My Story: Part 1

 

My Story: I am about to start a relatively new journey, one of MANY I have taken on this year and this will be one I document weekly on Blonde Rules. I am teaming up with Nutrisystem for the next few months. I will be blogging weekly about my health and fitness and dining partially on Nutrisystem food that they have given me. The rest of my meals and calorie intake will be based on my typical diet. I am going to do my best to dispense as much helpful food/exercise/psychotherapy information into my weekly blog posts in the hopes that if even one thing resonates with one person, this will all be worth it!

It's been a big year for me. A great year and a difficult year all at the same time, but one that leaves the kind of mark you want in your memory. It all began last September 2009, when my beautiful and smart cousin Amy, pictured in the below post to my right, told me all about a triathlon she did last summer. I thought it was such a feat for a mother of 3, a few vague years older than me, to tackle. If she could do it, certainly I could try to do it. And that's where my health and fitness journey began.

I realized that at 30 years old, after years of great therapy, if I didn't take my health, diet and exercise seriously, I never would. Weight has been my core struggle my entire life and I suddenly decided to take back my personal power and make a change with a sense of commitment and excitement I had never had before. I made a plan to do a triathlon with Amy in Summer 2010. I am a natural swimmer, swam competitive all my school years up to college, so I knew that part of the triathlon would be cake for me. I had a pretty, green hybrid bike and felt confident with that portion of the tri as well. The real struggle would be the run and I knew I needed every bit of the year to train for it.

One memorable Sunday in September on a brusk day at home in NYC, I decided I was going to turn myself into a runner. It wasn't magic, it didn't happen overnight and it wasn't always easy, but each week I ran about 4 or 5 days. I started with a slow mile and I worked my way up to 3 slow miles (about an 11-12mph pace) nonstop by January. Simply from exercise and no real portion control, I lost 15 pounds by January. I traveled to New Zealand with my bff, Maria, in February, and I was able to run miles and miles in every seaside port. Becoming a runner was beginning to change my life and the way that I got to view the world, literally, on foot. I was starting to view myself in a new light as well. I was starting to see the internal me that I always imagined I was, merge with my external image. I felt good and I wanted to feel better. I also began to understand how much easier I could run if I lost more weight. My body began craving healthy foods.

I came back from 3 weeks overseas and was ready for a bigger challenge than just doing the triathlon. Stay tuned! I'll continue my journey in next week's post! xoxoxKelly