I just returned from Spring Break, and what was my immediate thought? I can't wait to weigh myself tomorrow. Hah. What a ridiculous person I've become, but ridiculous, in this case, is good. Break was pretty relaxing, spent most of the time just hanging out and doing some exercise, including walking around the mall and the Botanic Gardens with my mom to switch things up just a bit. While I did log my calories and even burned 700calories in one night, I only lost 0.8lbs this week. At the same time, that 0.8lbs put me over the 15lb mark, for a total of 15.4lbs. It's clear to me that the process is slowing down, which makes it more difficult to find the motivation, but I am determined. I WILL LOSE THIS WEIGHT! I've come too far to stop now. Even though I'm losing an average of 1lb/week now, given the many weeks when I didn't lose anything, that's fine. It will come off when it's ready. Still, I'm ready for the challenge. Most of the time, the things we want in life aren't easy, which makes them all the more enjoyable when we get them. In any case, I hope I can jumpstart the weightloss a little this week and lose 1.6lbs this week so that my middle number will go down. It's the little things that count, right?
Besito,
A
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
"I Just Can't Get Enough"
It's simply amazing the way that a week can change a mindset. Re-reading my last post, I can say that I am in a much better place right now. Between finishing my Law Review note, breaking the two-week weightloss plateau, and making it to Spring Break, among others, I feel rejuvenated. For the first time this semester, I didn't go to Shabbat this week and instead went out with a bunch of friends to the infamous White Horse (a.k.a White Ho). After spending so many weekends not going out, I think I forgot how much fun it is to just hang out and chat with people - especially people that you don't see often. Unsurprisingly, there are some incredible people here. In addition to the fun (and sometimes serious) conversations, I was pleasantly surprised that people noticed my weightloss. Although this journey is entirely about me getting healthier and looking more like the way I feel, it is incredibly rewarding for people to notice the progress that you've made.
In reflecting upon this week and the questions posed in my post from last week, I may not be able to describe exactly what I want and may not always know where I fit in, I can say this: to some extent, being and causing others to be happy is an essential purpose of my life. I was really happy last night, and I hope that I caused some people to be happy. :)
Gotta go get ready for my high school-style sleepover tonight. More on that later.
Besito,
A
In reflecting upon this week and the questions posed in my post from last week, I may not be able to describe exactly what I want and may not always know where I fit in, I can say this: to some extent, being and causing others to be happy is an essential purpose of my life. I was really happy last night, and I hope that I caused some people to be happy. :)
Gotta go get ready for my high school-style sleepover tonight. More on that later.
Besito,
A
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Spending the Afternoon with Me
Before I begin this post, I want to warn y'all that what follows is not a typical post for me. If you want to read more about my weight loss and running, check back next week. Today's post is about the afternoon I've been spending with myself, my reflections on life, friendship, and the world. If you don't want to read about that, I'm sorry (and also slightly confused as to why you would be reading my blog anyway). However, if you do care about these things, please feel free to read any or all of what follows...
When I admit to people that philosophy was one of my majors in college, I am often met with a puzzling grimace. The facially expression suggests that they had a particular dislike for the subject due, in most cases, to the fact that they didn't understand it or felt that it was impractical, unlike the Classics, by which I mean no offense to Classics majors. I wholeheartedly concede that my philosophy degree may not be practical in the sense of "applicable to everyday life." However, my philosophy courses taught me perhaps the most valuable skill that I have - thinking, analyzing, explaining, questioning, and reconsidering. As I sit at Starbucks, passing the afternoon with myself, I have experienced a full range of emotions, both good and bad. In particular, I've been asking myself an all-encompassing question, what do I want? In a related way, I've been considering exactly where I fit in - in a social, religious, and professional sense.
There are many reasons that I am engaging in such intense introspection, a few of which have already been mentioned in previous posts. While life is often described as a journey, I started a mini-journey this year that will likely change me for the years and decades to come. In the past five months, I have experienced significant losses in my life - with two friendships turning to anger and then vanishing. As a person who tries to live without regret, the aforementioned is difficult for me to deal with. I understand that some friendships come and go, no matter how great they seem at the outset. However, I have been given pause to consider why these relationships ended, though I have reached no conclusions as of yet. It saddens me to think that, as one former friend put it, we've grown apart because I am a "narcissistic b----." I truly hope that what he said isn't true. Nonetheless, it is something for me to keep in mind and to constantly fight against. I can and hopefully will continue to become a better person throughout this journey. I only hope that I don't disappoint myself and others or lose more friends along the way.
Given that this is a public forum, I will stop there. Hope this entry wasn't too depressing or philosophical. I'm going to go back to my coffee now, but I hope to write something more uplifting in the coming days.
Besito,
A
When I admit to people that philosophy was one of my majors in college, I am often met with a puzzling grimace. The facially expression suggests that they had a particular dislike for the subject due, in most cases, to the fact that they didn't understand it or felt that it was impractical, unlike the Classics, by which I mean no offense to Classics majors. I wholeheartedly concede that my philosophy degree may not be practical in the sense of "applicable to everyday life." However, my philosophy courses taught me perhaps the most valuable skill that I have - thinking, analyzing, explaining, questioning, and reconsidering. As I sit at Starbucks, passing the afternoon with myself, I have experienced a full range of emotions, both good and bad. In particular, I've been asking myself an all-encompassing question, what do I want? In a related way, I've been considering exactly where I fit in - in a social, religious, and professional sense.
