Making Progress!

Good morning!

I'm enjoying this rainy Friday morning curled up in my bed with a hot bowl of oatmeal. This will be the last Friday morning I can do this for a while because I've accepted a job back at my previous office starting Monday! I surprised myself by accepting the job, but I think round two will be much better :) I like to stay busy, and with the extra income Jeff and I can manage an apartment together which will be a VERY welcome change from living with the parental unit, as I'm sure many of you can relate.

Anyway, I have some super exciting news!!! I weighed myself this morning and I am OFFICIALLY under 200 lbs!! I weighed in at 199. I still have about 30 pounds I want to lose, but I can't even recall for the life of me the last time I weighed under 200. High school? I'm grateful that I'm tall and have an athletic build because my weight is distributed pretty evenly, however, I'm still technically overweight. My journey to getting healthy is paying off every day; and even though it has been a long, emotional ride, it is so worth it!

I've started incorporating more strength training over the past couple of weeks in addition to all the cardio I've been doing and I'm definitely noticing a difference. I try to do an every other day type of schedule. So strength training one day, next day cardio, next day strength, and so on. Combined with a lean, healthy diet, strength training is one of the most effective ways to burn fat and build muscle. When I first started trying to lose weight a few years back, I was so concerned with getting "beefy" that I hardly ever incorporated weights or strength training.  I know now that was a huge mistake! And it was probably why I hit so many plateaus. Your body requires more energy to maintain muscle, so you end up burning more calories throughout the day (AKA it raises your Resting Metabolic Rate). I was so concerned back then with being "skinny" I never even considered the benefits of strength training. If this blog is any indication, I obviously never got skinny! (haha) I know now that what is important is being healthy. I don't want to be a skinny girl anymore. I want to be fit  ...and look awesome naked.