t feel like my time had been robbed.
• Use the tools. I have a FitBit. I have the health apps. I have the workout apps. I have sneakers. I have a gym (and a reasonable membership). I have built-in accountability partner in my fiancé.

So here’s a new chapter of BeeingFancy the health and well-being chapter. I have no intentions of turning this blog into a “Healthy Living Blog,” BUT I do plan to chronicle my tales as I RE-embark on a get-fit-get-healthy kick.

Extra motiviation? My wedding is in less than 275 days!