There are many reasons that I am engaging in such intense introspection, a few of which have already been mentioned in previous posts. While life is often described as a journey, I started a mini-journey this year that will likely change me for the years and decades to come. In the past five months, I have experienced significant losses in my life - with two friendships turning to anger and then vanishing. As a person who tries to live without regret, the aforementioned is difficult for me to deal with. I understand that some friendships come and go, no matter how great they seem at the outset. However, I have been given pause to consider why these relationships ended, though I have reached no conclusions as of yet. It saddens me to think that, as one former friend put it, we've grown apart because I am a "narcissistic b----." I truly hope that what he said isn't true. Nonetheless, it is something for me to keep in mind and to constantly fight against. I can and hopefully will continue to become a better person throughout this journey. I only hope that I don't disappoint myself and others or lose more friends along the way.
Given that this is a public forum, I will stop there. Hope this entry wasn't too depressing or philosophical. I'm going to go back to my coffee now, but I hope to write something more uplifting in the coming days.
Besito,
A
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Moving Along
So, it's been almost a week since I've posted. There've been several ups and downs, both with associated benefits and consequences. On the upside (or downside, depending upon how you look at it), I have lost another pound - bringing me to a total of 14.6lbs. I can feel the weight loss slowing a bit, which would normally discourage me, but I feel invigorated. I keep running into some of my favorite people at the law school when I go to the ARC, so I almost feel like it's a social network of which I am a member. At the same time, I find myself telling people that the purpose of this whole journey isn't just to lose weight. Yes, it's amazing to put on my tightest pair of jeans and realize that I can now take them off without unbuttoning them (happened today), but this experience is so much more than that. It's about being healthy - in body, mind, and spirit. I've been enriching my body through gym visits 3-5 times a week, mainly focusing on running and weight lifting. I'm hoping to do some swimming in order to switch it up, but it's so much easier for me to think about how each run is contributing toward my training for the 8K and eventual half-marathon. Still, I know that my knees and calves would be happy to have a day off.
As I mentioned before, this has become a wellness project, which includes much more than just having a healthy body. I've been enriching my mind and spirit by reading about health and attending a religious class each week. I've been doing a lot of thinking and reassessing, figuring out exactly what it is that I want. While I'm still the same bubbly me, I take myself and my values much more seriously than I did last year or even last semester. I've found that this experience can sometimes be pretty isolating - I don't eat the same things as my friends often do, and I don't feel a desire to eat out at restaurants. While I do still have fun in social settings, my mindset is different. It's silly to admit, but I've realized that the marginal rate of return on drinking alcoholic beverages is not very high. If i'm going to ingest empty calories, I think I'd rather have a Twix bar or a cupcake - the sugar tastes great! At the same time, I need to strike a healthier balance between Alyse pre-January 3 and since then. This journey toward wellness has become all-consuming, and I don't want it to become the only thing that I do or that I care about. Unfortunately, law school isn't much of a diversion - when the stress sets in, I just feel like going to work out. Not so helpful. Hopefully, Spring Break will allow me to relax and think a bit more about this whole plan, figuring out how to bring back some features of the old me while looking and feeling the way that I want to be.
Besito,
A
As I mentioned before, this has become a wellness project, which includes much more than just having a healthy body. I've been enriching my mind and spirit by reading about health and attending a religious class each week. I've been doing a lot of thinking and reassessing, figuring out exactly what it is that I want. While I'm still the same bubbly me, I take myself and my values much more seriously than I did last year or even last semester. I've found that this experience can sometimes be pretty isolating - I don't eat the same things as my friends often do, and I don't feel a desire to eat out at restaurants. While I do still have fun in social settings, my mindset is different. It's silly to admit, but I've realized that the marginal rate of return on drinking alcoholic beverages is not very high. If i'm going to ingest empty calories, I think I'd rather have a Twix bar or a cupcake - the sugar tastes great! At the same time, I need to strike a healthier balance between Alyse pre-January 3 and since then. This journey toward wellness has become all-consuming, and I don't want it to become the only thing that I do or that I care about. Unfortunately, law school isn't much of a diversion - when the stress sets in, I just feel like going to work out. Not so helpful. Hopefully, Spring Break will allow me to relax and think a bit more about this whole plan, figuring out how to bring back some features of the old me while looking and feeling the way that I want to be.
Besito,
A
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Today Marks the Day!
As I write this post, I'm sitting in bed, somewhat under the weather. I have spent most of the past 24 hours doing exactly that - sitting in a bed, trying to recover from a nasty cold. Although my head feels like soup and has felt that way for 2-3 days now, I decided that I would go to the gym on Thursday night in order to "sweat out" the cold. While I'm not sure that my exercise cured me, it momentarily cleared up my nose and took the pressure off my face. In addition, it caused me to have some very exciting news - I am officially down 13.6lbs off of the high. That means that I'm about 1/3 of the way to my goal. Pretty exciting, right?
In addition to meeting a milestone, the weight loss also means that I am no longer part of the obesity problem in the United States. Although BMI calculators are not 100% accurate because of the differences between people's bodies (e.g., such a calculator would indicate that Michael Jordan was obese even though, in reality, his BMI is probably in one of the best categories that exists), I'm excited because, for the first time, I'm not obese. According to the CDC, 26.5% of people in Illinois are obese. Today, I'm proud to say that I'm not one of them, and I hope that I never am again.
Sorry for the short post. I'm going to go celebrate this news by making some eggs. :)
Besito,
A
In addition to meeting a milestone, the weight loss also means that I am no longer part of the obesity problem in the United States. Although BMI calculators are not 100% accurate because of the differences between people's bodies (e.g., such a calculator would indicate that Michael Jordan was obese even though, in reality, his BMI is probably in one of the best categories that exists), I'm excited because, for the first time, I'm not obese. According to the CDC, 26.5% of people in Illinois are obese. Today, I'm proud to say that I'm not one of them, and I hope that I never am again.
Sorry for the short post. I'm going to go celebrate this news by making some eggs. :)
Besito,
A
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)