Blogging does a body good

So I have been slipping on blogging online, but keeping a paper journal. I guess I am old fashioned. I really like the pen to paper method.

I have been on a mission lately and was selected as member of the month for my gym at work. I was told the bio was a good motivator and a story to share, so I am posting it here.

Fitness has not always been a part of my life, in fact it is easier to say it was never a part of my life until the around 2004. Growing up I was always very skinny, I weighed 99 pounds when I graduated from high school. Working out and a healthy lifestyle didn’t seem necessary I was underweight. Then over the course of 7 years of living in Jackson, MS and New Orleans for undergrad and grad school I went from a size 0 to a size 16. I just couldn’t balance that southern food J

By 2004 I had been back home for a few years and had thought about working out sporadically and did nothing. I started working for the Mayor of Seattle and he did a weight loss challenge and it encouraged me to join the gym in our building. It was during this time I developed a love for my favorite gym class spin. However I was still not serious until my 35th birthday I had my annual check-up. My doctor looked at my medical history and told me I needed to get serious about losing weight. The realities of life hit me, my dad became diabetic at 38, and my mom died at 40, and as I got closer to those ages finally it dawned on me I needed to take my health a bit serious. For me it really became a battle for life.

Around this same time I had a Sorority sister who got on a fitness regime and started emailing our listserv about it. She managed to lose over 100 pounds, just by changing her diet and exercise (if you are interested she blogs her story at: blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com). Seeing her do it made me wake up and get serious.

Moving from Seattle to Chicago in 2006 was a major fitness set back. It took me almost 6 months to join a new gym, and the convenience of it being in my building was gone. It wasn’t until 2010 when I came to work for CHA as a contractor that I got back to a consistent routine. One thing I have learned about myself is CONVENIENCE is a major factor in my commitment to working out. I joined BRAC and for the 7 months I was here made it to the gym at least 4 days a week and would go to my neighborhood gym 1 day a week. When my CHA Contract was up I was back to the maybe 3 days a week at my neighborhood gym and I was commuting a two hours a day to work and had no motivation. At 2011 when I came back to CHA, one of the selling points of coming back was BRAC and the ability to work out daily. Not to mention the Active CHA program which supports employees to adopt healthy lifestyles all around. Participating in BRAC bowl this year really made me step up my workout game plan and I have maintained a 5 day a week, often 2 times a day schedule since October.

At the end 2010 I started working on monitoring my eating habits using myfitnesspal.com and I decided to become a vegetarian. That didn’t last long as I am from the west coast. I love seafood, so I finally settled on pescatarian. However I still struggled with eating right and working out right at the SAME TIME.

Since returning to BRAC in January 2011 I have lost 25 pounds. I have about 40 more to go. Part of my lifestyle change has incorporated cycling, in the spring and summer I bike to work and last year I did several long distance bike rides, Tour De Cure (75 Miles), Bike MS (150 miles over two days), and Ride for AIDS Chicago (200 miles over two days, though I cheated out of 25 and got in the SAG vehicle). I recognize that carrying this extra weight also makes cycling a lot more difficult so that too is a new motivation to lose the extra pounds. As a competitive person having an event to train for motivates me. I will continue to cycle as I love my bike, but this year’s challenge for me is to do a triathlon. I have not run more than a 400 sprint in my life and barely can swim. However it is making me diversify my workouts.
I love the support and encouragement I get from BRAC staff and tips I routinely get as I conquer this learning to swim as a very grown person. I can honestly say it has made an incredible difference on this journey for me.