How I lost 15 pounds (and kept it off)

I distinctly remember a day my sophomore year of high school when I was home sick from school, stepped on a scale in our bathroom and saw the number rise to 150. I had never hit that number before.

(I have no qualms about discussing weight in actual numbers here!)

At 5-foot-9, that didn't exactly make me overweight, but I realized that my energy reserves were zapped, and I often felt sluggish. 

I had probably gained about 15 pounds over the course of a year, and I didn't know how. Looking back now, it was really a case of growing into an adult body with a slightly more "adult" metabolism.

And I didn't know what to do about it.

While I wouldn't sit down and eat six cupcakes in a sitting, I also wasn't overtly "healthy" when it came to food.

I ate sugary cereal for breakfast every single day.

I ate pizza, pop tarts and cookies for lunch.

At home, I would eat more cereal before (and usually after dinner.)

And I LOVED desserts.

Still do, in fact. They just don't love me back.

I wasn't in sports or activities like I had been when I was younger, so my exercise was mostly limited to a stray Seventeen magazine workout here or there.

Fast forward to senior year, when my appendix burst.

It was a very painful incident, and I was terrified of hospitals and surgery, so the whole thing freaked me out. But the surgery went well, and recovery before I could get back to school took about two weeks.

Something about that finally made me pay attention to my body. 

The NUMBER ONE THING I DID, and I still recommend this to anyone looking to lose weight, is to stop drinking sugar and calories. I lost probably half the weight from doing that alone.

I drank water and unsweetened tea, and that was about it.

Even now, the only calories I drink come from alcohol or the occasional pop, and I rarely drink.

I do love a good wine spritzer though!

The summer before college, I went through my first official breakup. It was a little tough to deal with at the time, and that combined with the fact that I was leaving for college soon had me very anxious about the future.

So I started to run.

I found that my iPod, running shoes and a long stretch of sidewalk really did my mind some good, so I kept it up when I went away to school.

I still didn't eat well, however, but I was working out enough that I continued to lose weight and got down to about 135.

Dorm food was fattening and I still loved me some Fruit Loops, so my body still felt out of balance.

Sophomore year came, and it was a pretty tough year emotionally. I went through a lot, and was dealing with things I had never dealt with before.

So I took it out on my body.

Every time I was stressed or upset, which was pretty much every day, I would go to the gym and work out as hard as I could.

As productive as that may sound, it wasn't. It was hard on my body. I thought it would make me feel tougher and stronger, but I was using it as an escape to get away from everything else I was dealing with.

And at the end of that year, I met Tom.

It took months of having something stable to feel like I was calming down, and even the summer we started dating I was still pretty out of sorts. But my junior year of college, in a new apartment (with a kitchen!), a new relationship and a new role in campus media, I wanted to focus on balance as opposed to strength (which in my case had meant stubborn escapism.)

The SECOND TIP I TELL PEOPLE LOOKING TO LOSE WEIGHT is listen to your body!

That year I started cooking. Not well, but I tried. I realized that when I ate eggs and fresh fruit or oatmeal for breakfast, my body felt good. When I ate cereal or donuts, I felt like crap.

It sounds so simple, but it took that whole year to figure out what I was missing, when I needed to eat and what I needed to leave out of my grocery cart.

As it stands now, this is what I do. I am not a nutritionist/fitness guru, and this may not work for everyone, but it keeps me feeling my best:

(This is just a general rundown. After this post I will do more regular health and fitness posts.)

-Cardio workout 3X a week, plus toning and strengthening

-Pilates workout 2x a week

-Water ALL THE TIME. I can't go anywhere without my water bottle!

-Tea all day. I usually have three or four cups, especially green tea.

-Most meals are vegetable-based. Veggies do a body good.

-Hot water with cinnamon is great in the morning. You could also add a little honey to sweeten it up.

-Get moving! The more energy you put out walking/running/just not sitting, the more you will have.
-I rarely eat true "meals." I mostly eat small ones every few hours. Again, I have no idea if that's how you're *supposed* to do it, but that seems to work best for me.

-I even stopped eating my beloved cereal, and I don't even miss it. Or the bloating it gave me.

There is no point to this photo. I just didn't want to scare you with all the never-ending words.

So there you go, the kickoff to my more health-based bloggy home.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!

Happy Wednesday!