The Get Healthy Project: Part 1 - The Reasons

A delicious donut from Krispy Kreme in Korea
But see what happens below.

When I was younger, (read:in college), I had the worst eating habits ever. I often forgot to eat (ok I hear you gasp - I have an odd relationship with food, I eat it when I am reminded, when I am with people, or I will simply peck and then move on - basically I am one of those weirdos for whom eating is not a priority, I do it to stay alive... to figure out why I'd have to go back into my childhood. Too long)

Anyways, I became a vegetarian, and it got even worse. I at waffle fries dipped in BBQ sauce (hail to chick-fil-a) for lunch, and other random things for dinner. I live on sun chips, apple juice, and mac and cheese. At one point a nutritionist said to me she wasn't even sure how I was alive...

By the time I was living in Boston for grad school. I was so stressed and frazzled I was dangerously underweight, seeing a doctor and basically trying to stay alive...

Fast forward to Korea. At this point I was under the impression that my body was invincible. I developed a crazy new lifestyle. Working from 4pm until 10 pm I didn't eat my first meal of the day until about 3pm and then we ate again around 10.30-11. We coupled that with plenty of cheap drinks to supplement (beer and soju). Often our meals consisted of samgyeopsal (grilled pork similar to bacon) or other sodium rich meals. Needless to say skinny Norma was very soon normal-weight Norma, then slighly bigger Norma. I went from a size 0 to a 4. I was still fine. I didn't mind that I didn't fit in my jeans anymore. But eventually, I looked at myself in the mirror.

Chubby cheeks: ugh

I no longer liked that I had to think about sucking my stomach in to look good. Then, last year, after thanksgiving and christmas, I hit the peak. I WAS A SIZE 6. Gasp. Now I know you will say this is the average size of the American woman. The problem is I live in Korea, where the average size of a woman is a size 0. Suddenly every insecurity I had came flooding back in when I had to buy clothes labeled large (in fairness, they'd probably be a medium back home).

No one told me I looked so bad

Chunky, stomach not flat. Gross!

I'd like to say that I started losing weight the healthy way. That I started exercising and eating right. I'd be lying. Remember when I told you I was a social eater. Well, I eventually had a few falling outs with some of my closest friends. With no one to eat dinner with I would just go home and well, not eat. After people started to notice, then I took matters into my own hands and did it the healthier way. I am now since back down to shape, but I will describe it all in my next post