the "healthy" way (lengthy)

I'm nineteen years old, and somewhere about the time I was eleven or twelve, I realized that restricting my food, and excersizing a lot made me smaller. Last year at 5'5" and around 130 pounds I was a size seven, and felt hot, and confident. I also worked two jobs that summer, had just graduated high school, worked out two times a day, and ran for miles every other day. I sat down for an actual meal once every couple days, and I really didn't sleep much. Not healthy at all, right? I've always been an all or nothing person, and I have to say, a year later, no longer a college freshman, I've put on about forty pounds. 170 puts me pretty overweight, way heavier than I've ever been and I am fast outgrowing my size 10 jeans. On top of that, I am injured, so I've been out of work for weeks, and unable to workout/run. I WAS losing weight. Now I've just gained more.

This is where Beginner Tri has saved me. Hopefully soon I'll get the clearance to start training. After much research, I decided that with my running background, so long as I am cleared to run, the 16 week couch to 5k will suffice. I know my body. Ive seen run/walk programs advertised in magazines that make me sigh because they're too much too soon. I've been active all my life until this year, but with my asthma I've had to use patience - that damned patience! - to overcome my little excersize induced enemy.

So while waiting for clearance to be let off my leash, and to be healthy again, I've spent hours researching beginner tri. And have found realistic plans I can actually follow!

Strength training routines, run/walk programs, and nutritional information that is helping me find the balance between the me of a year ago, and the me of now. The first changes have been in diet. No starvation. While getting to know BT I don't log everything yet, but it's all in a notebook. And at the end of the day, I tally everything up, and Nix something unhealthy the next day. Writing it down really does make me back away from that ice cream sandwich!

I've switched to more wholesome foods, and started paying more attention to how much processed foods I've taken in.

Even though I'm taking time to heal, and even though I'm very impatient, I've found a wealth of information here. But I'm also learning the patience to make lifelong changes. And for once they're sinking in. I feel better working towards nutrition and not skinny - I still hope skinny will come, but I know I'll be alot happier when I run my first 5k, or when I sign up for my first tri, than when I'm wasting away at 110 lbs - or jiggling at 200!

So to anyone who needs a little inspiration today, keep TRI'ING, just remember that healthy is way more important than skinny, no matter what the scale says.

Edited by featherweight 2009-08-19 10:35 PM