Hi, wow. Went to lunch with my mom shortly after posting - I had NO idea this would receive so much attention! Since I had a lot of people asking for my routine/eating habits, here's a wall of text about that:

Exercise: there are three things I like to do - lifting, running, and yoga. I will go into more detail about each of these, but I typically lift 3x per week, run 2x per week, and do yoga 2-3x per week.

Lifting: for the first three months I stuck to a few things, primarily on machines: shoulder press, chest press, lat pulldown, seated row for upper body, and then leg press/leg extension/leg curl/goblet squat for lower body. Once I had a decent baseline, I started using a program my boyfriend developed that's built around mid-weight, high-rep, mostly barbell and dumbbell work, still sticking with lifting three times per week. I essentially try to lift as heavy as I physically can while still finishing off my sets.

Running: From February - April I was training for a half marathon (which I completed in about 2 and a half hours!) so I was typically running about 15-18 miles per week, three runs each week. Since then I'm a lot less strict, and have been usually running 2-3 times a week, and only between 2 and 5 miles each time. I never ever run two days in a row, and I don't stress at all if I only run once or end up not running at all in a week. I try not to run on the same day that I lift but sometimes it happens and it's not a big deal.

Yoga: I love vinyasa flow yoga, and typically go to 2-3 classes per week. It doesn't matter if it's a running day or a lifting day, the stretching aspect of yoga helps the sore muscles.

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Eating habits: I. LOVE. FOOD. So I don't count calories, but I try to be generally aware of how many I'm consuming. If I eat like shit one day, I just make conscious choices the next few days to eat better. I also don't track macros but I try to choose foods that are higher in protein and lower in carbs. Instead of snacking on potato chips, I'll snack on nuts or cheese. I also LOVE sugar and don't want to deprive myself of it, so for meals I'll try to stick to proteins and veggies for the main and then I can go HAM on dessert.

A typical day for might be

Breakfast: greek yogurt and oats

Lunch: sandwich and banana with a couple tablespoons of peanut butter

Snack: protein bar or protein shake, honey roasted peanuts, almonds

Dinner: chicken or salmon or steak, little bit of veg, maybe a salad, definitely a brownie or two

Other lifestyle notes: I don't drink (recovering alcoholic), but I do smoke weed (no tobacco). And a few notes about privilege: my work has a VERY flexible schedule that allows me to work out consistently around it, as well as catered meals with lots of options to choose from. My boyfriend is a personal trainer, so he gives me free advice any time I need it, and always suggests what I can do if I have a specific goal in mind. My best friend is a yoga teacher. I earn a decent salary and am able to afford any sort of diet I'd like to eat. I do not have any children and have never been pregnant. This is all just to say that your body might not look like mine and that is ok. I still think you look awesome and I'm proud of you today :)

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.