FAQ
General
What’s your age/height? I’m 24 years old. I’m a shorty at 5’2″.
Where are you from? Where do you live now? I’m originally from Tennessee. I lived in Franklin, then Millington/Memphis, and also Jackson, TN. I’m a southern girl at heart and LOVE my home state. I currently live in Auckland, New Zealand. Middle Earth/Middle of nowhere, Pacific Ocean. ;)
Weight
What was your highest weight/current weight? My highest weight ever is unknown. In 2004 when I graduated high school I was somewhere around 260 but I never got on a scale so I’m not totally sure. I started weight loss the first time stepping on the scale at 255 and the second time in 2009 at 251.
What’s your current weight? I keep track of this on my goals & progress page.
What’s your goal weight? I’m aiming for 150 ultimately. I think. 175 is my first goal weight and I plan to reassess when I get there.
How do you track progress? I use the scale and mark my progress every five pounds on the blog. I also take measurements and go by clothes size.
What size are you? I’m currently wearing a 14 or 16, depending on the brand. I started out wearing a size 22.
Food & Diet
What diet are you on? I’m not on any particular diet. I use a mix between calorie counting and intuitive eating. I count calories but pay attention to internal hunger clues about when to eat and more importantly, when to stop.
How many calories do you eat? I aim for 1800 to 2000 calories a day. This is a range based on the fact that I workout often. On rest days I try to eat slightly under that range.
What do you eat? I like a variety of foods. I learned early on that eliminating something completely didn’t work for me so I continue to have my favorite things in smaller sizes. I like to get a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low fat meat and dairy into my diet along with small portions of sweets. You can see what I eat almost every day on my food blog.
What are your favorite foods? I absolutely love Mexican food and anything spicy. My default meals tend to be Mexican-ish meals. I also ADORE cereal. If I could get all the nutrients I need from cereal I would eat it three-five times a day.
Gear
What heart rate monitor do you use? I use a Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor. FTC disclosure: It was provided by Polar as part of my ongoing relationship with the company. I love Polar and I love my heart rate monitor! It changed the way I workout.
What other stuff do you use? I use a GT Traffic 4.0 bike, 2XU tri shorts, and a Camelbak water bottle. Everything else workout related is hand-me down or very olf stuff of various brands
Blogging
How do you start a blog? I’ve written up a whole tutorial about how to start a blog.
How do you grow your blog? Get to know other bloggers! This is huge in the weight loss and healthy living blog world. Comment on other blogs. Offer to guest post. Link to other bloggers often. The more people you know the faster your blog will grow.
What camera do you use? I use a Nikon D40. I edit photos with iPhoto and upload everything to Flickr.
What blogs do you read? I read a lot of blogs! I used to keep a blogroll but it needed to much upkeep. I do have a small blogroll on my food blog with my favorite food related sites.
Will you read my blog/link to my blog? If you’ve ever posted a comment on my blog I’ve read yours at least once. I check out every new to me blog. Unfortunately I can’t read everyone’s blog all the time or I’d do nothing else! Since I don’t have a blogroll, please don’t ask me to link to your blog.
Do you get paid to talk about any products you mention? Very occasionally I do get paid or receive free products from companies. I’m very selective about this and I always will mention in the post that this occurred. If there is no mention then assume I scraped my pennies together and bought whatever it is myself. I do include links to products I find useful if they are on Amazon and I do get a small percentage of the purchase.
Do you make any money from this blog? I do make money from this blog, but I promise you it’s not a lot. Considering the amount of work I put into it and the monetary return this is a money sink for me. I do it because I love blogging and I love the healthy living/weight loss community online. If you want to blog for money… good luck.
