A Fresh Start

July 23rd, 2010 || Health || No Comments »

I’m a fat girl.

I say that with 10+ years of learning to love myself inside and out. However, as I have watched my darling father struggle with health issues (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, among others), I have finally reached the point where I can clearly see that I am on the same path. I don’t want that.

In the past, I’ve always said to myself, “I’m only a little bit overweight… I haven’t even hit ___ lbs.” The number kept going up until a few months ago when I finally hit a rather-depressing 250lbs, which weighs heavily (haha) on my 5’4″ frame and has caused a fairly significant amount of stress on my joints. (I even had to walk with a cane for 6 months after a knee injury caused primarily by my weight… ridiculous!)

I’m 28 years old and I am so out of shape it’s embarrassing. I travel extensively, and I find it increasingly frustrating that I can’t keep up with my friends on walking tours and other such adventures. It’s finally time for me to get serious and make a real change.

I’ve lost significant amounts of weight in the past (over 40lbs on Weight Watchers), but my lifestyle over the past 7 years (living overseas with limited food choices) has made weight loss difficult and my weight has steadily risen to this all-time high. Now that I am living in America again, I feel like I have many more choices for weight loss help, even just in the variety of foods available.

So, I’m gonna do it. I’m going to lose 90lbs.

My strategy this time is to use MFP as a nutrition tracker with the SlimQuick fat burner supplement as a jump start (I only plan on using it for a month) to spur me on to healthier eating habits.

The main battle I see ahead of me is exercise: not only do I loathe it, but my joint pain (especially in my knees) makes intense cardio workouts painful and frustrating. I know that right now I can’t do those muscle-shredding-infomercial-type workouts, so I’m going to start with something I love: bowling! And, depending on my budget, I’m hoping to join a Curves gym. (I’ve done Curves in the past and it was surprisingly fun!) I know that I have to exercise in order to lose the weight and get healthy.

My amazing parents are taking this journey with me and already we are eating and feeling so much better. Living with someone else who is “dieting” is certainly motivating!

I will be occasionally tracking my progress here, but I will also be posting my daily nutrition diary on MFP if you care to check it out.

By this time next year, I’m going shopping! ;)

Vacation Is Having Nothing To Do And All Day To Do It In

April 17th, 2010 || Pictures, Travel || No Comments »

I’ve spoiled myself by taking two fantastic vacations in the past three weeks, first to Macau and Hong Kong, and then to some remote islands in the Gulf of Thailand. All of my pictures from both adventures can be found here.

I can’t help it that my life is so awesome.

“There is probably no more obnoxious class of citizen, taken end for end, than the returning vacationist.” ~Robert Benchley

In Violence, We Forget Who We Are

April 11th, 2010 || Ramblings, Travel || No Comments »

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

The situation in Bangkok is getting worse as the anti-government protesters clashed with police yesterday, ending in casualties on both sides.

The Red Shirts have succeeded in closing down most of the city, including public transportation and shopping areas, but they have not succeeded in making any political headway.

True democracy doesn’t work this way.

True democracy doesn’t blow the other side up when it doesn’t get its way.

True democracy doesn’t bribe and pay the uneducated masses to protest something that most of them don’t even understand.

The Thai people claim they want democracy, but this isn’t the way to go about it. Until the corruption ends on both sides of the line, these sorts of violent reactions will continue, bringing absolutely no peace to Thailand.

See all of my Red Shirt pictures here.

As the Good Book says, if you spit in the air, it lands in your face.

March 21st, 2010 || Education, Pictures || No Comments »

I’ve just added a batch of pictures from our high school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, which was performed this weekend (and quite fantastically, I might add). I had a wonderful few months working with the students, doing hair and makeup design, and cutting more fabric for costumes than I care to remember. You can see all the pictures here.