The (NOT SO) Skinny Girl

 So the title of this post is a little misleading if you don't have some background info. 3 MILLENIAL WOMEN, in very different places in their lives- both literally and figuratively- walk into a bar... sort of.  This past week, despite Covid-19 still looming, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with two of my best friends. All in our 30s, all living in different states, all leading very different lifestyles. The two  East Coast gals rode together to the very start of the 'Mid West' to re-unite with the 3rd... it had probably been years since the 3 of us were together like this.  Just a little background info on the 3 women, to set the scene J1- 33, lives in NJ with her husband, daughter (2), baby #2 on the way, and dog. Has a bachelor's degree, owns her own business and works for herself, joint owns a house and car with her immigrant hubby who does white collar work in the budding cannabis industry (pun intended). J2- 32, lives in Mass. Never married, has 2 ki

 Today my daughter turns 2. Today we have been on lockdown for 5 months.  2020 has been characterized by a pandemic- a new, deadly virus was identified in China in January and by March in the USA we were issued mask mandates and stay-at-home orders.  In March I found out I was pregnant. I went to my "confirmation" appointment alone, wearing a mask, and very anxious. I had to call when I arrived and wait to enter the building until the office was ready for me. Mask on, temperature scan and screening questions at the door- had I felt feverish, sore throat, shortness of breath? Had I traveled outside the US? Had I been around anyone who had the virus? Hand sanitizer available at every turn, and only one person in the elevator at a time. Chairs stacked up in the waiting room so no one would sit, and containers of "clean" and "used" pens at the window. Masks and face shields and gloves on the staff.  2 years ago when I went, I took my husband to the first appoi

SO now that I have had my first doctor visit- which was an experience in itself- I now know when we'll be graced by our Coron-ial : Dec 10th! My birthday is Dec 9th. Yippee, birthday buddies with my baby. Side note, it popped into my head that now I know when my parents were doing the dirty to make me. That's how bored I am in quarantine, that thoughts like that surface. GROSS. In other news, the U.S. death toll from the Coronavirus outbreak has topped 75,000 and is projected to keep rising at a rate as high as 3,000 deaths a day in the coming weeks. My Garden State continues to be one of the nation’s biggest hot spots with 133,635 confirmed cases and 8,801 known deaths as of May 7. Also, there's a freeze warning for tonight in my county- Mother Nature is losing her mind, it's probably going to snow a little bit IN MAY. Maybe this is in retaliation to the state and county parks being ordered to close...maybe. Let me tell you about the doctor visit. Last time I was

In light of recent events, almost the whole Nation (USA) has been on some sort of forced lock down. NOT going to work, NOT going to non essential shopping destinations, and not allowed to go to any 'tourist attractions' where people can congregate in large numbers in enclosed places- I'm looking at you, movie theaters! What we ARE allowed to do, is enjoy the great outdoors. Town parks, county parks, state parks, and rail trails and trails in general. Sadly, due to POOR TRAIL ETIQUETTE, sections of the historic Appalachian Trail were quickly closed down. "But what is this trail etiquette you speak of, as this is my first time attempting to walk a trail since I have NOTHING BETTER TO DO..." Sit down, shut up, and pay attention. Here is some common sense basic trail etiquette that respectful and responsible trail users should allows keep in mind. 1- CARRY IN, CARRY OUT This sums it up nicely "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill no

So we all joked about it when the 'stay at home orders' were put in place- That there would be a baby boom in 9-12 months. We'd have a vaccine and a new generation at the same time. A generation born into a fearful, cautious world with masks and gloves and very small social circles. As someone who suffered through infertility for 3 YEARS the first time around, as someone who had extremely high anxiety, as someone who had a major panic attack within the first 3 days of 'lock-down'.... I never thought that we would NAIL IT in the first few weeks of quarantine. But here we are. We did it. We are having a Corona-baby, and Quarantine kiddo, generation Coron-ial. A little back story, we have been 'not trying' but open to another child for at least the last 9 months. We are not practicing any form of birth control and not strictly sticking to a 'trying to conceive' schedule (people who have dealt with infertility do this. it sucks but it works). As a

So last weekend, my husband and I dropped our kiddo off at the in-laws and swooshed off to Vermont for a weekend get-a-way. We went with friends and family, ate and drank a little more than we should have, enjoyed fresh snow and outdoor activities- it was wonderful! My husband stated that I probably threw my diet in the dumpster and gained back everything I had lost. Well, even though that's rude and extremely negative to say to someone struggling with a weight issue, he was wrong. I had balanced my drinking and eating and activity level well enough to only see a normal 1lb fluctuation. This week and weekend however, I fought off a nasty 'mood'. I struggle with depression, and it often rears it's ugly head to try to suck me into it's quick sand. Late sleepless nights, late mornings that I don't want to get out of bed, tension headaches. And, of course, the urge to binge eat. To eat outside of my windows, to eat prohibited foods, to even have an alcoholic bever

