Learning About Myself

I am weird.

I think I always knew this, but it is becoming more and more clear to me.

Also, I don't mind that I am weird. In fact, I like it.


Part of my acceptance of my weirdness comes from the fact that I really enjoy reading diet books, fitness books, health books, money books, and budget books. If there is a book on how to improve yourself (in something I am currently working on) then I will read it.

I am currently reading my 5th health/diet book since January. I thought it was only the 4th but then I checked my Goodreads account and noticed another.

The first book was The 17 Day Diet.  I loved it, and would recommend it to anyone. I love his ideas so much better than The South Beach Diet which have done previously.

The I read Unlimited by Jillian Michaels. I love her workouts because they hurt so good. Her book was more about overall motivation and not exactly what I was looking for, but still good.

Then came Drop Dead Healthy, which was just snippets of information. It was like I got appetizers of things to change, but no real meat.

I read The Skinny Rules this past week by Bob Harper of The Biggest Loser. His 20 rules were pretty good, I agreed with many of them. However, I couldn't get past his tone...it just threw me off a little bit.

Now I have just started Mindless Eating about the cues that make people eat more even when they don't need it.



All of this work since January has paid off. I came home from Christmas weighing 186 pounds and made a goal to get to 150. I actually made that goal this time around.  Previously when I tried to lose weight I said that I would try to get to 150, but really I wanted to get to 160. I just didn't believe that 150 was really possible.

Well, this morning I weighed myself at 152. It is only a matter of time before I hit 150. Now I have made a new goal of getting to 140, and possibly below. If I hit 140 I will officially no longer be "overweight" on the BMI scale.


I have changed my diet to lose weight, but I am also exercising so much more, and I am exercising smarter too. I actually love to exercise now. Or rather, I love the way it makes me feel and results I see from it. I love that I am stronger and can do more things with my family. I love that I hiked Lightening Ridge without too much trouble. I love that I can go on really long bike rides and not be dead the next day.

I used to do a Walk Away the Pounds DVD. (I still do it sometimes.)  I started doing it after Eli was born, and it was what I needed at the time. I needed something to get me moving. I was still doing it five years later and it wasn't giving me much challenge. In order for me to get a difficult workout I have to do the 3-mile walk, and I usually only made time for the 2-mile.


Then I started doing Jillian Michaels DVDs. It hurt and was hard, and I loved it. I needed her tough love saying that I can do hard things. My body is strong and can push through the pain to be stronger. I got to the point where I needed a difficult challenge.

For the past few weeks I have been going to a high school track at 6am to exercise with my friends. Three days a week we work on the Couch 2 5K program, and two days we do strength training. It has been great to push myself in new ways and realize that I actually can run.


Anyway, I know this post has been long. I didn't plan on that, but it just became more like a journal entry of how I am changing my life. Change is good. I think I am a better person now because of the changes that I have made.