Kat

Hi!

Thanks for visiting my blog! This is my first attempt at the blogging community since my Xanga page from high school! After a few months of contemplation and a encouraging pushes from old friends, I decided to start a blog sharing my weight loss story and lifestyle changes that I have made over the past 2 years, which have helped me to grow into a healthier and happier young adult. I really enjoy writing, and I figured that this might also be a good way for me to continue writing about something that I enjoy talking about! I hope you enjoy my stories, rants, pictures, and pages. Please leave me your comments and tell me what you think!

The Simple Life?

No, I'm not talking about the E! Reality Show starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.  I decided to name my blog "The Simple Life" because many people look at losing weight and getting healthy as a very difficult, need-to-be-dreaded task. Not the case! I am just a normal person who made some simple lifestyle changes and saw some big results! Also, I can't forget to mention that a year ago, I moved from my suburban Philadelphia lifestyle to a small town in Northeast PA and have spent a lot of time learning to appreciate the great outdoors and took a step away from the traffic and noise of the big city! My big move played a large part in...

"My Weight Loss Story"

I always had some meat on my bones growing up. I was never the heaviest kid at school, but I was far from the skinniest. I was always conscious of my extra weight and struggled with some self esteem and confidence issues when I was in middle and high school (nothing abnormal for an adolescent girl!). When I started my college career at West Chester University in the Fall of 2005, I embarked on that dreaded journey that many college kids experience...the Freshman 15. Or in my case, it was the Freshman 20. It didn't all come on at once. I was pretty active with my marching band my first semester which kept me moving, and by Christmas, I had only gained about 5 pounds. However, by the end of my first year, I was tipping the scales at approximately 190 pounds. This would be the start of my series of yo-yo weight loss and gain habits over the next 3 years.
The summer after my freshman year, I was able to shed 10 pounds by eating a little healthier and going to the gym on a pretty regular basis. However, once school started in the fall, back came my old habits of cafeteria food, late night pizza, parties...the works. I'll spare you the details, but this was pretty much the pattern of my sophomore and junior years at WCU. I had managed to keep my weight in the low 180's for most of that time, but the Summer of 2008 many good times, lots of junk food, my 21st birthday, and 10 extra pounds.

April 2008

"My Aha! Moment"
The night of my 21st birthday, I cried in front of the mirror while getting ready to go out and celebrate my much awaited adulthood, because none of my clothes looked good. I had one Summer dress that I wore to everything, because it was the only thing I felt comfortable in. Entering my senior year of college barely fitting into size 16 pants, I decided that enough was ENOUGH! I didn't want to spend my 20's avoiding mirrors and escaping photo-ops. I knew that some serious changed needed to be made, but I wasn't even sure where to start. At the suggestion of one of my soroity sisters, I decided to visit the Campus Nutritionist and jump on the weight loss wagon.

"It's a Lifestyle change, not a diet"
September 21, 2008 was the day that turned it all around. I sat down with WCU's nutritionist and had a long chat about food. She taught me how to read food labels. I'm not talking just looking at calories and fat grams, which was my previous habit. I learned how food works. How protein and carbohydrates affect your body, and how to get the right amount of the different food groups. Sounds simple, but it had never been explained to me in depth before. Now, it suddenly didn't seem so hard to make better choices. I was set up with a food journal, I was weighed, and sent on my merry little weight loss way. At 193 pounds and 38% body fat, I was armed with a wealth of new knowledge and ready for some changes!

I grasped this new activity of weight loss as if it were the greatest thing since sliced bread. For some reason, this "try" at losing weight was really working, and I was determined not to fall off the boat. I started losing weight, pound by pound. By Christmas 2008, I was down to 176- pretty impressive in just a few short months! In the beginning, I thought it would be miraculous if I could eventually get down to 160 pounds. So I continued to work towards that goal. My last semester of college was my Student Teaching experience. Here entered some of the craziest, most exciting and emotional 14 weeks of my life. I managed to lose a few more pounds during ST, but nothing too impressive. On graduation day, I was 174 pounds (I gained a few pounds in my last few weeks, as stress and the wide variety of Celebratory events seemed to get the best of me!)

May 2009

Big Girl Job = Big Changes
Immediately after graduation, I began my job search. Bound and determined to find a teaching position, I spent most of my summer applying and interviewing for jobs. In late July, I was blessed to be offered my dream job teaching Elementary and Junior High band in a small school district in Northeast PA, 3.5 hours away from home. Excited and nervous to begin my teaching career in a totally different and unfamiliar area, I packed my bags and away I went. As hard as it was to be living away from all of my family and friends, I decided to join the gym in my town and start eating healthy again (I had resorted back to some old bad habits during my job search). I found that life after college was a much easier weight loss environment. I suddenly had more time to spend at the gym, where I discovered Kickboxing and Yoga classes that I grew to love! I had more time to cook for myself, and more of an income to spend on more quality food for myself (gone are the days of hot pockets and ramen noodles!). When I went home for Christmas, my weight was down to 159 and I was just thrilled.

November 2009

2010 was here before I knew it, and I was starting to get even more serious about my workouts and what I was eating. I had a group of friends that I had met at my gym and at work, and a new boyfriend that was just as into eating right and exercising as I was. After hitting a plateau in Mid-February, I decided to seek the advice of a nutritionist in the area to get my losing back on track!  The size 12 pants that I bought in January were getting loser by the day. By April, I found myself fitting into size 8 shorts, and I bought my first bikini!!! And with the encouragement of my now roommate, I actually wore it in public too ;) As of July, my weight had hit 140 pounds, twenty pounds less than my original goal that I had set one year ago!

July 2010

A work in progress...
Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased and proud of the accomplishments that I have made. I have lost 53 pounds and gone from a Size 16 to a Size 6-8. I can hold my own in a Kickboxing session, I can run longer and faster than before...It wasn't a Sunday stroll in the park, but it wasn't an uphill battle either. That being said, I am not perfect. I have days where I eat one too many bites of ice cream, or won't push myself as hard as I can go in a workout. I could proclaim "I'm done! No more weight loss for me!" I still have some weight to lose. With the aid of a nutritionist, I am currently figuring out what a good goal weight will be for me (somewhere between 125-130 for my 5'6 frame), and continuing to plug away at my quest. I will just continue to keep educating myself about being healthy and leading the best life that I can!

I hope I haven't bored you too much with my story. I am just a normal girl who did nothing extraordinary and  wants to share my journey and what I've learned.

Thanks for reading!

Email: KM610724@gmail.com