Posture

I had the fortunate experience of being told that my posture absolutely sucks. It was said in relatively nicer words but I totally got the hint that I really need to work on improving my posture. The Wii fit was also yelling at me that I am "unbalanced". It finally clicked that the reason my middle back is always hurting is not because I need to lose weight but because my posture is out of whack and really needs to sorted out quickly. Due to me standing predominantly on my right leg, I also see the possibility of having hip issues in the future if things are not fixes and quickly.

What I find interesting is posture says a lot about who you are  as a person. It is the first thing people see before you open your mouth to talk to them. There is a silent form of communication that our brains pick up and we can instantly tell if a person is having a good day/bad day, confident/insecure just by the way they carry themselves and their posture.

Between standing and sitting, the latter is where we run into the most trouble. This is especially true since we have become such a digital age where we are sitting in front of the computer so often. With the screen being in front of us, we tend to lean forward with our head and neck and then our spine follows to bring about a curvature in the spine. Have you seen some of the older woman who have a hump in their back or lean forward all the time? Well, you better believe we will see more people like that because of the way we sit in front of the computer unless we consciously correct ourselves. It is very hard to be aware of your posture no matter what your doing and try to actively correct it.

I am one day in to actively checking my posture and it is incredibly annoying. My only hope is that it will get easier and my back will not hurt as often once I correct the issues. It is certainly a work in progress though like anything in life. I am aware of my crappy posture and must work to improve it.

I am providing some sites that you may find interesting to look at. The first is about why posture is important and gives some good analogies. The second are some easy exercises that you can do to help improve that posture.

☺Ashley☺

Happy Birthday

So tomorrow marks the start of another year, one in which I am 23.  Normally I am not so gung-ho or excited about it but this year is different for me. This year, I am actually excited to celebrate with people and I have planned a simple day with friends of mine because that is what I wanted. 

I have learned over the past few years not to expect/anticipate anything because you only set yourself up to be disappointed in the long run. So, that is the attitude I have taken, not just for my birthday but for any day of the year. This way when something unexpected happens that is good, I can be thoroughly surprised and relish in the fact that it was unanticipated. 

When I turned 18, I decided that there would no longer be any 'family' parties. I wanted to chose who I wanted to celebrate my birthday with and I always HATE going out and having the wait staff sing Happy Birthday to me. So every year, I pick who I want to celebrate my birthday with. The past two years was with my priest at college and some friends. We would go out and get ice cream. Yes, I know it is the middle of winter but for those of you who know me know that I LOVE ice cream at any time of the year. This year I am spending it with two friends of mine who I have grown close to and am starting to really find myself with them. Just being around them, they have influenced my life in such a positive way that it was obvious who I wanted to hang out with this year.

This year also marks the almost end of a 10 year chapter where my weight was above 213 lbs. I am proud to say that after weighing in this morning I am below that number and am no longer the weight I was in 8th grade. I am moving to bigger and better things by getting healthier and working out. The next year of my life gives me so many new opportunities each and every day that I am going to grab it and go. I will be able to get into Onederland (May 18th) for the first time since I was 12. What a huge accomplishment that will be when I get there and can say, yes I did it!!

I also had a non scale victory that I wanted to share. My sister bought skinny jeans from American Eagle that are a size 18. She is unable to wear them so she gave them to me. At the time I was unable to wear them so I decided to put them in my pile of 'too small but I will fit into them eventually'. Well this morning, after having my confidence boosted with the numbers on the scale, I decided to try them on for size and see if I had a chance of wearing them. Well, they FIT!!! That is right, I am wearing American Eagle pants!! I never in a million years thought I would be able to wear something and I feel like the coolest person in the world right now. Especially because I was half hoping that they would fit.

Since I will be at my friends this weekend I will not be on the computer so thought I would post. Have a wonderful weekend to all my friends! Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day with your loved ones!!

☺Ashley☺

The Decision to Try

One of the hardest things I find myself doing is trying something new. It is not so much that I hate change but the fact that it takes forever to either get used to it be patient enough to wait for the results. There is the factor of the unknown for the future. What will happen down the road if I begin and continue that something new. For me, it is weight lifting. 

Between last night and today today while waiting for the blizzard Nemo (which will be hitting the Northeast tonight) to start weight lifting early. I was planning on waiting until Lent, Wednesday to begin with the task of weight lifting. Last night I went to Zumba and was looking at myself in the mirror. I could not believe I was looking at myself because I looked so different. My hair was curly, I had a cute pink top on that showed off my curves and black pants. In my honest opinion I looked absolutely amazing. I feel even better than that, I felt fantastic! It was one of those many realizations I have which come and go that I am such a different person than I was when I started this journey. My body has changed a lot to which I almost do not recognize myself at times. 

I am still wrapping my brain around the possibility of A. not seeing results quickly and B. the chance of gaining weight temporarily. I feel like I am at such a fragile state right now with my weight that I am constantly worried about doing something different in my routine to cause me to start gaining the weight back. That would be totally overwhelming and not to mention cause me anxiety. I have worked so hard to get where I am and to see the number on the scale to creep up would be devastating. 

You know what though? Today I made a tough decision, to try weight lifting. I am giving myself the opportunity to see what my body is capable of doing and to push myself to evolve and change into a physically fit person. That is not an easy or small task. This is going to require a lot of motivation on my part to take the time to weight lift without seeing results right away. I am half way to my weight loss goal and it is my time, my opportunity to mix things up and to really push. 

Guess what? I am going to go for it. Not because it is the right thing to do but because I need to try. I need to try for my health and for my future. I will hate it at times but I need to keep my mind focused that this is what I need to do for me. Plus we all have little hiccups in our roads and if I gain a bit of weight back, it is minor and I just have to keep at it. The weight cannot stay on forever, especially when you are eating well and exercising.

I decided to give everyone some current stats and updated pictures. Who does not love a progress photo?

Beginning weight: 258 lbs

Current weight: 213 lbs

Target weight: 158 lbs

Beginning BMI: 41.6

Current BMI: 34.4

Target BMI: 25.5

There you have it. I could stand to bump my target weight down a bit so it may happen when I get closer. However, I am happy right now with shooting for a nice number like 100 lbs as my target weight to lose. What a difference shedding those 100 lbs will be in the long run.

What are you holding back on trying in your life? Maybe it is something silly but you give yourself all the reasons in the world NOT to try. You have an opportunity each and every morning to change your life in sometimes small and big ways. Making the decision to try is the first step in accomplishing more than you can imagine.

☺Ashley☺