Getting Healthy

As some of you may know, I've been struggling with a lot of health issues basically since high school. Start with a sucky immune system, add gaining 100lbs, overeating while missing important nutrients, and a string of injuries causing me to get further and further out of shape, and you have one big mess of an Anja. I've tinkered with trying to get back into shape many times, between promising myself more exercise time, or diet changes, or more sleep, or whatever. However, I have inevitably failed to make any changes stick. So, I'm going a few steps further this time around in order to keep up my motivation and to give myself more accountability.

I want to point out that I'm not solely looking to lose weight... losing weight and getting thinner will be a bonus of getting back into physical fitness, strengthening my body and immune system, eating better, and feeling better. Sure, I'd love to fit back into my little red dress from the early Ireland days (my feeling pretty again goal), but it's not the point of this journey. I want to be able to get through a vigorous dance class again feeling well worked out, not exhausted. I want to use up enough energy during the day that my insomnia will improve. I want to not feel hungry all the time because I fill up on mindless snacks that I regret a couple hours later when I'm hungry again. I want to be able to jump and leap without pain again (though I never was great at it to begin with, pretty much anything is better than where I am now). I want to not feel so heavy on my bones, so that my feet and knees might finally heal all the way. I want to not get every damn cold that goes around, even though I was like that before I gained the weight, getting in back in shape should still improve it somewhat.

When I was a skinny-mini, I ate pretty terribly and was dancing several hours every day. I hated vegetables, didn't get hardly any protein, and constantly had muscle cramps from lack of certain nutrients. In high school, I lived off of 3-5 hours of sleep during the week, and then would sleep 10-12 hours straight on weekends to make up for it. Even though I was thin and fairly athletic, I was not healthy by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, for my general goals:
- to improve cardiovascular health to improve asthma and stamina
- improve flexibility, especially in hips/groin
- lose weight to take excess pressure off of joints
- improve core strength to support my back and everything I do in dance

More focused goals:
- aim to get 30+ mins of walking in every day
- do some strength exercise, whether body weight, free weights, machine, or elastic bands, every day
- do some core exercise every day
- get down to my pre-Ireland weight of 175lbs.

As part of my get-back-in-shape plan, I've tried out a couple of different diet/exercise logs, both electronic and in print, for the most part with little success because I get bored, I forget to log, or it's just too much of hassle to remember everything I eat or every exercise I do. However, I'm hoping that's changing. I'm currently on a 1-month trial of the MyNetDiary site and Blackberry app, and so far I'm loving it a heck of a lot more than previous programs/sites. It's comprehensive in its food and exercise catalog, its interface both on the site and on the app are intuitive and clean cut, and it's relatively cheap, starting at $7/month and going down depending on how many months you pay for at a time. The community forums could use a little work, but I rarely use those more than just boredom-busting reading.

So, what does all this have to do with all you, my readers, family, and friends?

I'm looking for people interested in getting back into shape with me. People to go on walks with, go to the gym with, etc. People who may be interested in being my buddy on the MyNetDiary site (I get bonuses for referrals, so please let me know if you're interested in joining!). People who can just help keep me motivated and accountable. If I'm being lazy, they'd pester me to go for a walk. If I'm about to scarf down on something I really shouldn't, they'd point it out to me. For the most part I'm trying to be self-reliant and self-motivated, but it's tough when there's been so many failed attempts and it feels like there is so far to go. Bad habits die hard.

Anywho, any and all help with this journey is much appreciated. If you are interested in signing up for the site, please let me know and I'll send you an email invite.

And thank you to those of you who have supported me through all the frustration and the illnesses and injuries. It really has made this whole ordeal easier, and I'm sure the continued support will greatly help me in this new journey!