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For the last three months, I’ve gone everywhere with my purse and two other bags: my gym bag and my knitting bag.
I never thought I’d say that, but then again, I’ve surprised myself a lot in the last few weeks.
Let me explain.
For the longest time, I always thought I was too busy to work out and get healthy.
My work schedule isn’t a radically weird or difficult one, like those of nurses or doctors or police officers. But it is a little weird, and it changes often – sometimes sources want to do interviews at like 7:30 a.m. (a horrible hour of the day, don’t you think?) or sometimes I’ll have to cover a concert that isn’t over til almost midnight.
So when could I fit in the gym? When could I fit in making a healthful lunch at home when, on some days, it feels like I only have time to hit a drive-thru?
But, as I said in my original weight loss column, I finally got serious about doing these things. I made being healthy a priority. No matter what my day looks like, no matter how late or early I’m at work and what responsibilities I have to do afterward, I make sure I go to the gym, for at least 45 minutes.
Now that I’m roughly three months into this, I can’t remember what used to take up my time.
I just know I don’t leave the house now without my gym bag, packed with my workout clothes, sneakers, hair bands, my iPod, and some spare change in case I want to buy a water from the vending machine.
From the middle of August to the middle of September (basically, right at the heart of figuring all this weight loss stuff out), I took a beginner’s knitting class. Since then I have knitted six scarves and three dishcloths. I’ve also managed to watch more Bette Davis movies in the past three months than I have in...well... a while. Now that my favorite TV shows are back on, I don't feel so bad watching them, because instead watching and eating, I'm keeping my hands busy making scarves that I plan to give away as Christmas gifts.
No matter where I go, I’m ready for either working out or pulling out a bit of knitting to do, thanks to my two bags. My point is: there’s time for working out, for eating better, for taking care of yourself – and even a bit of knitting – so long as you make it, and therefore yourself, a priority.
So I started this blog a few days after my column about losing weight ran in the Daily Journal – basically in the middle of September.
It took a while for this blog to see the light of day (be put on the Staff Blogs page, in other words), so now it's nearly a month later.
When I wrote my column, I'd lost about 15 pounds and I knew, just knew, I would cross the 20 pound mark at any minute. I did, eventually, but it took longer than I would've wanted.
So, a month later, I'm at a 25 pound weight loss.
I am not happy about this.
I've always heard you hit a plateau at some point in the weight loss journey, and I guess I'm at mine. I seemed to hit a small one at 20 pounds, and now I'm at another, at 25. My weight just won't budge, or at least it hasn't in the last week. With all the running and sweating I've done lately, you'd think the numbers would go down. Well, not yet.
Some of this is physical: I haven't felt that great in the last month, as I had a small cold and then my "bum" knee, as I call it, tends to give out at least once a month, and, right on schedule, it did.
But a lot of it has been mental.
September through early October was the hardest time I've had, professionally, ever. My arts and entertainment beat exploded. (don't even try to tell me there's nothing to do in Northeast Mississippi. There's PLENTY. Trust me.) I worked long, weird hours, I got a few things wrong, I got a lot of things right, and the rollercoaster of the month just left me exhausted and questioning if I was even in the right line of work. This entire depression/identity crisis left me physically, emotionally and mentally drained. It was hard to focus on getting healthier when all I could think about was work.
October is getting better, so I've been able to change my work outs (bless my heart, I'm trying to run now) and get back to focusing on my health.
So, where am I now?
According to the gym's scale (which has always weighed me a bit lower than every other scale), I've lost 20 pounds in two months (I've only had two weigh-ins there). According to the scale at my parents' house (which has always weighted me as a little higher), I've lost 25 pounds.
The folks at the gym are proud of me, but I won't lie, I'm a little disappointed. I'm ready to get out of the 20s and into the 30s. Who's with me?
Hey y'all –
So earlier this week I wrote a column about my goal to lose 75 pounds. I've had a lot of readers ask me to keep them up-to-date on my progress, and I thought this blog would be the best way to do it.
It's been two months since I started trying to lose weight and get healthy, and in that two months I've lost about 20 pounds. It hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been fun, but it has always been interesting.
So I'll keep y'all up-to-date on my progress or talk about things that have helped me along the way. Keep in mind, I am not a doctor, and I have definitely not always been on the most perfect journey to weight loss. So, if you're serious about losing weight, be sure to talk to your own doctor/fitness trainer/a professional so you can create the best plan for you.
By the way – you may be wondering where I got the name of this blog, "Keep Running."
Let me say, I am NOT a runner. I actually even hate the treadmill with the power of a thousand suns. But that phrase is one I've repeated to myself countless times in the last two months.
When I work out, I have to have something interesting piping through my headphones, whether it's music or a podcast. My favorite band is My Chemical Romance, and I've been playing its new album, "Danger Days," almost non-stop while I'm at the gym. The band's single, "Sing," is pretty inspirational (you may have heard it on "The X Factor" or "Glee"), but late in the song, lead singer Gerard Way shouts, "Keep running!" Every time I hear that, it makes me push even harder on the elliptical or whatever machine I'm on. It's inspired me, and I hope it inspires you.
So starts Keep Running. Keep up with me and be sure to throw in your own ideas and tips! The more the merrier!
Sheena