New Year
So, if you read my last post, you know that last year was amazing.
This year will be amazing too!
I know my weight has been fine since I lost 30 pounds when I was 19 years old, but I’ve always fluctuated and I’ve always been at the high end of healthy. In October, I got motivated to make a big change.
I started going to a personal trainer and decided I would make the investment in my health, even though financially I knew it would be temporary. He suggested an eating plan that I was pretty sure I would ignore, but then… The next day, I cancelled my morning plans and went grocery shopping instead! I started the Slow Carb diet that day, and over the next three months I didn’t cheat at all! I just got in the zone, which is easy to do when I am seeing results. I lost 15 pounds in 3 months.
After losing some weight and making serious progress, I made another big decision. I’d been waiting for the right time and the right bike for over a year, and everything came together for me after talking to Phillip Shama in November. I bought a quasi custom Guru Photon, Bicycle Magazine’s bike of the year in 2010. I am going to dedicate a whole other post to the bike (here it is!)…
So, thus far I’ve lost 16lbs, and I’ve already put a few hundred miles on my bike.
There are a few more changes that are happening that I think will become a story. First of all, I have definitely turned a corner in my health. The slow carb diet got me off of bread and sugar without taking away carbs (I need a high carb diet!) Now that I am freed from those foods, I am asking myself the question: what foods are best for Alison? For the last few weeks I’ve been incorporating more raw vegetables in my diet, and for the last two weeks I’ve been 80% raw, and completely meat free. It is hard to say how this eating will be in the long run, but I am excited about the possibilities and I’ll be writing more about them.
Another change is that cycling is becoming a big part of my life again. It is one of my biggest passions and I am excited about where it will take me. Look for a post soon with more info!
Lastly, I feel a shift happening in me spiritually. My heart is becoming softer and more open, and I am becoming more involved in community again. I had a very weird experience that led to a year of independence from religion, but honestly? I like some aspects of religion within my spirituality. I like worshipping God with others through music, art, Scripture, prayer and studying. We will see where all this leads!
On New Year’s Eve, I got together with some gals. We wrote down things from last year we wanted to leave behind, and then we burned them. Then we wrote down our goals for this year and read them to each other. Only…. I burned mine instead. Why? Because I felt like it was my way of submitting my plans to God. There are some things that I want, but all I have to do is do the next right thing and He will do the rest.
Happy New Year!
