Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I feel a lot stronger and athletic after my weight loss. It's not perfect, but I do see improvements in my muscles. I'm able to do things I never would be able to do before with the extra weight.

I've been practicing doing chin-ups. I use a weight-assisted machine and eventually I won't need the assistance to do them. Push ups were always difficult for me. I can't do them properly just yet, but I practice daily. Push ups are such a good work out that I want to be able to do them correctly. I do the modified version and gradually, I'm getting closer to doing the traditional push up. It's a good sign of strength and physical fitness to be able to do them.

If these guys can do it... I know I will!

Just a short update...

Tonight I had a support meeting for the YMCA's corporate weight-loss challenge. It was not your typical support meeting. There was physical activity through an intuitive scavenger hunt that had two teams pinned against each other testing our limits. All I can say is that today was my first day of physical activity since I changed my diet.  I have no endurance at all! 

I know a lot of you like to lose weight in the early spring in preparation for the beach in summer. Ideally you should want to lose weight in order to live a healthier life, but so many set goals to lose weight in order to look better. You may have unrealistic goals on how fast you can lose the weight and you might be putting a lot of extra stress on yourself.

Wellness challenges traditionally run in the fall and spring at many local YMCAs. Some participants think why lose weight now when Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up, the typical holidays that always brings lots of food. But losing weight now is better than waiting for the spring. This way, when Thanksgiving comes around, you'll be more prepared to eat healthier and because you're living a healthier lifestyle, you'll be less likely to overeat. And when you do cheat, it will be easier to keep your weight in check.

I've learned a lot the past couple years on the correct way to lose weight, mostly from trial and error. I was like many others out there, and struggled to try and lose weight but not succeed.

Finally I realized... you have to eat properly too, not just exercise. Before I lost the weight, I would exercise two to three times a week but did nothing to change my diet. When I think about how bad my diet was back then, I wonder how I could eat all that I did. I mean a good majority of the food I ate had a ton of sugar in them. I'm talking about candy bars, ice cream, frozen dinners, cookies, the list goes on and on!