New Year, New Butt

First of all, I apologize since it's been EONS since I've posted anything. Guess I got a tad overwhelmed/busy/stressed/forgot about my blog, etc. Then I went home for the holidays, where I did some serious relaxing, eating and drinking high calorie beverages. In the last few months I have put on serious poundage, which I have recently complained about in my column in the Cape Breton Post http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=91472&sc=150.

The ironic thing is I started working out in earnest in September and followed this diet the gym nutritionist gave me (the candida diet) and I lost some weight. I looked good, I had more energy and my clothes fit better. But for anyone who has been on the candida diet, it is brutally strict - no wheat, no sugar, very little fruit, absolutely no alcohol, no caffeine. Read: NO FUN. Sure I lost weight, but who can maintain that forever?? Not me. So I went off the candida diet and my weight ballooned, almost like my body said, "Screw that, if she's going to pull that shit again I'm gonna hold on to some fat!" And I am one porky gal now.

I've always had weight problems. I was a chunky kid and now am a chunky adult. I'm not huge by any stretch. I hide my gains well and still wear my old jeans, more or less. But my weight goes up and down depending upon my level of motivation, interest in some new diet, level of stress, etc. I have done Weight Watchers (and even attained "Lifetime Status," whereupon I left.) I did Dr. Bernstein and lost a ton of weight and even kept it off for a year, but found it a tad pricey. I followed lots of diet books but find that unless I have some sort of accountability, I lose interest. So I decided that this blog would be my accountability!

I'm going to post my progress several times a week... my weight loss, inches lost, what I'm eating, what is challenging me, etc. As well, I'm going to post some pics. I know this won't be as scientifically rigorous as some might like, I may not post my worst pics, but this is the best I can do. It's embarrassing to - literally - let it all hang out! And until Jenny Craig or WW pays me, I ain't strippin' down to my skivvies for before and after shots.

My boyfriend B is a photographer so he took some shots of me... looking AWFUL. My Week 1 photos are terrible. He wanted me to pose in my underwear... there was no way that was happening... so I put on his stretchy hockey pants and a t-shirt.

The diet (sorry, I know diet is a bad word) is the GI Diet. Here is some more information: http://www.gidiet.com. I got the idea for this plan from a very good blog by Tim Ferriss where he talked about following a "slow carb" diet (similar in many ways to the GI Diet). Anyway, he also did an exercise plan based on the Colorado Experiment http://www.bodybuildingfanatic.com/coloradoexperiment.htm where he put on a lot of muscle working out in a particular way for a relatively short period of time. I don't want to look like a 5'1 She-Hulk, but I'll take some bulk if it means increasing my strength and definition. So I am going to follow the GI Diet and do weight training according to this experiment. My goal is to get my body weight to 118-120 pounds but lose inches and gain muscle. Right now I weigh about 127 pounds and don't have a lot of muscle. So folks, I will keep you posted.