Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Ever since I lost 130 pounds, I've been trying to tighten my abs. Today, I had my first personal training session at the local YMCA. This workout routine will be completely different from what I've been used to.

As much as I have cut back on cardio, with the new training, I'll be cutting back on it even further. The focus is on strength and heavy lifting. It will take a while to get used to this routine.

I'm not sure of the exact date, but late last December, after two wellness challenges, better eating habits and increased exercise, I reached my goal weight. It was a lot of hard work and the result was normal blood pressure, good cholesterol numbers and optimal glucose levels. Plus my waist size went from 44 down to 34 inches.

There were a few comments along the way that I still hear at times, even though it has been a year since I reached my lowest weight. The first comment comes from those that knew my sister had anorexia. They assume that automatically I would "catch" anorexia, even though my goal is to be healthy. Only another sibling of an anorexic can truly understand what this feels like. The only way I can describe it is if one sibling is an alcoholic, someone will feel the other sibling is an alcoholic because they had one drink. I know people say these things because they care, but it just shows how misunderstood anorexia really is.

As many of you know, I was in a walking challenge sponsored by United Healthcare. I was also in the same challenge last year when they ran one in the fall of 2012.

Yesterday was the final day of this year's challenge, so how did I do? I don't want to reveal my total steps yet until they announce the winners but I did comparable to last year. Last time around I had over a million steps in ten weeks. This year, I stepped over 800,000 steps in eight weeks. If the challenge were 10 weeks like last year's challenge, I no doubt would have the million steps again.

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.

Back when I was obese, I was lucky to get maybe two workouts in at the gym each week. I wasn't able to use the treadmill faster than like 4.5 MPH and I was lucky to stay on for 20 to 30 minutes.

I was also sitting most of the day at a desk. I would barely get up and move or even stretch my legs. I remember my legs would be so stiff they wouldn't even want to move.