Doin' it for the Animals, and My Colon....

TMI? Then don't read on. This post is long overdue, as I don't make it a priority to update this thing. I have, however, made it a priority in my life to change some things about myself and my life in general that I have been meaning to do for a really long time. The first major thing that I have done for myself is to lose some weight. Now, every time I tell people this they look at me like I am nutso, which I do understand because I did not look overweight necessarily, but I am a firm believer in things being relative, and relative to my health and weight when I was in school I had become the most unhealthy I have been in my life. The history of my weight is that I was pretty chubbums in middle school, and the very end of my 8th grade year and the summer before my 9th grade year I lost it all. And my all I mean I had NO body fat. I was as tall as I am now, which is 5'10", and weighed about 109 lbs. I am not 100% sure how I was mobile. It was an extremely awkward skinny, not a good skinny. Then as high school and college went on I progressively gained weight and I was at a steady 135 for a really long time. I wore between a size 8 and a size 10, which seems kind of big, but I am super tall, so I need the length associated with those sizes. I never felt big at all wearing a 10. So by the time I finished college and got married I weighed about 140. I was totally happy with that, but in the time between finishing school and now I gained about 20 lbs. This was mainly due to the fact that I went from being very active with school and work to sitting at a desk in front of the computer all the time and not changing my eating habits at all. I was not really unhappy with my weight except for the fact that the clothes I was so used to wearing were not fitting me anymore, and I did not want to have to buy all new clothes in a size 12. So that is why I chose to lose some weight. I decided to do Weight Watchers. The idea of keeping lists and weekly weigh-ins was appealing to me, but going in to meetings was definitely not, so I chose to do the online program. My starting weight was 160, and my target weight is 139. I have lost almost 10 lbs since I started, and I am really happy with results, pace, etc.

The next thing I have done that I have wanted to do for forever is become a vegetarian (hence the title of the post). I know that may sound kind of funny to say I have wanted to do that for forever, but I was not in a place in my life where I had the freedom and money to make that choice until recently. I am not a PETA member or anything yet, but I do have extreme compassion towards animals and I don't think eating meat fits in with that mentality. I have officially been a vegetarian for one week now, but before that I slowly went off of red meat to make the transition easier. This switch has fit in well with Weight Watchers, and David is not yet malnourished, so things are going well. I bought some books to help me out, and I had my second veggie burger ever yesterday for the 4th of July, and it was super tasty! I am just really excited about this change, how it will impact my health, and I am glad I am doing it now because it is really important that when I do become pregnant I have healthy habits in place and I can teach my kids healthy habits and compassion towards animals. Here is where the TMI comes in: as some of you may know, I have had digestive issues for a really long time now. I think most people do, but they are too embarrassed to say anything. Well, I am not, and the #1 benefit of the Weight Watchers and the vegetarian thing is that they are highly fiber rich. Not only has this helped me lose weight, but it is totally preventive for things like colon cancer (which my family has a history of). It is super important people! Get on the fiber trian!

The third thing I have done is just get my shit together in general. I have always wanted to be one of those people that gets up really early, gets ready for work, maybe runs some errands on the way there, still gets in by 8:00, has their morning coffee, goes to the farmer's market, etc. Before about a month ago I was one of those people that couldn't get my ass out of bed before 7:30, got to work after all my part time people were already there, couldn't be bothered to set up the coffee maker the night before so it just never got done and the last filter I used would be moldy the next time I checked, NEVER made it to the farmer's market, insisted on taking a shower in the morning because I was too lazy to do it the night before, etc. etc. Today, that person pisses me off. The main part of all that that makes me upset at the way I used to be is the whole getting to work on time thing. I am amazed I wasn't reprimanded in some way. It is definitely unacceptable to get to work at 8:55 in the morning when you expect your part timers to be there by 8:30! So I made some changes. They weren't motivated by one thing in particular, but they all add up to a better me. I started taking my shower at night most of the time, and I don't bother blow drying my hair, I just let it air dry over night then flat iron it in the morning. This leaves plenty of time for me to get up about 7, put my make up on, flat iron my hair, get dressed, take DJ out, get my lunch together, and turn the coffee make on (which I now religiously set up the night before) by 7:45-7:50 ish. Sometimes it is a little later than that, I definitely still have those days that I am dragging a little, but that is the usual routine. I get to work at an appropriate time, sometimes I go to the farmer's market (it is on my way to work for cryin' out loud), sometimes I skip the homemade coffee and go visit my friends at Starbucks, it all just depends. The point is, I am excited and feel like I have entered a new phase in my life. Dave, bless his heart, is so supportive and has graciously tried, and I think genuinely liked!, my tofu salads, vegetarian lasagna, and other dishes I am experimenting with. I still encourage him to eat meat if he wants whenever we do dinner separately or when he goes to his parents' house, but my hope is that as we do this thing together his dependency on meat, especially red meat, will lessen. I don't want him dying of a heart attack when he is like 40 or something!!! Not something I want to have to worry about. Anyway, I will hopefully keep this updated on the progress I am seeing with my weight and vegetarian lifestyle. Now that I feel like I have a grip on some other stuff, maybe this blog will become a priority too. Wish me luck!