What Does Our Weight Have to Do With Budgets 

Part 1 of 2

   After the wedding I stopped doing Weight Watchers and stopped tracking my food. I stopped counting points and thought I had arrived. I was back at a size 6 and happy with the weight that I lost. I thought I had gotten rid of my poor eating habits and thought I could just "be careful" not to over eat. The truth is, I probably just went back to the way I was eating before I started Weight Watchers. In fact, because I was lonely and bored at home most of the time I returned to my old snacking ways. 

   My loneliness and boredom turned into baking, cooking, and snacking. I tried to fill the sadness, loneliness, and boredom with food. As silly as it sounds, that's what I did. Once classes started I made new friends and started working part time at a coffee shop to be around more people. Being an extroverted person, I feel drained when I am spending most of day by myself. I needed and desired to have human interaction; connection. Working at a coffee shop did help with increasing my socialization, but it didn't help with snacking less. I probably eat more often as I had pastries samples and syrup laden coffee readily available. 

What does my weight have to do with a budget? I had this epiphany that maintaining a healthy weight has to do with budgeting calories. I was basically putting my body into debt every day I was eating more than I was burning. When I kept eating more than I needed to; to maintain my weight I was essentially accruing debt. When I was exercising to lose the weight by becoming more active, I was trying to make minimum payments on a credit card that had no limit. I wasn't making a dent. I was working out 3-4 times a week, training for 5k runs, and also doing hot yoga. Sure, hot yoga burns a lot of calories, but when you're in debt and you keep accruing more calories, it doesn't even out. 

How did I catch up on my debt? I will tackle that Budgeting Part II

The Beginning

Asymmetry, a photo by Dannerzz on Flickr.

This first blog entry I'll be talking about weight management.

I started my weight loss journey back in March 10, 2012 for the last time.  Here is the introduction to how I lost 55lbs and soon to be 60lbs.

Leading up to that date: The Weight Struggles 

   I had steadily gained weight after losing about 30lbs before getting married in August 3, 2007. I initially lost the weight that I had gained after college by joining Weight Watchers, working out 4 days a week, and eventually hiring a personal trainer. I was determined to be back at a size 6 so much so I purchased a size 6 wedding dress.
 

   From junior high school through college I had maintained a size 5/6. I thought I was overweight as I never felt lean. Not to mention I got teased for being "fat" by my brothers or was told not to eat too much by my father. As a kid I was involved in sports and so I never really gave much thought to how much I ate. I eat a lot as I was so burning so much energy. I joined the swim team and practiced Korean martial arts;Tae Kwon Do. These were great ways to keep me fit.

   

   In college I stayed active by walking to campus from my dorm or apartment, took group classes at the gym, or ran/walked a few miles during the week to keep from gaining the "freshman fifteen." I probably wanted to lose a few pounds, but never thought I was extremely overweight. I even got a chance to be on my college hip-hop dance team. No matter how much I exercised I  was always eating more than I needed to for my petite frame; standing at just 5 feet 1 inches tall. 

  I tried to lose or even just maintain my weight by exercising, but continued to eat what and how much I wanted. Gaining independence from my parents meant so much more than unsupervised time. It meant freedom to do as I pleased. No more restraints on how my parents wanted me to live my life. I felt that I could finally be set free. Little did I know, this was the beginning to an extreme.