Travels of a Not-So-Skinny Minnie

One step forward, two steps to the side? You betcha! Why? I've decided that it's not possible to take steps back if my goals have not changed. As I mentioned in my last post, my birthday was on Saturday. The big 2-1. So, like any college kid, I let the alcohol flow. I figured, I spent four months so diligently working to keep my new healthy lifestyle afloat, that I, just like every other kid, deserve a break every now and then. So, I ate cake. I drank. A lot. I had my first burger in months. It's four days later and the consequences have shown up on my scale.

Here is the part where you all berate me for veering. For promising I was going to stick to my goals and failing. HOWEVER, that's exactly the kind of thinking that derails so many healthy-living-hopefuls out there everyday. We can't yell at ourself for one (or two, OR even three) days of indulgence if the overall trajectory is a positive one. The old Neva would have seen these last 3-4 days as a failure. But, they really weren't. I enjoyed eating the shitty foods I used to eat. But, here is the difference. My body has learned the difference between good foods and bad foods. It's not stupid. It knows when I'm loading it with garbage and it treats me accordingly the morning after. And in the interest of not feeling like throwing up when I wake up anymore, it's back to the yummy healthy food that I've trained my body to love. So, good-bye beloved burgers! It was a wonderful couple of days getting to catch up. It was a great birthday weekend. Now, back to my new reality. :)

Until next time!
Neeeva!

Hey everyone. Today marks a huge milestone in both my life and my new lifestyle. I am finally 21! However, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean, I go out and get smashed just because I can? Well, today I don't think I have a choice. BUT, what does this mean going forward? I can now legally buy and consume alcohol, but why would I? Forgetting the fact that my friends are taking me out tonight, and some things are just inevitable, what does that mean in terms of my relationship with alcohol beyond today? I don't think it's gonna change. I've never had much of a taste for beer or wine or even girly mixed drinks. But more important, I know that it's just useless calories. SO, today, because I've been to diligent for four months, I gonna let some of the leash go that I've been using on myself. But, I won't let this new privilege derail everything I've been working for. So, with that: until next time!

Looove,
Neva

Today I decided to take the plunge and cook for myself! This is something I hate doing because when one cooks for themselves, they don't have a crew of minions to clean up after them. Cleaning a kitchen is pretty high up on my list of most annoying things that have existed ever. But regardless, I got sick of not knowing what exactly is in my food, so what better way to know than to make it yourself? Since I just decided about three days ago that I was going be be a vege-- flexitarian, I looked up some yummy vegetarian recipes on All Recipes and decided on 'Ricotta Gnocchi' because it looked amaaazing. It was actually pretty easy too! Here is the link if you want to try it yourself! I substituted the ricotta cheese for light ricotta. Until next time!

Looove,
Neva

Today I had one of those moments where you just have to sit back and realize that the process is working. Until last week, my best mile time ever had been a 9:40. There had been one time in high school that I ran a 9:40 and once in IM East last week. Today, I thought I would see if I could beat that. I am one of those people that subconsciously makes excuses about why she just can't do things that are not easy. I went on about it in detail in my first post. So, I had been telling myself that it was impossible to really make improvements as to the speed in which I ran one mile because I was short, so my legspan gave me an inherent disadvantage. Now, in many ways that is kind of true. But that does NOT mean that I can't push myself to improve my running technique and make steady attempts at improving my speed. So today, I thought I'd go for it. I went to the gym and put the treadmill on a 6.5 mph speed. For a shortie like me? That's FAST. I told myself I was not going to walk until I hit a mile. What was my time? EIGHT MINUTES AND TWENTY FIVE SECONDS. So this is officially the most fit I have every been in my life and I am honestly so happy. It was hard. I was out of breath. I was sweaty and gross. But, I did it.

Also, I have been without meat for two days now and am not really missing it at all! Life is good :).

Looove,
Neva

Ever heard of it? I hadn't until yesterday and now I'm intrigued. Essentially, it's vegetarianism with benefits (i.e. meat!). When one becomes a flexitarian, their meals are made predominantly vegetarian. Every now and then, however, a flexitarian allows themselves to eat meat. It's all about flexibility. The reason this piques my interest is because I have always been interested in becoming a vegetarian. I have tried it several times, but it never quite stuck. Statistically speaking, vegetarians live up to three years more and weigh 15% less on average than meat eaters. Additionally, the human body is really only supposed to be capable of consuming around 4 oz of meat per day. Now think about it, how overboard have we become as a country? A "small" steak at a restaurant is about 7 oz. However, I digress.

