Who is Erin?

Here’s a little background of who I am and what I plan on becoming professionally:

I am currently finishing up my last year at Loyola University and will graduate with a degree in psychology. After graduation, I plan on enrolling in nursing school. After attaining a nursing degree, I will work as a psychiatric nurse while continuing graduate nursing studies. My dream is to eventually work in the field of pediatric nursing, perhaps even in neonatal care.

My Fitness & Nutrition History:

I have always been thin and mentally, I still envision myself the way I was in high school. I started dancing ballet when I was three years old and was very active in it until I had to quit due to scheduling conflicts when I was 15. I have never been a “sporty” girl. I played softball very briefly when in elementary school but quit because I was bored in the outfield and kept getting hit in the head when I was up to bat. I never had to worry about what I ate because I always stayed thin due to my high activity level from ballet. After hitting puberty in high school, I grew to my adult height of 5’3 ½ “. After finishing my growth spurt, I weighed only 102 pounds and looked anorexic. By the time I graduated high school, I was a healthy 125 and everyone agreed I looked much better with some curves on me. When I entered college, I was well aware of the “freshman fifteen” warning, which I tried hard to avoid. I worked out and ate fairly well and only gained about five pounds. Then the summer before my sophmore year, I fell into a deep depression. I attributed the source of my depression to my recent conclusion that I was giving up on my lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. I had realized I wasn’t cut out for the kind of life and time commitment medical school and subsequent residency would require. I am not a competitive person and didn’t think I would even be admitted to medical school. Letting go of my dream was extremely hard because I had no idea what I would do with the rest of my life. I always knew healthcare was where I was supposed to be and couldn’t even think to consider other possibilities. I, like many others, fed my feelings. I would buy pints of chocolate peanut butter hagen daaz (often three to four times a week) and eat it all in one sitting. I would eat McDonald’s almost every day on my way to work. I rarely went to my classes and for the first time in my academic career, I failed a class and received only passing grades in others. Work was the only thing I would get out of bed to do but my job performance was poor due to my sour attitude. I retreated from my friends and family. Even though I am a psychology major, I never really thought I was in a depression. I had no feelings of sadness or suicidal thoughts. I was instead filled with an intense and overwhelming feeling of apathy. I no longer cared about my grades, my appearance, or my future. Nothing seemed worth working for in my mind. In the summer of 2008, I finally broke out of my depression by setting new life goals. I took a nursing assistant class and discovered how much I would enjoy nursing, perhaps even more than I would enjoy being a doctor. But my depression had caused major damage to both my academic grade point average and to my body. At the end of my depression, I had gained about eighteen pounds. At 148 pounds, I felt extremely uncomfortable and unhappy. At my adult height, I’ve seen what my body looks like at a variety of weights, from being too skinny at 102 pounds to being too flabby and round at 148 pounds. To me, I feel I looked my best when I was in the 120-125 pound range. I made the decision at the start of my junior year to start living healthier and to lose twenty-three pounds to reach my ideal weight. Unfortunately, I would only make it through a few weeks of walking and dieting before breaking down and eating unhealthy food for two or more weeks. It wasn’t until February 2009 when I started to get serious. I had joined an online food tracker site, called myfitnesspal.com, and after logging all my food for a few days, I become aware of just how low my calorie intake was. I was generally eating around 900 calories a day, which anyone versed in nutrition will tell you is an absolute no-no. After surfing the message boards and reading everyone’s diet and exercise tips, a few things kept coming up again and again. The first was everyone kept raving about something called P90X. I had never heard of it before and thought it was some type of gym equipment! I had asked my mother about it and she informed that she actually owned it, but never really stuck with the plan for longer than a couple of weeks. She quickly told me about how it was a series of workouts intended for people who are already in decent athletic shape. I watched her do some of the workouts and knew that I wasn’t quite ready for the X yet. The other exercise program people raved about on myfitnesspal.com was called Turbo Jam. Members loved that it was fun and energizing. Having a strong dance background, I thought I’d give it a try. I was SO excited when my Turbo Jam set of six different workouts arrived in the mail and instantly loved it. I even followed the diet plan the best I could. As much as I loved doing Turbo Jam , I felt like I wasn’t working out enough. Then I heard of Chalene’s other program, Chalean Extreme, that had been released a few months earlier. I immediately ordered it and was really happy with the intensity of the weight-lifting workouts. But I hit a bump about two months in to the three month program. I went on a two week vacation to North Carolina and Florida. I ate somewhat well the first week in North Carolina but when I arrived in Florida and started going to all the theme parks of Disney and Seaworld, I was extremely naughty with my eating. At the end of the vacation, I gained back all of the weight I had lost with Chalean Extreme and Turbo Jam. I was so disappointed with myself and unhappy with how my body felt. I knew it was time for a major change. I made the decision to change my workout plan and also my diet. Now, I've started doing P90X & Turbo Jam and am so excited with the results I've already started to see! This is one step forward on a very long road and I can't wait to see where it will lead.

To happy life & good health,

Erin