Progress

Super update – 2020: Since writing this below journey, I’ve since given birth to two children (separate pregnancies) and used the same methods and mindset to lose the baby weight both times. So, in essence, I’ve done this now 3 times.

I waited a year before creating this page, yet I readily admit it’s the first link I click on when looking at other people’s healthy living sites! 🙂

First, read my About page to know my story, and how this site and this situation came about.

This is one of the pictures which started it all. The journey back to health, and this site, too. There are some worse pictures, which I may not post (we’ll see).

Me at South by Southwest Festival, March 2011, with my lovely colleagues. This was after an especially late night with little sleep and I looked especially rough…but the camera doesn’t lie, that was me. 8 years of living in Italy and the weight slowly creeping on, and then suddenly piling on in the 6 months prior. Two weeks later I came back home from this trip and started going to the gym and food journaling.

In July of 2011 – I was exercising regularly and still food journaling. I made some significant progress in losing weight. In a few days I would put on a bathing suit and it was the first time I had looked forward to wearing one in a while. It was also the first time I exercised while on vacation.

In May of 2012 – That poor shirt – I almost dislike it now because of the before picture 🙂 Still going to the gym, running, and food journaling. I’m not quite in maintenance yet, but I’m not in a big hurry to get to goal. Also, all the weight lifting means that I’m getting more muscular and tightening up which is more important to me than reaching a specific number on the scale.

I’m eating well, indulging often enough, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve made short-term changes – I don’t feel as if it’s something I’m doing only for a short time until X or Y happens. As much as my site title is misleading – it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change.