on scale, fads and a clean lifestyle

Where I am going, where I have been What is it about a new year that makes you feel like you can wipe the slate clean, press reset and start over? Whatever gives the first of the first the ability to #startanew I won’t question it (anymore). However, I will quickly reflect on 2013. Last September, I decided to embarked on a new journey, a new clean way of living, I wanted a clean lifestyle. This decision was propagated by one after another #FAILED attempt of losing weight. Now, like most women I have done everything under the sun to lose weight. Atkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, I have been to a nutritionist and back again, I have counted calories and carbs, I have subtracted fiber and sugar alcohols, as a matter of fact I can probably estimate the amount of net carbs in a meal within a +/- 3 gram range. And yes I also exercise; in fact the exercise part is what makes the #struggle of losing weight more of a slap in the face. I mean if I was sitting on my couch eating ruffles and sipping diet coke every day, then yeah I would have no room to complain but I was out there, these last 3 years I've been putting in that #work. My weight-loss journey started were most women journeys start, doing cardio, then more cardio, then I got hungry and had to do even more cardio. After 2 years of doing cardio and running multiple 5ks a week without much success of losing any more weight, I decided to join a cult I mean Crossfit. I think I fell in love with crossfit from the moment I tried my first snatch. I said to myself, FINALLY! here is what I’ve been missing my entire life, lifting weights, building muscle, becoming a mean lean fat burning machine. I figured, give me 6 months I will be posting my pic on instagram like #transformationtuesday. I'm wodding like 5x a week, those pounds are just going to melt off. Month 1, month 2, month 3, month 7, and I was like ok any day now. Which leads me to last September, after 8 months of going hard in the paint at Crossfit, I said WTF! I'm progressing in my WODS, I can see definition in my arms, back, legs, and booty but why haven't I lost more weight than what is being shown on my scale. This is the moment I think most girls who start lifting weights as part of their normal routine have realized, I am not losing weight because I am not losing weight. I am gaining muscle, I am losing fat and my scale cannot tell the difference, Eureka! Ok I am not stupid, and I know that muscle weighs more than fat I am a biologist after all. I knew it along but the difference then was that I actually believed in my effort and by believing in my hard work, I no longer questioned whether or not I was gaining muscle or just plateauing, I knew I was in the process of transforming my body. At that point, I had a close look at my lifestyle in the past. I came to the realization that I had done everything to lose weight except that one thing. That one thing was actually a number of things I left out of my regimen because I just didn’t know any better or just refused to do. Like I would diet but not exercise, or I would diet and drink too much alcohol, or I would exercise and not diet, or do cardio but not lift weight, exercise and diet but didn't sleep or drink enough water. Talk about missing the mark, however I credit my failed attempts and short-lived wins because all of it helped me get to where I am today. I learned it because I have lived it and now there is no more gray area, I know what I have to do to be where I want to be, I know what it takes, and most importantly is that no one can take that away from you except you. The decision of living a clean lifestyle is yours and only yours to make, you set the rules and you change them as needed. The powerful thing is realizing that it is possible to be the best version of you, the frustrating part is the time, money, and energy it takes to make it happen. The amount of information I have gained about nutrition and exercise has empowered me to make the best informed choices about my health and it is all because it was important to me. This is what I will share in my blog, I have always enjoyed writing and have recently discovered that I have a good eye for photography and editing so I will use social media as my medium of keeping myself on track and hopefully inspiring others. So like the saying goes you don’t know where you are going unless you know where you have been… Age 21- Low carb and it worked because I was 21 [weight 129]. Age 26- Low carb stopped working because I was no longer 21 but I was partying like I was [weight 163]. Age 27- Saw a nutritionist, ate very healthy except that I was drinking too much alcohol, using too much fake sugar and didn’t exercise…resulted in a year of fat loss followed by 2 years of fat gain [weight 139 at my lowest, 155 at my highest] Age 28- back to nutritionist, struggled to lose 10 lbs. for wedding, went on honeymoon came back 5 lbs. heavier [weight 140-150] Age 29- I got a little wiser, started hitting the cardio machines pretty hard, no weight training [weight dropped from 150 to 145] Age 29 and a half- More cardio [weight 146] Age 30- Pre Crossfit with low carb diet [weight 145]. Age 30- Post Crossfit with low carb diet [weight 144]. Current age 31, current weight 140. Current lifestyle: Clean.