This January is actually not dominated by the weight loss competition that I am competing in. I am doing a whole body overhaul, and even doing a whole PERSON overhaul. I am not sure what is driving this overhaul. It may be very, very personal reasons- it may be it may be a combination of things, and it may be a little abstract and not fully known even by myself. But let me share with you my main focuses of this personal overhaul. Career On January 2nd I opened up an LLC, a Limited Liability Company. I established this to make my pet sitting side hustle more legit and help it to grow. I have currently been doing my pet sitting through the ROVER app/website. Rover hosts my profile, and based on my reviews and response times and how well I follow their recommendations and rules, it moves me up and down the list of sitters in my area. When I first signed up, I received my first client in a few days- and they are one of my FAVORITE! I have moved them off of the Rover platform and they

So I've been doing fasting for 23 days, and I decided it was time to have a cheat day. And I didn't even cheat that badly. I had a delish halal platter  (rice, meat, veggies, yogurt sauce) and some hummus and babaganush and pita. For lunch. Then for dinner I had Homemade Chicken Alfredo and a glass of wine. Then for dessert I had 3 small cookies, a donut, and a piece of fudge iced cake. All within my eating window. I know, I should have left dessert out. I know I should have left the pasta out. I know, wine wasn't the best beverage choise. I know I could have had it all- ALL IN MODERATION. But it's cheat day.... And the next day I was a full 2lbs up on the scale. And I know that some of you may think I'm crazy for weighing myself daily, but it is helping me to see what works and what doesn't. I does work to do a 20 hour fast twice a week. It does work to get 12,000 steps (OR MORE!) a day. It does not work to eat a whole bunch of dessert and pasta insid

I have completed 21 days of fasting- They say that's the amount of days it takes to create a habit and enact a change in behavior. And the best part is- I can feel the change! I am not hungry all the time- as in physically hungry. My stomach does not ache and yearn for food, my brain does- but less than before. I have only to overcome the mental block, that learned urgency to eat 3+ times a day. The schedule has already successfully been broken, but the mind over matter part is still working itself out. I have been trying to close my eating window, to make it smaller. I figure that, if I eat 2000 or 1800 or 1500 calories in 4 hours, I am still getting the nutrition that I need. For example, yesterday my sister invited me out to lunch. We met up around noon, and all I had eaten up to that point was some milk in my coffee and half of a yogurt (the other half my toddler wanted). From the moment my sister suggested lunch, I was like a missile locked in. YES. ALL THE LUNCH. She wanted

So I committed to the intermittent fasting diet- hooray for me. It was really hard the first few days. I get the urge to eat after 7pm- it's just ingrained in my mind that I should snack snack snack while I sit dormant watching TV. I rush to have dinner made and ready to eat before 6pm- because 6pm is the eating cut off. I try to remember to drink water throughout the day. Even though water and coffee are literally the only beverages that I consume on a normal basis. I try to get 12,000 steps a day, but often fall short with about 10,000. This has been said to be the average that a normal person walks in a normal day. But average and normal is not what gets a normally overweight person to lose weight. I lost 3 lbs in 17 days, according to the apps I am using - Fitbit and DoFasting! (I attribute most of this weight loss to the stomach virus that my whole family got last week). So, needless to say, after 17 days of using the apps and other tools- a brand new smart scale, night

So, I have struggled with weight for YEARS. Literally YEARS. When I graduated high school I was 118 and had a belly pouch. But I was pretty fit. I gained the freshman 15 or 20 or so. I lost weight sophomore and junior year, gained it senior year, lost it when I moved out on my own and had to do everything for myself- like shop for food, budget, and cook for myself.  Gained weight when I got comfortable with my boyfriend, lost weight when I had a ridiculously active and time consuming job (13 hours a day on my feet), gained it when I was jobless and depressed, lost it when I was happily working 3 jobs and always on the go, lost weight for my wedding, gained it after the honeymoon while struggling to conceive. And finally, gained even more while being pregnant and dealing with postpartum. So here we are. I have tried a LOT of things over the years to lose weight. Let me list them: Herbalife Anorexia (NOT RECOMMENDED and not intentional, just happened due to lifestyle) Eating clean and

So, of course I know that there is a movement called "Fat Acceptance"or something of the sort, but let me tell you right now- I do not support that. For many reasons- mostly scientific/medical ones, but also personal ones. As you know, I blogged about being pregnant and having a baby. So, I completely understand and agree that my body has done wondrous things and should be praised. I do not think that becoming and being obese is the praise that it needs. I currently weigh about 164 pounds... when I was 8 months pregnant, which is when I ultimately delivered, I weighed about 165. That 17 months ago- and the differences in the health factor of me living at that weight is stark. 17 months ago I was harboring another human in a very swollen belly. I had a protective sack of fluids around that human, cushioning her. I did not have gestational diabetes and was not considered obese. Right now, I have a BMI of 30, which poses a moderate to high health risk. 30 BMI, for my stature