Well, hi!
This is my first blog post on dietbet, so I guess I should start with who I am and what brings me here.
My name is Amanda, but you can call me Tonks, Charli, or "hey you with the curls!" I answer to any of the above.
I almost started this post off with "I have been struggling with my weight..." But then I changed my mind, because that is not the truth.
I have been practicing how to become healthy for the last 15 years. Although I am only 25 years old now, I started putting extra weight on in 5th grade, and became obsessed with health magazines.
Unlike most health-article-reading-addicts, I didn't try every diet known to man. About 75% of what I have tried has been healthy, I just haven't stuck it out.
It never made sense to me to cut out a major food group or worse, carbs or fat - two vital macronutrients. And since many fad diets were and still are focused so much on the things we shouldn't eat, I didn't see the appeal. More than anything, I just couldn't justifying trying to change my life by starting with a negative outlook on one of the most central things in life - food!
When I was 16, I did try one terrible "diet" of sorts. It was a rough summer, and I have a history of mental health issues leading up to and since the longest five months of my life (the end of my junior year of high school, through the summer and my 17th birthday, and the first month and a half of my senior year.) I thought I could just "become" someone with an eating disorder. I literally TRIED to become anorexic. When that didn't work, bulimia became my choice. And when I loved food too much to keep up with all that extra work (and also, I valued my teeth and hair), I decided, with the help of some therapists, that I had EDNOS. Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. What they should have said though, was "hey, this girl has issues with food and we should probably give her some suggestions for better ways to deal with stress," but they didn't. I figured out that on my own.
Alas, my interest in nutrition developed beyond my magazine-scouring days of my youth. I still pull articles and cut out tips like nobody's business, but now I also do research on the stuff I'm reading. I refuse to take just anybody's word on what is right and wrong in the food world.
Now, I don't "have" EDNOS. I am a foodie with a tendency towards extremism when I am stressed (both under and overeating equally); a passionate food documentary devotee; a lover of food books; a collector of cookbooks; a follower of Bob & Jillian; a hoarder of nutrition and fitness tips; and in general - always learning more about how to eat well and live better.
I digress.
The other part of my story that I think is important to share in this blog is that I work in a bank (office work, I'm a badass excel lover), I have an under-utilized fitness membership, my iPhone likes to stop communicating with my FitBit and sometimes likes to stop communicating period, I have a boyfriend that may or may not be a forever find, I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (yes, the Amish are my neighbors, no I do not know them), and I have just recently started developing my own kickass personality outside of who I thought I was supposed to be for many years. It's a wonderful, frustrating, overwhelming and very rewarding process.
Other notes:
I love anything published by or associated with the Rodale Institute.
If reading burned calories I would be a fitness model.
I like when my muscles hurt, but I hate getting sweat in my eyes.
Grocery shopping and couponing are more than hobbies to me.
I am a great friend, but terrible at finding new friends and dealing with temporary and fake ones.
I have a lot of drama in my life. Take it or leave it - I get into trouble, I have bad luck (and my fair share of good too), I don't follow all the rules, I'm too honest, I am very gullible, and my family is extensive and passionate, dysfunctional and wonderful.
I am a huge fan of inspiring women: Mary Lambert, Tess Munster, Danielle LaPorte, Ellen DeGeneres, Jillian Michaels and Liz Gilbert.
I refuse to write blogs on health and fitness only. My life is not health and fitness only, and there are so many facets that influence how I eat, when I work out, and how I feel about making changes that I can't just separate the two.
Finally, my goals for this blog, the upcoming diet bet, and life.
I have about a million fitness goals: running a marathon; running in general; being more flexible; trying yoga, Zumba, and spin classes; going rock climbing when I feel more confident in a harness; trying all the "crazy" stunts like zip lining, parasailing, cliff diving, etc. I want to be able to do a cartwheel. I want to hike the Appalachian trail. I want to go for a run to deal with stress and not feel like my lungs are betraying me 30 seconds in.
Eating healthy goals: I want to eat all local, organic, and fresh; more produce, less meat; paleo tendencies; learn how to cook vegetarian, Asian foods, and a healthier version of empanadas; I want to eat well without being hungry and without preservatives; I want to enjoy food as a life source, and not as an emotional soother.
One day soon, I want to work at Rodale, Inc. or Self Magazine. I am a writer after all. Since I have access to this site at work (one of few, I'm not sure how it's working), I will try to blog often.
Laters, baby. And best of luck to my fellow dietbetters! We got this.