My goal doesn’t seem that big, but it’s harder then you think. I started at 180 pounds around January. My goal is to be 130-pounds by the beginning of junior year, which is August or September. Currently, I’m 167 and losing about two pounds a week. This happens only if I keep a steady diet and exercise schedule. Sometimes it’s only one pound, but 1-2 pounds a week is a healthy pace. It’s good to have a goal when trying to lose weight for many reasons. One means it keeps you moving forward, which makes it easier to finish and get to where you want. While working on losing weight, I’m also working on my mental health. Therefore by the time, it’s my junior year, I want to be physically and mentally fit and ready.

I took steroids since I was four years old, so weight gain is with that, among other things. For a long time, I felt terrible because I wasn’t society’s image of pretty, and I disliked myself, which was awful for my mental health. About three years ago, I finally got confidence and found my voice. Therefore why get rid of weight when I’m confident in myself. The easy answer is my confidence only shows up once in a while, but other than that, I’m self-conscious every day. I love plus-sized people; this is why In my opinion, their personality is better than regular people. Losing weight is not because I don’t want to be part of this community because these are amazing people that are kings and queens. This is for me; that’s why before I started, I consulted my older sister because she helps me with these kinds of things .she said before I start, I needed three good reasons that are for myself and not about everyone else. The first is my lifestyle before wasn’t healthy; it was radical and without schedules. I need to make a change for the better that can benefit me physically and mentally. The second is I want to fill comfortable in my skin. For example, the thing that I hate is clothes shopping. I should be able to love buying clothes for myself, but I don’t because I fill uncomfortable. The plus-size community does not have good shopping options, and it’s expensive when there are options. This is why I don’t fill comfortable because I can’t wear the clothes I want. I wear oversized things because there’s nothing better to wear and tight clothes make me uncomfortable. Along with that, the plus-sized community shouldn’t feel bad every time they go shopping. My third reason is that I want to be looked at like everyone else is because I want to be treated equally. When people see bigger people, they imagine that we are lazy and we eat a lot, and this is a humongous misconception. When you are bigger, you get more ridiculed then a regular person. I want people to know me for me and not judge me by my size from the first time they see me. Like people think, I don’t play sports because I’m lazy, but I grew up camping and playing sports. The reason I quit soccer, basketball, tennis, and track is because of my bad asthma, and I didn’t want to risk me being in the hospital anymore, then I have to be. My entire life I have been outside playing sports I love it but id rather sit out then go to the hospital. Even in the band, I have asthma attacks. This is why I’m doing this weight loss journey.

Continuing my series, I want to start with my current diet. Its called intermittent fasting. In lamens terms, I have an 18 hour period where I can’t eat but only drink water. Then I have a 6-hour window where I can eat everything I need to eat. Now I understand that might seem very intimidating, but when you do it, it’s not that bad. With this, you have to make sure you eat the right amount of food because you don’t want to starve yourself or overindulge, making the diet useless. Just because I have a limited window doesn’t mean I can eat anything; I still have to have a healthy intake.This is why I cut off cokes entirely and eat more clean. This diet might seem hard, but I’m determined to reach my goal. During school, I would eat when I got home. It was easy and worked perfectly with my schedule. Now during quarantine, I had to move it up to 12-6, and it’s working great.

This week’s topic is my weight loss journey that I’ve started recently, and no one knows I’m doing it because I believe it’s personal. I started at the beginning of March, but I researched everything during January and February. I wanted to figure out what diet and exercises I wanted to do and what would work best with my schedule. After going through research on keto and different diets, the one that caught my eye was intermittent fasting. Its been about a month and a half, and I have had my slip-ups because I had to train myself and get used to a new lifestyle. It was, and still, is a struggle every day. I want to have eating habits like every other teen, but I can’t. I have to say no to Coca-Cola and ice cream, among other things. Many people would see it as hard because I do intermittent fasting, which means I can’t eat for 18 hours and have an eating window of 6 hours. I will explain this more in the next blog of this series.

My opinion on this is reasonably not favorable, but its mine, so it’s okay. This is a severe thing, of course. I believe everyone is so scared of it because it is new and unknown. Something like this has happened many times before. Our human history has been full of viruses and diseases, but we have overcome every one of them. Its 2020 and we are trying things that our generation has never done. We are trying schooling online and social distancing for long periods of time. It’s a crazy time, but we have technology that can help us with this. Humanity is forever revolutionizing, and that is what gives me the certainty that this will pass.