Flexitarianism seems to be the perfect nutritional balance while still indulging my cheating ways. Let's face it, giving up meat and fish entirely is just not something I could feasibly do. In this new lifestyle of mine, I've been trying to make these kind of decisions while asking myself "can this last?" I never want to do something that I don't see myself maintaining. And I really can see myself maintaining this way of eating. So we will see how this fares :). Part of the reason why I'm up for giving this a try is because should I want to go back to my regular way of eating, there's really no failure as meat is allowed in a flexitarian diet. So, there really is no risk of feeling bad about myself! I think what I will strive for going forward will be to eat vegetarian five days a week while giving myself two cheat days to eat meat. I'm keeping fish up for grabs for all seven days, however. So, until next time!

Looove,
Neva

I have always been a small girl. I have never been a small girl.

Don't those two sentences just mess with your head to read? Imagine living it. I stand at 5' 1" and my entire life I've been referred to as everyone's "little friend." I've always had to look UP to my friends because I'm always shorter than them. However, I've always weighed around the same as my friends who stood 5"7' to 5"9 and for this reason, I have never truly been "little." So, it was always hard to swallow being called "cute little Neva" and knowing my friends were never going to just outright say that I was overweight. From elementary school to junior high to high school and now in my junior year of college, this has always been the one battle I've never been strong enough to fight. Sure, I've tried in the past and failed, just like every other girl out there. But in January, I looked at myself and thought "this is it." Everything in my life had lined up to a point where I had an opportunity to finally battle this demon that I'd been scared of for so long.

I had always given myself reasons why 'now is just not the time.' I thought that I'd be embarrassed going to the gym where skinny people would just judge me. I thought I was too ugly to attract men, even if I did lose the weight. I thought 'well, I'm in college, so eating healthy just isn't an option'. Well, in January, I called bullshit on my own idiocy. I CAN go to the gym because where else would someone who is out of shape improve their fitness. I have been in a stable relationship for the past year and a half with a great person who loved me just as I was- so there was nothing to worry about in that regard. And anyone can maintain a healthy diet in college, the difference is that not many people try.

So here I am, starting a blog THREE MONTHS after I decided to become healthier and finally lose weight. Why so late? I have made a lifestyle change. I wanted to be sure that this wasn't just the next Neva-fad (of which there are many) before I made any sort of online commitment. And, I wanted to focus ALL of my attention on the task at hand. So what did I do? The two things everyone that wants to lose weight should do, of course. FIRST, I started watching what I put into my body. I did NOT go on a diet. I've been on diets before and they are inherently temporary. So, essentially, most people shoot themselves in the foot before they even begin. I am not perfect. Sometimes I cave and eat junk food, anyone living where we live is going to do that at some point. So I try not to beat myself up too much :). During the second week of January, I joined Weight Watchers and it has become my bible of sorts. I'm not saying that everyone wanting to lose weight must join Weight Watchers, but it has definitely helped me in regards to food. SECOND, I started hauling my ass to the gym 3-4 days a week CONSISTENTLY. Now, let me tell you, I was terrified of the gym. I mean, only skinny and judgmental people go to the gym... RIGHT? Wrong. In the three months that have passed since I began going to the gym regularly, my fitness level has greatly improved. That's not to say I'm any excuse for an athlete- I never will be. However, when I started, I could barely run a mile in 15 minutes without DYING or running the whole time- or EVEN for more than three minutes. After steady work, my mile time is a now a fairly average 9:40 and I can run up to two and a half miles without stopping to walk. From where I was? It feels incredible to finally be able to run like an average person.

The purpose of this blog is to breathe new life into this new lifestyle of mine. Sometimes it can feel that I'm marching along at a glacial pace and that my long term goals will never happen. A lot of times I feel alone because hanging out with anyone in college usually involves beer and food, and I just can't do that as often as most people anymore. Ultimately, I want to be able to look back to these words as a textual representation of where I "was" and where I "am." If you want to take the journey with me in reading this blog, then I'd be happy to take you along for the ride. So far, in these first three months I have lost precisely 20.5 pounds and I'm thrilled that I haven't stopped. I am excited to keep going and to continue to see years of extra weight come off of my "little" body. So, until next time!

Looove,
Neva :)