The First Step in my Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle

A little background before I tell you all about how I am using ABA to promote a healthier lifestyle for myself. When I left for college in August of 2013 I was a healthy, athletic, active kid. Looking back at pictures I would give anything to wear those jeans and have that energy again. By the end of my sophomore year I had gained 35 pounds. That's right, no freshman 15 here. It was the freshman 25 and the sophomore 10 to boot. I had no energy or motivation to work out. The combination of juggling homework, collegiate bowling, a job, my relationship, and a social life resulted in late night trips to McDonalds and non-existent workouts.

After my sophomore year, I made the decision to transfer to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. On top of the amazing early childhood education program, I was now close to family once again. That summer I decided to partner with my mom and join a fitness bootcamp. We went hard! Every morning at 5:00am I was calling her or she was calling me. We got our butts out of bed and hit the gym. Our eating habits were healthier than ever. I found myself drinking things with carrots and kale (and actually enjoying them). We had monthly weigh ins with the gym owner to track our progress and give us the motivation to keep moving forward. Over the course of 12 months, I lost 40 pounds. That's right, 40 pounds. It was incredible. By July 2016, I was in the best shape I have ever been! But I look back at those pictures and I know that I'll never be that small again.

The reason I am so confident I will never be that small again is, this wasn't an intervention that promoted maintenance. Spending $100 or more every month for the support system of a fitness bootcamp wasn't realistic for our finances. Eating chicken and broccoli almost every meal was not realistic for my mental health. Working out every day, maybe twice a day, wasn't realistic for the amount of time in my schedule. Although this plan worked. I mean it worked wonders, I consider it a hardcore diet. I don't consider it a lifestyle change.

So now it's August 2020, it's been four years since I ended my time at the fitness bootcamp. Over the past four years, I hate to say it but I gained all 40 of those pounds back. Every time I stepped on the scale, it was just one pound here or two pounds there. It never added up until I looked down and realized the 12 months of progress I put in, was now erased. It truly put into perspective something called the yo-yo effect. This happens with a lot of fad diets that don't promote maintenance over time. You lose weight, then you gain it, then you lose it, then you gain it. With these diets you never truly change the lifestyle you are living, instead you challenge your mind and your body to make changes to lose the weight and once it's lost, you reward yourself with all of the bad habits you worked so hard to break.

Well I decided that it's time for a change. Not a fad diet or a hard core bootcamp. It's time that I make a change in my lifestyle. At 24 years old, engaged to the love of my life, looking to start a family in the years to come, a healthy life style has never been more important. I want my kids to never struggle with the challenges of deprivation or saturation of junk food. Portion control will be second nature in my household and eating the proper amount of fruits and vegetables will be something they never have to think about, it will just come naturally. The changes that I make today and I continue tomorrow effect not only my future, but the future of my family.

This leads me into my next series about my journey to a healthier lifestyle. As I take steps toward healthy living I'm sure I will have more to say, but the upcoming blogs will be:

1. Healthy Wage (my inspiration)

2. Yoga 30 day challenge

3. Find a buddy!

4. Meal prep (mason jars are a girls best friend)

5. Step up! (increasing daily step count)

6. Reinforcement (How to increase positive behavior)

Stay tuned, more to come! Subscribe to my blog, follow me on Facebook or Instagram, next post coming soon.