Who's that?

I don't expect anyone to remember me after a whole two-year absence. Of course, I say 'anyone' in a way that leads you as the reader to believe that at one point it may have been more than just me reading these entries. Unlikely as that reality is, I'm not back in the blogosphere to complain about the lack of followers on my poorly executed weight-loss blog. I'm back in the blogosphere (and I promise that's the last time I refer to it as such) to try again. If anything, the previous entries are a perfect example of how easy it is to lose sight of your goals when life gets in the way. Well, my life is changing and this time, my body is going to change with it.

A few months ago, my mom told me about a gym that opened very close to where we live. A membership discount was available through her employer and one of her co-workers and her husband seemed to love it, so we figured we'd give it a shot too. Turns out, it's a great place; small and not too crowded, and with all the best equipment (treadmills with televisions attached to them?! count me in!) and lots of big windows—in other words, plenty to keep you distracted while you work your butt off, which I'm a huge fan of. I love distractions, quite obviously...I won't bother to tell you how many times I've stopped writing this entry to play with the dogs or check my face in the mirror for Christmas tree bulb glitter or watch a news report on TV or check the food in the oven or unload the dishwasher or...um, yeah. You get the picture. Long story short, this gym was perfect for me.

I began a very dedicated regimen alternating between low carbs and low calories, and went to the gym daily after work. I was even so adventurous to take a crack at Zumba, which my muscles and my back gave me hell for after the fact. A few of those sessions and I came to the realization that if I wanted my back to continue healing properly (a couple of herniated discs due to a car accident earlier in the year), I needed to try something a little less grueling.

[cue the elliptical]

This is when I fell in love. Our relationship started off slow, you know, a 15-30 minute date every evening...but as my infatuation with Mr. E L. Liptical grew, so did the time I wanted to spend with him. I got to the point where I was doing at least an hour on the elliptical every time I went to the gym, and once or twice I even managed to make it 85-90 minutes. And guys—for me? That's ah-mazing. I was so proud of myself. My diet combined with my exercising helped me lose almost 30 pounds, and I was ecstatic about it. Clothes I hadn't worn in years were finally starting to fit me, and it was like shopping in my closet every morning when I'd check in there for something to wear to work.

But then... (dun dun dunnnnn)

Life happened. Vacation happened. Work happened. Overtime happened. Actually, a LOT of overtime happened, and not enough vacation happened. Regardless, I started working late nights pretty frequently, and after a long day all I wanted to do was go home and relax. I figured that once the mad rush at work slowed down I'd get right back into the swing of things. Guess what? I didn't. Now—a whole two months later—I'm frustrated with myself when I think about how far along I could have been at this point. It's time to climb back up on the horse.

I've seen/met some pretty darn inspiring people with great stories lately (check out From Fat to Fit: Don's Journey), and who's to say I couldn't join that elite club of awesome weight-losers too? I'm already awesome, so at least I'm halfway there! Now, to work on the other half...