My History in Fitness

It's funny how things happen. 

I started this blog about 4 years ago. I was a newly wed, a full-time student, 25 lbs heavier, and wanted to get thin again. I walked into a World Gym in 2010 and saw a sign offering unlimited personal training for the low price of $39.99/ month. Done. 

I quickly began to think I knew everything about being healthy and losing weight. This blog was originally started a mere 8 weeks into my fitness journey with a personal trainer. I just read through the majority of my posts and laughed at my naive 21 year old self. One thing hasn't changed though- and that's the passion I had for knowledge in this industry/ field. Fast forward almost 4 years later, I am still nipping at the bit for any new theories, ideas, methods, ways of training, and metabolism boosting meal plans. It's been pretty clear to me that this is more than a hobby and an interest. To me, it's a way of life and I want to move in this direction to help others learn that you can have healthy and fit lifestyle with plenty of balance. I am often confused with being "obsessed" with my body, being thin, losing weight. That's far from it. I'm in love with learning and knowing how the body responds to how you treat it. 

21 year old Angela only wanted to lose 25 lbs and be super thin like I was in high school. I could eat whatever I wanted and was really confused when the pounds crept up my freshman year in college. One of my first (and shameful) lines I rattled off to my personal trainer was, "I don't want to get bulky". He laughed and I didn't' know why. I do now. 

I am a very active person and have grown to love pushing my body physically. I am always in the gym Monday-Friday (average 1 hour / day), and can be found road biking, mountain biking, hiking, running, canoeing, camping, or kayaking any other time. I am in the gym Monday through Friday because I love it- like many people love going for a walk everyday, reading everyday, even getting on social media everyday. Not because I feel like I have to. I eat the way I do because it gives me energy, fuels my body for my workouts, makes me feel phenomenal, and is ultimately taking care of my body. I love knowing how all the different theories of "diets" work and the reasoning behind them. 

Here's a list of diet methods I've done (and by diet, I mean way of eating):

-IIFYM (macronutrient counting)

-Low-carb

-Low-calorie

-Vegan

-Blood-type diet

-Low FODMAP

-No restrictions

-Intuitive eating

-Vegetarian

-Paleo

-6 meals a day

-3 meals a day

-No carbs after dark

-No sugar

-Gluten free

-Wheat free

-Dairy free

-And a combo of the above 3

Just to list a few.

I've learned so much through all these ways of eating and will share what I've learned in small tidbits. 

I've always weight-lifted and haven't changed that much regarding working out. Always lift heavy and fast. I've fluctuated with cardio and training methods over the years based on new exercises and goals. I also plan to explain much of what I've learned about these methods over time. 

Lastly, something a little more personal. I have had an Instagram account dedicated to fitness only from about the first year when I had a personal trainer. I gained a lot of followers, and in return followed a lot of other fitness enthusiasts, including bikini and figure competitors. I also credit over half my knowledge in weightlifting and eating to these fitness accounts, because I got to learn everything they knew from their trainers and experiences. Over the past few months, I became keenly aware of the ridiculous expectations I had for myself along with the time I was spending viewing these fitness accounts over helping people I actually am surrounded with and progressing in my own career. It became a distraction since I was constantly looking at athletes with 3% body fat- something that isn't balance and is not maintainable. Granted, for may of them, competing is their life, job, and only focus. That's fine, and I actually wanted to compete at one point. But watching hundreds of girls dieting down to unhealthy body fat percentages for shows multiple times a year wasn't getting me any closer to what I want to do. And their goals weren't my goals. There were a select few who did practice balance and some of the above listed ways of eating. Some of them ex-competitors. But, I ultimately decided about a month ago that those accounts were hurting me more than helping me. I began to strive for their competition physiques, and practiced some of their more unhealthy ways of eating. I deleted my account. Along with my thousand followers and my 600 pictures that were small insights to my fitness history. It was hard- but this is a much better outlet. 

So, over time I will try to make small categories addressing many random aspects of my fitness philosophies. Knowledge here and there. Motivation, hopefully. And ultimately, help for those who want to make healthier choices in their life but don't know where to start. 

If you read all this, you're a trooper. Thank you. :)