Little By Little...bit by bit.

Hey ladies. Sorry I've been absent from the blogosphere since my loss. I've also been very absent from my diet and workout routine...my gym..everything. Bit I'm recommitting with the start of a new month. Just in case I have not met you all. My name is Kia and I'm from New York City. I weigh at this present time 198. I'm used to weighing about 138-9. The last time I weighed that and was a size 4 to a 6 was in about 2001 or 2. Alot of things have contributed to my weight gain. I was one of these girls who ate whatever and stayed pretty small...I would never be able to say I was 'skinny" but I was small. I was always self conscious about my weight even though I was a size that women killed to be, with a curvy figure and large breasts. That runs in my family...both sides unfortunately. So last time I was happy with my weight I was about a size 6 and wearing a size 36D. Now jump forward to 2008, after the stint with depo-provera (which I believe kick started this weight battle), I am now at a size 12 and pushing a 14 and weighing a 36ddd or F or whatever comes after a DD! I am not happy in my skin. I can't say that I feel exactly "fat" but I'm just not..."me". So, I've fluctuated over the last 7 years or so. At first I gained like 30 pounds in the 6 months that I was on depo back in 2001. Then dropped it and all forms of birth control altogether and dropped weight. I was around a size 8. I was also working right across the street from my gym and spent my lunch hour there every night. And I also worked out during the morning before work. I've slowly gained weight back. I am finding it increasingly frustrating to buy clothes and I'm becoming depressed.

I was in the Police Academy in 2006 and I did not become a police officer because I could not run the required mile and a half in 14 minutes and 21 seconds. I was only able to get my time down as far as 16:13. I am so grateful for the fun experience and it will always be one of the best 6 month periods of my life. I took away some great exercise moves that I have used since then.

So anyway, my usual workouts consist of spinning classes which I am very addicted to, jogging and running outside at the park with Samson, my dog. And the Self.com strength routines and calisthenics. And as far as my diet, I tend to work better on a lower carb/sugar diet. I don't count calories as most of the research that I have done suggests that restricting calories does not work in the long run. However, when you lower you ratio of empty carbs, refined sugars, and processed foods, naturally you eat a healthy amount of calories in a day. That is fine for me. I've tried Atkins, Curves, Sugar Busters, and just basic low carb diets and I find all of them a little too complicated for my life. But reading up on these, I have all the books, does educate me alot and helps to keep me in line. So basically I've taking portiions of value from all of them and created sor t of a hybrid diet of my own liking. This works for me along with exercise. When I plateau or find myself gaining again, I may adopt one of the more extreme methods, I may start counting or whatever, just to kick start my metabolism again.

But anyway, enough about me. I'm slowly reading through all the entries that I've missed. losethelard...you're in my area maybe we could sync up. Mhray..keep up the good work and you will see really good results. As far as the low cal salad dressing goes, be careful, when they take out the fat and add sugars and chemicals to replace the flavor lost, you might end up having something worse than the full fat version of the salad dressing. Stick to Vinaigrette which is great or italian you wanna go rich, go all natural. Anyway ladies....I'm off to start my day...and my journey.

Oh yeah visit me at upoc.com/liyahsnmber1fan and sign up for my self challenge group so we can encourage eachother on the go. And calorieking.com's diet diary for pam os is a great tool. Check it out. My best regards to you all...

Kia.