Weight Loss Journey: Week 1

It has now been a year since Junior Nationals was canceled early, and I had to frantically look for a new flight to get home from CA before Covid took over. Like most people, this year has been hard for me mentally, physically, and emotionally. One of the highlights of the last year was the birth of my son, Bear. If you don’t have a kid, it is one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my life.

With that being said, kids are a TON of work, and demand a lot of your time (which I would give up all my time to hang with my family). One of the biggest things that changed for me once my son was here was I had less time to do the things I always had done. Which meant less time to train, less time to cook or even think about food. Add all of that to the stresses of Covid, I found myself not having a great relationship with food, which then led to not a great relationship with myself. I knew this needed to change, otherwise I was going to open myself up to potential health issues down the road.

As much as I would love to say I gained weight because of my son, or because the pandemic, I have to be honest with myself; I gained the weight because I stopped taking care of myself. I stopped prioritizing my health and my mental health which resulted in gaining over 30 lbs over the last year. I knew that if I wanted to be competitive this year in trail running, and more importantly wanted to be healthy, I needed to make a change.

So, there I was on March 1, 3 days before my 32nd birthday weighing 180lbs. For those of you who don’t know me, I am 5’6” (same height as Elijah Wood). Based on my height and weight, my BMI(which I hate using, will write a blog about that) is 29, which classifies me as overweight. This score also puts me only .9 away from being classified as obese. Putting that aside for now, I knew I needed help and I needed to start right away.

I went to Mike Foley of Foley’s fitness. Mike and I have worked together before, and over the last 7 years of living in Maine, he was the one that got me down to my lowest weight in 2015(wedding year). On March 3 I started my weight loss journey.

Over the next 12 weeks, my focus will be to eat healthier, lose weight, and work on getting stronger. I know it is going to be a tough journey, as one of my favorite meals is chocolate chip cookies (yes, I know this is not a meal-probably part of my problem). But for me, being healthy for Ashley and Bear is my priority, and that is worth giving up sweets and fried food to ensure I will be around for a long time.

I will keep a log about every week and how it is going. I look forward to sharing my journey with all of you!

Stats:
Week 1: 179lb and 26.9% body fat
Week 2:177.5lbs and 26% body fat

(picture is from 2015 when I was 155)