Old Harpy, New Habits

[Harpy Heather]

My Story

Hey-o! My name is Heather, and I’m 41 with an awesome husband, two fur babies, and no kids. Growing up in the 70s and 80s (oh, good times), I was a rail-thin kid who ran everywhere and ate like a farm hand. Then I hit 20 and stopped running everywhere while continuing to eat like a farm hand. You can see where this is going. I slowly foomped up over the years until 2011 when I hit 223 pounds and found out about The Beetus.

 

The moment of that diagnosis was the moment I started to change. I cut out all sugary drinks and revamped the diet, dropping 40 pounds within a few months and quickly moving my blood sugar levels back toward normal. Unfortunatley, I wasn’t exercising and hadn’t revamped the diet enough; my levels stalled out over the last year, not moving at all when checked again this June. My weight loss had stalled as well. That completely ticked me off, so when the doc offered to give me the next six months to reduce with diet and exercise rather than adding a medication, I jumped at the chance.

 

Here we are six pounds down and several inches lost, and despite several small plateaus I’ve finally found my rhythm. I landed on Nerd Fitness through a Google search to explain Paleo plans and came back again when my husband sent me a link to the beginner body weight workout. After lurking around for a few days, I found that I really enjoy the articles and the people on the forums here. Both are helping me toward my goals:

• Healthy blood sugar levels
  
• Moar strength, moar moar moar
  
• Flat stomach
  

 

I’m not particularly wigged out about the scale number, as my focus is more on body composition and how my clothes fit, but I really do need to drop quite a bit more fat. To that end, here are my basic stats. I do track my measurements, but figure that might be TMI for an intro post. ;-)

• Height: 5’3.5â€
  
• Weight: 179 lb.
  
• Body Fat: 32%
  

 

Battle Plan

My battle plan for accomplishing the goals above is pretty simple.

• Strength training three days per week with cardio cool-downs
  
• Endurance training two days per week
  
• Continued focus on whole foods, shooting for the 80/20 mark because I occasionally want to have some dang chocolate
  

 

We started monitoring our calorie intake in February and have a pretty accurate handle on it, now with Fitbits to help track our daily burns. We’ve also been going to the gym for nearly three months, starting with cardio and then adding free weights three weeks ago. My endurance sucks more than I’d like, but is improving, and getting stronger feels amazing.

 

What I Bring to the Table

• Tenacity—Once I’ve homed in on a goal, I don’t stop.
  
• Support—I’m very happy help others, from lending an ear for a rant to offering feedback or advice on subjects I happen to know.
  
• Skills—Ninja! Well, no. Grammar ninja, maybe. I’m a technical editor and document designer, but I promise I won’t edit you unless you ask me to. ;-)
  

 

RAWR!

Well, that’s the skinny on my not-yet-skinny butt. I look forward to getting more involved in the threads around here and joining the next challenge. Feel free to say hi if you see me lurking!

 

[Ceasefire]

Welcome! You look like you've got a solid plan - I'm impressed!

 

Really wish you well on your journey!

[Harpy Heather]

Thank you, Ceasefire! We tend to go full RAWR when we jump into something, so we're really enjoying the changes. I'll keep folks updated once I know my way around a bit. :-)

[alienjenn]

Reducing weight and exercising has brought my a1c from 14 to 5.4.... you got this babe! (And welcome to the rebellion! )

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Dierski]

Welcome!!  Your goals and battle plan are totally kick-ass!  I also love that you describe yourself as a Grammar Ninja.  

 

Best of luck!

[Harpy Heather]

Thanks, guys! You've given me a smile before heading to the gym this morning. The plan is definitely in progress. :-)

 

I realized after posting my intro that I forgot to include my nerdery (aside from the serial comma throwing stars of a Grammar Ninja, hyah!). I have a lot of interests, so it's kinda hard to break them down, but here's a go at it.

• Dragons! I've always been hugely interested in dragons, and I have no idea why. I just love them.
• Reading! Fantasy, sci-fi, mystery. Just finished the Silo Saga and OMG. So awesome.
• Shows! We bounce between a lot of shows so we never run out, but favorites include BSG, DS9 (don't hate), and TNG. Caprica was great and cancelled too soon. Defiance is more fun than expected. Very interested in seeing what's up with Helix, and Game of Thrones sucked me right in (because dragons).
• Movies! We watch pretty varied types of movies because my husband has better taste than I do, but I confess to having a horrid love of zombie films. When they're good, they give me the willies. When they're bad, they crack me up. Win/win.
• Games! Way too many to list here. We were into a few MMOs for about ten years and then just lost interest in the genre. Lately we play Borderlands 2, and a friend has introduced me to Skyrim.

Too many bulleted lists with me, I know, but... tech writer. We can't help it. :-P

 

Edit to Add: Can't believe I forgot the games! Dang!

[4114fly]

Thanx for posting. It helps to here from enthusiastic noobs.