Maintenance

I've been hitting the diet thing pretty hard since August 2016, and I've been hitting it out of the ballpark if I do say so myself.

It was the end of a sedentary year in office work, and the beginning of a mind-warping period of awake overnight work.

I'm glad both of those jobs are gone.

And then I re-entered the wonderful world of waitressing. For a month. January was a time of sore feet and 10 to 12 hour days. I made my calorie goals on my fitness tracker, but wasn't tracking my food. Not in the slightest. Few restaurants have very diet friendly foods.

Don't get me wrong, the restaurant's food was delicious, but most of it was calorie bombs. I found myself eating a lot of children's meals, protein with a veggie. Or skipping meals entirely.

I was always dehydrated, and I was always tired and stressed.

Good riddance.

So, since January, I have been stalled out. I'm up about 5 to 10 lbs from where I was (185) and hovering around 190 to 194.

Not the worst. I'll get that back off.

But with the stress of job searching and sitting in coffee shops to do it, I've been eating a lot of carbs and binging.

Not my proudest moments.

So, to ease the stress and transition into a new job, I'm setting my calorie goal back to maintenance for now, to give myself some successes to bolster my confidence, and instead I'm going to start focusing on exercising again, and hitting my protein goals.

What maintenance looks like for me....

About 2000 calories. It's been a long time since I counted for 2000 calories. I've been at about a 1500 calorie intake goal for the better part of a year, up from the 1300 calorie goal I had before I realized I was just cranky if I ate that way.

I bought a plethora of workout DVDs with my coveted Xmas money, including Jillian Michaels Killer Buns and Thighs, Killer Arms and back, and Killer Abs.

I know you're supposed to do each program for 30 days, but I'm gonna give rotating them a try, and see if I can build my own program out of them.

I also got Get Bent, a circus style flexibility training video. Parts of me are really limber, but my legs are really tight, so I don't know if it will be too advanced for me, but we'll see. Watch out video, here comes me and my trusty yoga blocks! I will get this split once and for all! Really I'm just excited for the back bends, because I hope they open up my back muscles and ease some of my back pain.

The goals....

2x a week each for arms, legs, and abs, 2x a week for cardio, and 3x a week for full body stretch.

What this might look like....

Monday: Cardio/Stretch
Tuesday: Rest Day
Wednesday: Stretch
Thursday: Arms/Abs
Friday: Legs/Stretch
Saturday: Arms/Cardio
Sunday: Legs/Abs

I meal prepped last week for the first time in 2 months, so I have a freezer full of meals again, instead of just living off of ramen and canned soup. The healthiest, right? If I can stay under calorie goal and lose some weight slowly, great, but I'm happy to hover for now and get used to counting again.

I've lost a whopping 30 lbs in a bout 8 months! Most months I lost about 5 lbs, with the trend slowing down at the end. I'm down a total of 40 lbs from my heaviest. I hope to lose about another 45, pending muscle definition and health. I don't want to starve myself, and I want to be muscular, so I'll evaluate as I go.

My boyfriend is in the same boat as me. We're both aiming for about 140 as an end goal, with muscle definition and strength (it's so weird dating a guy that's the same height as me). He's a little lighter than me, right now, but he's having a lot more trouble getting the weight to come off. He never got as heavy as I did, either.

It's nice having some one to commiserate with, and work towards a goal with, even if we don't work out together, and rarely eat together, though he does like my cooking, and because I love sharing food with people, I'm hoping to feed him more often in the future!