Health issues and weight loss is really dominating a part of my life now. I'm always looking up ways to exercise, eat, etc. I have always weighed more than my peers. When I was younger, it was mostly due to my height and bone structure. Then when high school hit, I didn't even realize I was gaining so much weight after P.E. was no longer a requirement for the last two years. I'd go home and eat junk food while doing my homework. It comforted me and kept me busy at finishing my hw. I remember those days when my left hand was in a bag of chips or cookies and my right hand was busy doing math homework. Calories meant nothing to me back then. So gradually of course, I gained a lot of weight. I didn't even notice. I was wearing size 10 beginning high school and came out of high school with a 14.

I think senior year, I did realize that I wasn't getting any exercise, so I started jumproping. Now that was intensive exercise, and I'd weigh myself week after week, and not one pound came off. I tried rationalizing that I was gaining muscle and that muscle weighs more than fat. But it didn't keep me happy or motivated that numbers weren't moving. At the same time, I was still eating a lot of unhealthy stuff. No wonder no weight came off. I was lucky that exercise was preventing more pounds from appearing. But I didn't know that back then.

I continued gaining weight throughout college. Dorm food: I thought I wasn't eating a lot, but really, who was I kidding? I always had dessert, always tried every dish they offered. I know those seasoned curly fries weren't there to help me lose weight. Despite the steep hill to Hedrick and infrequent workouts, my weight wouldn't budge nor did my dress size.

Around February of last year, I'd gained so much that size 14 was getting tight. That's what scared me. Before, size 14 was still "average" or "normal". I didn't worry at all. The average size of American women is size 14. But when I was approaching 16, damn! That really proved to me that I was overweight. Have you seen size 16 pants? They're huuuuuge! Back then I'd look at my pants and go "whoah!, they're big" BUT yet, they fit!! or sometimes was tight. That was really depressing.

What really changed for me was when I bought the Tanika body fat monitor. It measures weight up to 0.5 accuracy and measures body fat percentage up to 0.1 % The first time I stepped on it, it read 179 lbs. and 40% body fat. AAAAAAH! How did I let myself go like that? It was bad. I'm only 5'7" and that weight definitely meant I was fat. So what I did was to start counting calories and walking more. It wasn't a big enough change that I wouldn't be able to continue long term. And every week from then on, I faithfully lost one pound, the healthy way. And body fat percentage steadily went down also.

Then I hit plateau: nothing changed. I'd moved into my new apt and it was so close to campus that I lost my exercise component to my weight loss program. Plus, I live across from Ralphs now. Yay for me. But by then I'd gotten tired of counting calories and hadn't incorporated any more physical activity into my life. This continued until January of this year. Along with millions of other people, I made a New Year's resolution to lose weight. I was ten pounds off my goal which was 150 pounds.

So in the past two months, I've started counting calories again. Though this time, I am always hungry and end up eating a lot more than last year. Tammy and I try to go weight lifting or play tennis once a week. I know that strength training is a major component in losing weight. I also need to add cardio. So I've taken up running. I was never a long distance runner, even when I was younger, I only competed in sprints, never long distances. I couldn't handle the sustained oxygen deprivation and tiring muscles. But I have to keep practicing so that I can build up to a stage where I can run miles comfortably without stopping to walk. For now, it's around 5 minutes of continuous running. I try to run around the pretty Westwood neighborhood and on Saturdays, at the AHS track. It's getting to be a lot fun and I hope I can be a lifelong runner. One of my life goals now is to finish a marathon. The LA marathon took place last Sunday and I was so excited. Watch me, I'm gonna be there in three years waving at the camera. =)

So anyways, my current stats: 158 pounds/32% body fat
Still kind of disappointed, my weight isn't changing much after so much running and weight lifting. And it's not like muscle gaining since body fat percentage isn't going down. It went up just a little. =( Darn, I'm probably eating too much again. I'm very guilty of stress eating. I tend to consume a lot of ice cream during finals week and chocolate at other sad little moments of my life.