12/21/08

All about me.

Hi all! I thought I would FINALLY give you all a little background about me so you know where I am coming from :) I have been meaning to do this pretty much since I have started this blog so here ya go!

My name is Jill and I am a 23yrs. old. I am currently working full time as a librarian for a career college. I work at their downtown Indianapolis location and love it! Being a smaller school I get to do a bit of everything so it keeps things interesting. I am also going to graduate school part time and working on earning my masters in library science (MLS) from IUPUI. I will be done in December of 2009 and CAN'T wait! Another thing I may mention at times is my upcoming wedding! My fiance and I have been together for about 4 years and just got engaged this past August. We will be tying the knot on August 8, 2009!! I am planning my wedding where I am originally from (about 3 hrs. away) in northern IN. Life can seem SUPER busy at times with work, school and wedding stuff but I couldn't be happier :)

Another aspect of my life that has lead to happiness is a fairly recent weight loss and revamp to a healthier lifestyle! I wouldn't say I was ever really overweight, but I have had a fluctuating weight since high school and it hasn't always been healthy. When I started college I was at my smallest weight I can remember, 105 lbs. Throughout college I steadily put on weight through bad eating habits and drinking. I felt that it was under control until my senior year. I hit my highest weight of about 145/150 ish. I felt uncomfortable with my body and just knew that I was NOT healthy at this point.

This is during homecoming my sr. year at a sorority event:

Here I am during spring break sr. year:

Sometime during the fall/winter I remember having to get some blood work done at the request of my dad's dr. My dad has very low HDL (this is your good cholesterol) and his doctor feared it might be hereditary. And it was for me.... My overall cholesterol numbers were fine. My bad cholesterol(LDL) wasn't too high, but my HDL was very low for a young female. My dr. recommended I work on exercising, alter my diet some and will most likely have to be put on medication when I am older. This kind of scared me. As a 22 yr. old I didn't think I needed to be worrying about my health to that point. I began altering things in my life. I swapped refined for whole grains, watched my portion sizes, ate more fruits and veggies and worked out regularly. My weight slowly came off.


Here I am in early March 2008 on vacation in FL at about 135:

After a few months I got tested again and my numbers had improved. After this improvement, my health was slowly becoming less of a focus for me. While I wasn't gaining my weight back I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors.


A few months ago I started reading food blogs and seeing that there was a supportive community out there of other young women dedicated to leading a healthy life. I researched ways that I can naturally try and raise my HDL to avoid having to take medication. I joined a gym and made a transition to eating healthier, more natural foods. I don't like to deny myself things, I just try to keep it in moderation. I am not always perfect and will sometimes splurge on pizza, beer and sweets, but isn't that part of life??
Here I am currently at about 123 lbs. I am not looking to loose more weight I just want to focus on living healthier and feeling comfortable in my skin :)

6 comments:

K from ksgoodeats said...

Thanks for sharing your story! You look great - congrats on achieving a healthy lifestyle!!

Jaime said...

aww congratulations for reaching your goals! cant wait to hear more!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you look great! And congratulations on such great success. Thanks for sharing the story, and horray for the wedding!!

Anonymous said...

You look great!! Thanks for sharing your story with us. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

stumbled on your blog...you look so good!! =)
great job on your progress!!

Anonymous said...

What a great story you have! Kudos to you for sticking with your new healthy lifestyle, and congrats on the engagement!