My Lifestyle Change(s)

So if you come around my blog pretty regularly, you'll have seen that I've fallen behind on adding content to my meme posts, and I'm a few weeks behind on reviews, again, boo! Well, there's a reason for that. Said reason is also meaning I'm reading less, which I despair of, but overall, it's a good change for me.

That reason is that I'm changing my lifestyle, as you might surmise from the title of this blog post :P

So, a little backstory on me. When I was young, I was fairly active, I was a part of soccer team (not competitive, even then, I was bigger than the average child), I biked to middle school because the school was just down the road from me.

But like I said, I was bigger. And I'm fairly short, only 5'5, so it's not like the weight is from a proportioned body. As I grew older, I gained more weight, sporty activity, most actives of any kind became harder, so I stopped besides what was mandatory in gym class, and that was hard, my least favourite class in school.

I'm now in my 20's, and I'm very overweight. I don't like the way I look, so you won't find a picture of me in my profiles, in social media. I think there's one picture of me on Facebook, but that's a group picture, and if you don't know who the people are, it'll be a bit hard to put a face to the name. I have body image issues, and various health problems that I won't get into because TMI and privacy, since I think I'm baring a lot of my soul here, I don't need to air out those problems!)

So the changes I'm making, is that first off, I've started to exercise. My family has some various things like a stationary bike and a treadmill, which I've started using. I've also bought some various equipment, like weights, a yoga mat, stuff like that. And I'm trying to use them fairly regularly, and have something of a regimen. So that's one way that I'm trying to lose weight.

Another, which is the biggie, according to various research I've done on the research done about weight loss, is that I'm eating better food, and I'm eating less of it. I have a complicated relationship with food, and I eat when I'm not hungry, and I didn't eat very healthy things, mostly grains, and I ate too much of it.

So I've cut down on what I'm eating to a more average amount that I'm mostly never hungry (a few times, but not often and not very long), and still getting in my nutrients (especially now that I'm eating them!) and be able to lose weight.

I'm also drinking a lot more water, which I dislike, but I chug it, basically, so I get the fluids in, and it doesn't take long with something that I don't like the taste of, because it has no taste. I tried Mio, but a) it was kinda expensive and b) I found out it has stuff that's not good for you.

I'm eating more fruits and vegetables. I'm eating less grains. I'm also trying to eat things that have fewer ingredients, and that more likely than not, I know what they are. I'm also tracking everything that I eat, that I drink, and all the exercise I'm getting with an app.

So why does this mean you've fallen behind, I don't know if I hope you wonder, or not. Well, first off, I had to do a ton of research, finding out what was the best course of action, and learning more about eating healthy and exercising. Because this is going to take a while to get to my target weight, as well as, to make it a lifestyle change, so that when (because it's not going to be an if) I get to that point, I don't want to slide back. And then I had to implement those changes, and some are happening sooner than others.

So I think I've mostly gotten over the research part, which included a deep dive into tons of articles and YouTube videos, and which took up the most time. Actually implementing the changes, eating better and exercising, takes less time, so hopefully I'll get into the swing of the blogging things shortly.

I've also recently (as in the past 4 or so hours) become interested in taking better care of my skin, which I really need to do, what with the issues I have. So I've done some research, and hopefully I won't have to do too, too much before I get going. I already starting doing what I can with what I have from previous attempts that I've done.

I debated whether or not to write this post, after all, it's the Internet, and anything that I put out there is going to be out there, for anyone to find, for basically forever. But I wanted to mark it. I've also debated starting a seperate blog for my weight loss, fitness starting, lifestyle change stuff, because the words I'm writing, well, they're not about books, and this has been a book blog since I started it in March 2009 (which, wow, is a long time! Coming up on 10 years. Wow!) Please comment if you'd prefer a) no more lifestyle changes, b) lifestyle changes on this blog, or c) lifestyle changes on a new blog. I'd really like to know!

My goal is to hit my target weight of 150 pounds by next September. Hopefully I'll make it, and then I'll start posting some pictures of myself. It'll be totally weird!

Wow, if you made through this whole blog post, reading everything, congrats. You've won the dubious honor of knowing a bit more about me. Wrapping things up! What about you guys? Happy reading!