Fitbloggin: Lesson's Learned

*This is so long....stick with me! Good stuff in here.*

Lessons learned....hmmmm... have I really learned them?
Time will only tell. Maybe I'll learn them for a week. Maybe for a lifetime?

Most of the sessions that I attended at Fitbloggin were around the healthy living side of things. My blogging is more of an outlet than a business. I only started blogging because a co-worker encouraged me to get my story out there. When I started blogging I had no idea how much I would learn from others while working to get my story out.

The two sessions that really moved me were the Getting Back from Gaining Back and Dealing with Your Before when you Reach your after. The irony of attending a "reach your after" and a "gaining back" seminar make me laugh. If I've reached my after than why in the world did I gain back???? Both of these sessions were #1 on my must attend list.

Reaching My After

I'm not who I was when I started this journey. Mostly everything about me has changed- food preferences, hobbies, interests, priorities, relationships. I've changed but many of the things around me are still the same. There are times in my life when my after doesn't mesh with the world around me. I find myself apologizing to people that aren't happy with my changes because I am the one that has changed. They didn't sign up for this change. The changes in my life that caused me to lose weight are a good thing. I am happier and healthier. Not everyone loves that changes that my after created.

During the discussion we were encouraged to think about why we got heavy to begin with. Why? I ate too much crap and never exercised. Is there more than that?

Revelation #1- As a child I snuck food for fear that my brothers would get more than me. At a very early ago (8 or 9) I started to "feel" fat and talk to my friends about diets. I wasn't fat. I wasn't even "big" until middle school. A little self fulfilling prophesy? I remember I met someone and he told me, "Your name is Kari. That's why you are fat. Every Kari I know is fat". ((UGHHHH!!!! HATE that kid)  I truly believe that I became morbidly obese because I deceided very early on that I had no choice but to be fat. I now know that I have a choice.

The cool thing about healthy living is that there really isn't a finish line. There is always a new race to run, a new exercise to master or a new healthy food to try.

Revelation #2- My after is an ongoing process. There isn't a magical finish line when I get to put up my feet and say, "All done". There's not an "all done", just a "what's next"!


Gaining Back

It's no secret that over the past 6 months I regained 20 pounds that I was convinced were gone forever. It was so encouraging to talk with others that had gained back after losing. I felt like such a failure gaining back after having lost. I felt like I had let others down, like I had failed.

During this session I started to think about why I gained back those 20 pounds. It comes down to the fact that I had stopped tracking and was eating way more than my body needed. My exercise has been spot on, so I know that it's the food. Here's the thing- I don't want to track forever. There is nothing wrong with tracking. Nothing at all. It worked for me. It works for a lot of people.

Revelation #3- If I no longer want to record, than I need to seriously start looking at my food choices. This will mean less processed foods and more clean, natural, raw food.

Truth be told- "clean" eating terrifies me. It seems like so much work and so expensive. For the first time ever I am at a place in my life where I WANT to eat clean. I want to eat foods that don't require me to count out pieces for fear of having too many calories. I want my food to fuel my body and make me a stronger athlete. THIS scares me!


I could share so, so, so much more, but this is getting super long.
Are you still reading? What are your current fitness goals? Do you feel like you've reached your after? How do you live in a world that has not changed when you have changed in more ways that you can count?

~Kari