My Body Is Precious

SO, just thought that I would jump back on to the blog after being gone for a year and a half so I can help us all push through that lousy slump we might be in because we haven't completely kept our New Year's resolutions. But, hey! Look on the bright side: it's still February! We have 11 more months to keep pushing until we get to set another resolution. HA!
So, my battle:
April 10, 2013 was one of the best days of my life! I began my 18 month journey of serving an LDS mission (for more info on my adventures, here is a link to my mission blog). However, it also started my battle with weight. As a missionary-especially working with the Hispanic people-you eat a LOT and don't exercise much. This was me when I left (middle):

So, not super, super skinny. But, I'd been working really hard up until that point so that I could have a little cushion because I knew that weight gain for a missionary was inevitable. However, the MTC food is 19 year-old boy food and I gained, like, 5 pounds. Not too bad...

I finally got to Sacramento on May 21, 2013 and got all settled in, but what came next I wasn't expecting. The stress of being in a new place, the stress of learning a language (Spanish), the stress of not having any family with me and being completely unable to communicate with them, the stress of trying to teach and find people to teach, and all of the food I was eating compounded and compounded. By the time I had been in Sacramento three months (August 2013) I had ballooned 20 pounds! I didn't even recognize myself in pictures anymore (I'm on the far right in the following picture). I hated the way I looked. I tried being "healthy" but with no success. So, I plateaued.

And stayed that way through September...

...into December

...and through January.

Then, in February 2014, things changed. The companion I was with at the time was 6 months from going home. As missionaries we liked to do a diet with 6 months left-rightly named "Six Months To Sexy." Well, I was 7.5 months from going home so I thought it would be a good idea to get a head start. So, we evaluated what we could change. I realized that I was eating WAY more than I needed. So, I cut down drastically-which made it easier to buy healthy things because I wasn't spending money to eat out or buy junk food. We also decided to more fully utilize the precious 30 minutes we had from 6:30am-7:00am to exercise. And it worked!

However, all good things came to an end and I plateaued again after losing about 7 pounds. Then, I did something I thought  I would never do-I just stopped eating. Never fear, it only lasted about 2 days. I would just eat almost nothing for breakfast and then sleep during my lunch hour. At about the second day I got this ridiculous pang of hunger in the middle of our working hours and said, "I'm an IDIOT! Go to the nearest McDonalds right NOW!" We went, I ate a beautiful McChicken and vowed that I would never again do something that insane. It's not worth it.

I continued to monitor what I was eating and would get up and walk every morning. I had no energy to run by that point. I'd been out 16 months...but I was making healthy decisions and making sure not to eat too much when members would feed us dinner. One night we accidentally double booked dinner and we ate twice. I ate so much food I threw up after-not because I forced myself, but because my stomach just couldn't handle it.

By the end of my mission in October I had lost a lot of the weight, but was still kinda fluffy. I returned home on October 9, 2014. I was so happy, and yet very sad about having to leave. After a few days of trying to "settle in", my body started to revolt. Anything I ate gave me awful stomach pains-we're talking doubled-over-on-the-floor-writhing-in-pain stomach pains. That, coupled with what felt like a short stint of post-mission depression, made me stop eating again. I lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks. No bueno. I finally got to the point where I could eat again without the pain and I started working for my dad. That pulled me back into being me again.

In December 2014 I had been working out 5 days a week, eating much healthier, and had been working as an electrical assistant for my dad for 3 months. I had lost an additional 8 pounds...

I'm now at the weight I was at when I was 16. I'm hoping to keep going with my loss, mostly to just be healthy, but hey, a girl's got to get some dates around here! I mean, I'm almost 23 :)

If there's one thing that I have learned from all of this it is that my body is special. Yes, we are going to go through ups and downs. We are going to have moments when we hate ourselves and compare ourselves to everyone around us. Most of my companions were sizes 2 through 6. One of them called me fat. You know what, at the time, she was right. But, I channeled it into positive energy and I'm kicking butt! I have found that I have been able to be the healthiest and lost that extra pound when I am loving myself-not punishing myself because I ate that chocolate. Bro, it's OK to eat that chocolate. We need to love ourselves!

I'm currently training to run a 1/2 marathon in July and the RAGNAR relay in June! SO excited!!!
Stay classy!