This will probably be my final post.

It's been over two years since I've posted on this blog! Time flies. Wow.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've started a new blog! I didn't consciously decide to stop writing here, it just kind of happened naturally for a number of reasons. (I'm just going to copy and paste a few of those reasons from my new blog because I'm lazy.)

For years (2011-2015) I kept a blog (OurFightNow) all about Childhood Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, diet, exercise, and my experience having weight loss surgery as a 15 year old. To my knowledge, it’s still the only blog I’ve found talking about all of those issues from a teenagers perspective. At least as of 05/11/2017 when I’m writing this.

It’s now been 2 years since I’ve posted on that site, and while I’m still incredibly proud of the fact that I managed to keep that blog going so long- it was hard to upkeep. For numerous reasons… the most notable being:

1. I’m not a child or teenager anymore, and it didn’t feel right continuing to write under the pretense that it was from that perspective. I can still recount my experiences as a child, but it’s no longer coming from that frame of mind.
2. A large portion of that blog was in regards to weight loss surgery. I had a VSG in August 2011 and I’ve written the topic almost-dead. I don’t feel like I have anything else to say on the topic, at least for the time being.
3. Honestly? The blog was kind of cringe-worthy. There are a lot of errors (typo, and just general medical knowledge errors) that I made years ago that I SHOULD go back and fix, but the thought of doing so is extremely overwhelming at the moment.

So, I’ve decided to upgrade. I’m not 100% sure what all I’ll cover here. It’ll be similar health-related content, but I’m not going to pigeon-hole myself to only write about WLS/Metabolic Syndrome. To be honest, I’m not even 100% sure that Metabolic Syndrome is my be-all end-all diagnosis. (Currently being tested for Cushing’s Syndrome? We’ll see what happens with that…) So it doesn’t feel right to only write about those two things. This will be a journey for all of us.

So that's where I'm at now. 

My new blog is www.ashtrohealth.wordpress.com  if anyone is interested in checking it out! Other than that, you're still more than welcome to email/message me whenever you want! I still get comments and emails sometimes from people who read this blog and it always makes my day. I love being able to have an open discussion about these topics with people who understand or want to understand them.

My email is ashtrovert @ gmail . com & my Instagram/Tumblr/Twitter usernames are all ashtrovert as well! Feel free to get in contact whenever you'd like and I'd love to chat!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and thank you all so much for following this blog.

-Ashley<3(: 

P90x? What?

So, I've always had an issue with exercise tapes/programs. It's been a love/hate relationship ever since I was a little kid.

As I've mentioned numerous times before, my weight problems started literally when I was 2 or 3 years old. Therefor, dieting and exercise started as soon as it could. I was in exercise programs starting at 5 years old, and I was doing Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies tapes for half an hour to an hour a day..

Eventually we found more kid-oriented exercise tapes, and I got into the video game DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) which worked pretty well, but I got burnt out pretty quickly and hated them. I always preferred doing my own routines for dancing or trying to convince my parents to get a gym membership, because i hated staring at a TV for an hour a day, because I knew it was exercise. It felt like exercise. I would go on walks/jogs to appease my parents just to shut my mom up so I didn't have to do an exercise tape.

Well... After years of just doing things like that, obviously I'm not seeing many results.. I want to build muscle and lose weight quicker than I have been. So, even though I swore to myself I'd never do an exercise program again, I've decided to try p90x.

Not meaning do it for one day then quit. I mean... I actually want to complete the program.

Programs like that that are made for 90 days seem easier to me, because there is a goal. You can cross every day off that you complete it, and feel accomplished. It doesn't feel like it'll go on forever.

I'm on my 5th day now... and I can tell you, I'm amazed I haven't stopped. I've made it through every one so far. (However, I have had some issues with Yoga.. because I have tendinitis in my wrists, it's hard to put a lot of pressure on them on the floor things... So I've been replacing the yoga with cardio, and anytime there is anything that hurts my wrists, I just jog in place until the next move/etc..)

I'm really proud of myself. I thought I was much more out of shape than this, but I guess not.

No, I didn't buy the program. I'm dirt poor. No money. I'm trying to save money for college. But I found a YouTube channel of a man who has done Insanity & P90x, and he posted all the videos online... And I also found the workout schedule online, so that's what I've been following.

Channel with the videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/butterbrown1961/videos?sort=da&view=0&flow=grid

Schedule: http://www.p90xworkoutschedule.org/ (I'm doing the Lean option)

I can tell you my muscles are all ridiculously sore, and even the workouts that aren't made for cardio get your heart rate (or at least mine) up to 180 or so for the solid hour (or however long) you're doing them, which is exactly what I need.

I emailed my dietitian, asking if I needed to up my calories (because the average burned during these workouts is 500-600 per workout).. and she said yes, to up them.. Have a protein shake or protein-rich smoothie every day with the workout... So I've started doing that (despite how much I hate protein powder) and that's that. I've been having one after every workout, and to get all the calories I need in I have to eat every 3 hours... but it's worth it. so worth it.

I haven't lost any weight yet while starting the program, and I know when I gain muscle even if I'm losing fat, my body may change even when my weight doesn't.. and I'm okay with that. I miss having all the muscle I used to have.

So... yeah. that's that. We'll see how this goes, and I'll keep everyone updated. (: I'm determined to stick to this...

Hope every one's having a great day, and I'll update soon! bye. <3

-Ashley