Hey! It’s been awhile. First it was Christmas in Arkansas last weekend – which was amazing – and then it was blog problems. The issue turned out to be an updated plugin not working well with my WordPress. I hate when that happens! All is fine, for now at least. Big thanks to the gentlemen over at Bluehost who helped me get it resolved right away. Their online chat is the best.

Weight isn’t something that I enjoy talking about but it’s been on my mind. A lot. I’m pretty sure it’s because I weighed myself for the first time in months a few weeks ago and was not surprised to learn I had gained quite a bit of poundage somehow. I knew I was gaining weight because my clothes starting to look and feel like complete shit on me which made me super sad.

I’m not going to get into numbers because I don’t want anyone to compare themselves (weight vs. height vs. muscle vs. fat, etc.) but I will share that I’ve gained 25-30 pounds over the last few months. Losing weight has never been a New Year’s resolution of mine but I guess it will be now. I’m not writing this just to bitch about it, I’m writing because I want to fix this and to do that I know I need to look at how I’ve been living to determine changes that I can make to make it happen.

The super stupid thing is that even though I’ve gained weight, my skin has never looked better. It’s still not perfect but it’s been so much calmer with practically zero cyst-like pimples to be had. Can’t there be a nice balance between okay skin and healthy weight? I’m finding that hard to come by.

Let’s see what the issues could be…

Workouts. Workouts haven’t been super regular up until about 3 weeks ago. I feel like I’m back on the train and I’m motivated daily to workout. I also received an early Christmas present about 3 weeks ago – my Fitbit Charge 2.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve been working harder ever since! I love this thing. If I look prior to that time though, workouts were definitely on the back burner. I wasn’t making them a priority. Fewer workouts + eating the same + fewer calories burned = weight gain.

Medications. I’ve been on a plethora of medications over the last year because of depression, anxiety and birth control, but the ones I’ve been taking the longest are Lexapro (generic form) and Yaz (birth control). I’ve lowered my dose of Lexapro down to 10mg (from 20mg) and I completely stopped taking Yaz a couple weeks ago. At this point I believe that much of my weight gain can be attributed to one or both of these medications.

Diet. My diet has literally gone unchanged throughout this entire time. I’m a creature of habit and eat much of the same thing during any given week. It’s also cheaper to eat that way! I will say that since my workouts were pretty sporadic for quite some time, coupled with not eating fewer calories, I can see how I would gain weight. I just feel like 25-30 pounds is a lot to gain in a matter of a few months, you know?

Those have to be the 3 biggest factors as far as I can tell.

My Plan of Attack

My ultimate goal is to lose at least 15 pounds.

I don’t want to get to obsessed thinking about a certain number given that muscle is more dense than fat and I heart muscle, but I could definitely lose 15 pounds. I’m sure it’ll start coming off from my boobs first and my hips last. So lame!

1. Participate in a January “DietBet” type challenge with some girlfriends on Facebook. Money is a motivator! And so is competition.
2. Begin (and finish!) a new home workout program. There’s nothing like starting the year out with a new fitness routine! I plan to do Hammer & Chisel from beginning to end. I started that one before but I never did finish. Now that I have Beachbody On Demand I don’t have to mess with DVDs so it’s really nice.
3. Log meals into MyFitnessPal daily. I’ve been doing this for the past couple weeks and it really helps me stay on track. I also love that you can sync it up with the Fitbit app. My username over there is “missmelinda” if you’d like to connect and have a friend in fitness. :)

I’ll have a more comprehensive goal list around the first of January for my typical monthly goals post but this gives me something to look forward to. I don’t want to buy bigger clothes, I want to lose some weight and fit into what I already own! Can I get an Amen?

It’s time to focus. I’ve been doing really well the last few weeks and I really need to keep it going!

Until next time…