So I realized a couple weeks ago that over the last six months I've become a total body slob. Oh there were certainly indicators along the way that let me know I was heading in the slob direction, but of course I ignored these because I didn't think it was that big of a deal because no one cares about my appearance as much as I do, and my lazy habits were justified because I'd been very busy and working a lot. But they were a big deal in the grand scheme of things because they lead me to one of those terrible epiphanies were you completely breakdown before actually doing anything about the problem.
It started with my hair. I've always been very much a tomboy and for the majority of my life my hair has been strangled in a ponytail. When I turned 20, that all changed and I began to actually style it on a regular basis. A few months ago I realized it was back in a ponytail every single day, and some days I didn't even bother to dry it before leaving the house. Then came the makeup. I've always been a minimalist when it comes to cosmetics since I'm a ginger and don't think I have one of those faces that actually looks good with a lot of makeup. And lets face it, one of the curses of being a redhead is that most eyeshadow colors look silly and we're pretty much stuck with bronze, brown, and gold anyway. But then I realized that I was only spending five seconds to messily swipe on mascara and that was it. Next came the nail polish. I had the same blue nail polish on my toes for two months (I know, gross!) when I used to do my nails at home every week during my hour long pamper time on Sundays.
The scale was the turning point (or the tipping point hahaha!!). Now I knew that I had been drinking too much, smoking too much, eating way too much junk food, drinking too much monster, and water consumption was pretty much non existent in my life, except of course for the morning after drinking too much. I had also pretty much stopped working out and was averaging maybe two days a month on the treadmill, which is very bad because I always liked working out and used to run an average of 20 miles a week, lifted weights, did yoga and pilates, swam, road my bike, went hiking a few times a month. All of this of course lead to my pants no longer fitting, and so more often than not I left the top button undone (since I couldn't button most of them) and wore my better half's t-shirts to hide my growing mass. All of these were bad signs, but like any addict I was in denial about my lazy slob lifestyle. Until I stepped on the scale.
My better half has been working his butt off for the last four months trying to work out and eat well, and has lost almost thirty pounds. Of course none of this rubbed off on me because "I was fine." But a couple weeks ago he stepped on our scale and gave himself a high five for having almost reached his goal weight. I thought, "hmm, I haven't weighed myself since my birthday last fall, I should see where I'm at because I think I've gained five pounds since then." (See how delusional I was? I couldn't even button my pants and thought it was due to a measly five pounds.) I had not gained five pounds since then. I had gained 20 pounds since then, which put me at the 135 mark. This is towards the top of the healthy weight range for my height, but still five pounds over what I said I would ever weigh unless I was growing a kid. My first reaction when I saw this figure was that our scale was broken. There was no way I could be that heavy. I mean, I've always weighed under 120 for Pete's sake!
So I went out and stepped on a half a dozen different scales at the Kohl's down the street. They all said the same thing, which meant that there was a conspiracy going on and someone was jacking up all the scales, or that I really had gained 20 pounds. I knew it was the latter, so I went home and did what any girl would do. I pigged out on half the Jack in the Box menu while watching Bridget Jones's Diary (my depression movie that always makes me feel empowered) and got rip roaringly drunk with Sailor Jerry. The next day I decided to do something about it.
Here I am almost two weeks later, and I think I'm out of my laziness spell. I still eat a lot of garbage, but make a conscious effort to eat at least one healthy meal a day, which I'm really glad I'm doing not only for my health but because I also re-discovered how much I truly enjoy salads. And no, I'm not just saying that, spinach salads really are one of my favorite dishes. I make myself drink a gallon of water every day (sounds like a lot but its really not considering the temperature outside is in the triple digits and its not even our hot season yet) which has automatically reduced my Monster consumption to half a can a day if that. And I make sure I work out at least three days a week. In that two weeks I've lost 12 pounds and feel so much better. It's awesome that I lost that much so quickly considering I always eat when I'm hungry and still have a nasty jalapeno popper and pizza roll habit, but it's also kind of sad in a way. Losing that much weight so quickly without going on a starvation diet or working out for more than 45 minutes a day means that I was consuming way, way, WAY too many calories everyday that my body didn't need.
This morning I tried on all of my jeans. A couple pairs fit great, most I can now button but still have a bit of a muffin top, and I can even squeeze my super skinny jeans over my butt though it would still take an act of God to actually zip them up let alone button them. I've also gone back to making sure I do my hair and makeup every day, and that I spend my one hour a week doing my whole at home spa treatment. I'm not back to my old fighting shape yet, but I'm almost there with only 8 pounds to go, which I'm hoping I'll be able to shed by our San Diego trip in July.
Anyway, I was very proud of myself for getting out of this rut, and was curious to hear about similar stories from others. Has anyone else had a phase like this in their life? If so, what was your turning point and how did you get out of it?
Thanks everyone, hope this post inspires some healthier habits today.
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