Diet, Nutrition, Working out

Working out. It’s one of my passions. I started lifting weights October 2008 with my at-the-time boyfriend. He was also at the time overweight at 245lbs or so. Prior to that he was a whopping 295lbs. He’s always been into lifting weights as a former power lifter until he pulled a disc in his spine. We made the decision together over that summer to start eating healthier and sign up for a gym membership. He set a goal to compete in body building in a year. I decided to get myself in shape and get the body I’ve always wanted.
Dieting was frustrating. I started tracking calories on everything I ate, limiting myself to 1750 calories or so when I first started. Over the next couple months my intake would decrease to further progress on the weight loss. Different routines were tried as well. My least favorite was the card cycle. It was a four days cycle where my daily carb intakes were set as a day or two of low carb days, moderate carb day and one high carb day. On the low carb day, I was to only intake trace carb sources from other foods. It was painful without any grains, flour, pasta, etc.
The first few months, as I started dieting and working out at the same time, I saw very little physical progress. I was lifting weights four to six times a week and my body was building muscle, at the same time I was slowly losing fat. As a new lifter, gaining muscle was important, so I had to make sure to lose weight slowly. My diet was high in protein, basically living off of skinless chicken breasts, eggs and egg whites, whey protein powder and milk. The diet took a tole on my mentality and emotions. Not being able to eat what you want or eat out was frustrating. At the same time, cheating and giving into desires wasn’t satisfying because afterwards I’d think how it was like “taking a step backwards” and I was only hurting myself.
By the following summer, I shed around five-inches off my waist, three or four around the thighs and a good amount off the hips as well. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment I get from working out and seeing progress. Not going to lie, it’s sometimes hard to stay consistent. Once I get off track, I continue to find excuses to stay off-track and it takes awhile to get back in the flow of things.