For thirteen years, I lived in the country. There were pastures as far as the eye can see, and cotton fields with farmers. I grew up in the country, and I love almost everything about it. I love hunting and fishing and looking up at the blanket of stars during the night. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere, it feels free. My brothers and I load up in the truck with mud under our boots. We walk into the forest to get fresh wood from the trees with an ax and Hachette for our pit. One thing we love to do is making a pit to cook food for the family and start up a fire n the barrel.Sitting there with my brothers while listening to music and talking is one of the best fillings in the world. Therefore even though I live in the city, I’m always a country girl at heart.

It’s crazy the time we are in I’m on the border with it. I like it, but then again, I don’t. I’m an overthinker. I think about everything so spending all day at home is probably not the best. School is a distraction from my mind. Along with this, it is very dull and wasteful of time. Before this, I had just got my schedule together. I was doing my work, and I was where I wanted to be I had got my life together finally. Now it’s like starting over again I’ve had to reschedule my I.F. and school schedule. It’s hard to work at home online. I’m taking notes all day and reading on a screen or watching videos. It feels like I have more work now then I had in an actual school. Maybe it will get better next week, but for now, I feel like I’m falling behind or failing. It’s not just me, but everyone today, my friend texted me on how she feels terrible because she procrastinated and didn’t do work today. This is uncharted territory, and well, it is going to take time.

Everyone knows I’m the biggest band nerd and that I talk about it all the time. I don’t know how to explain the love that I have for band. First of all, it helps with multi-tasking, adapting, and listening, among other things. We spend every day together, trying and failing as one. It’s far more than just a band but a family. If only people knew the filling of the performance breath as one move as one and be in perfect sync. That first note is breathtaking, and when we finish the music, you can feel everything.another reason I love band is because of the bonds and the memories. The best memories I have are from the band, all the practices,sunburns, and hard work was worth it.Struggling and succeeding as a family. I’ve met so many people in band that are life long friends, not only at my school but from other schools.

Many people are fearful of this thing called death. I’m not a person to be bothered about these types of things, but that’s my realization in life because death is inevitable. That might seem glim and maybe a little pessimistic, but it’s true when you spend every day worrying about the wrong things you never have time to examine the great moments and memories. That doesn’t mean be careless, but you should be free to do what you desire. One thing I’ve learned is that time is short, and it is always passing. Therefore why wait to do those crazy things and maybe trying something new. Many people in my life have died five, specifically, but that’s the circle of life. You have to cherish every moment of your life and the people around you—That’s why I don’t fear death but somewhat embrace the fact that life is short. The only hope and wish I have is that whenever my time is, I’m hoping it’ll be 70 years from now, but all I want is to be remembered. That’s my goal in life not to be rich, but to be remembered, I want to leave my mark on every person I meet. That’s why I live free and try to make the best memories.

This includes the astounding Ms.Yun, who I hold very dear to my heart. This is a new bond I have started. Can I say she is adorable like her energy is what I live for. Every time she sees me, she yells Heaven like I’m just some awesome person. I’m in art one so it’s my first year in her class and well I’m a horrible drawer. One day my friend had to go to her class for UIL during our second-period avid class. Our teacher let us go and well we went. At first, we were chilling, and then I started to help with some questions. Yun sall how good I was doing, so she let me help with other stuff. This included assisting the UIL kids with questions making sure they had all they needed ad well, helping her finish her checklist. That’s when she was like she loved my help, and well, I stayed for lunch and helped her out. That was the start of our relationship after that. We became close. Now on A days, I go to her class when I have no work in Avid, and my teacher lets me go. She decided to make me an art one kid paint and gave me a canvas. I was just so happy because she trusted me to do that even though I had no idea how. Then she let me water paint even though I have no idea how. Now sometimes I stay during lunch, and we hang out, and I paint, and she always tries to give me stuff. Like the other day, she was like you want gummies, crackers, the water I said no, and she still brought the gummies because she said I had to eat. The fact that she cares for my well being and encourages my horrible painting skills is what I love. One day she was sad because the UIL kids don’t send Korean stickers, and she was so enthusiastic it was great. She shows me Korean things and tries to teach me some words, and i think its great how she is just like an average person that I can talk. It’s an extraordinary bond that I love and means a lot.