How To Be Famous Like Me

voldemortoutbitches:

I’m watching the Chronicles of Narnia and I’m like

HOGWARTS HAD CENTAURS

OH LOOK CHILDREN TAKING A TRAIN TO A MAGICAL LAND

GRYFFINDOR COLORS ARE RED AND GOLD TOO

WHY DIDN’T PROFESSOR SLUGHORN JUST GO BACK TO NARNIA WHEN HE WAS HIDING FROM VOLDEMORT?

Taking Hollywood by Storm

As you may have seen from my very first Tumblr post, I grew up in San Francisco but my ambition is to become and actress/singer so I moved out to Hollywood, CA to make that happen. I started a Tumblr mostly just to have one so I could go on and on about pointless things and pretend that there were other people out there who actually cared about what I had to say and I would feel better and blah blah blah. Obviously that didn’t work out because it has now been months since my first post I still barely even know how to use this thing. BUT now I have found something to write about so you will just have to bear with me as I discover what its like to write a blog about my weight loss experience. Hopefully, even if no one really does ever read this, my original expectations will fall through and I will feel better about myself if I think other people are listening. So here it is: the very beginning of my journey to take Hollywood by storm…..

Why I Want To Get In Shape  

In this town and, specifically in the industry I’m trying to pursue a career in, there is so much competition and, unfortunately, an emphasis on being extremely thin. That is not, however, why I’m trying to lose weight. I am not heavy, just thicker and curvier than most which I have always been proud of. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it thicker because the only ones I’m thicker than are super models. I would rather go with the word “Average”. I’m not a perfect weight, I could stand to lose some pounds just to be in the healthy weight zone, but I’m also not exceedingly overweight either. I couldn’t be a model but I couldn’t be a + size model. I have always been very active in Dance and have strong flexible muscles but my whole goal is to get rid of extra fat I don’t need around my arms, stomach, hips and thighs (because I’m SO over thigh chafing) and to hopefully shape the rest of my body with lean muscle. I’m okay with being curvy, because no matter how much weight I lose, I just wasn’t built to be tiny; I just want to be more fit. Hollywood could definitely use some thicker or even average girls and I would be proud and honored to be a representative for them to show just how beautiful we can all be and how weight has nothing to do with your talent or dedication to your craft.

Another reason is simply to change my lifestyle and eating habits. I have never been a very healthy eater all my life. As a matter of fact, this past year has been the healthiest of my life and it definitely shows because I’ve lost about 10 lbs. since moving to LA. But honestly, there were points in my life when, at 5’3” I was about 155 lbs. and not even eating any fruits or vegetables, making meals of of just pasta and butter and cheese and having Kingsize Twix everyday at school as my afternoon snack (I know, I know — It was gross. I’m not proud). Obviously I have changed dramatically since then and, like I said, I have done soooo much better its unbelievable. Simply making changes like drinking fat-free milk instead of whole and always making sure my plate of food is colorful and drinking lots of water and stuff like that have improved my overall health and weight. The weight I have lost has just been from switching from a very unhealthy lifestyle to a relatively healthy one and I am now more balanced. My goal now is to move on to a VERY healthy one and really put effort into losing the extra weight and cutting out pointless fats, carbs and calories I dont need. Now, I’m still a girl who loves her sweets, whos more than willing to go on a date with a guy and order a slice of pizza and, with a chef for a dad, I can appreciate a good meal, but its time for a change. Its time to put more good things into my body so that I feel happier, healthier and just overall feel better about myself, physically, mentally and emotionally.

A Little Bit of History 

What has been more than helpful for me this past year is a friend I made within my first week of college. Her name is Jillian. She has lost over 60 pounds (click here if you want to go check out her story: 
http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/h08t3/before_and_after_pics_female_21_yrs_old_weight/) I met her in a Pilates class I’d signed up for last fall during my first semester of college. We became friends and she had this pass thing where she could bring a friend to her gym for free for a week. Well, we ended up talking to the manager lady and Jillian haggled with her and got me 2 years for about $500 which everyone tells me is amazing, especially because its a nice ass gym. I wouldn’t know because for me, the gym was just a place in high school where you could pretend to be playing badminton or something but really just be hanging out and talking about boys on the bleachers and, after joining Dance sophomore year, a place I never had to go to again. Seriously, when I asked my parents about it, sure that they were going to say that $500 was an outrageous amount of money when I could go running on the sidewalk, they were so shocked that I was even interested in actually working out and being healthy that they didn’t hesitate to give it to me, probably too afraid I would come to my senses before it could be finalized. We started going maybe 2 or 3 times a week and that’s when I lost about 7 or 8 pounds and started making better food choices as I described above so I was now at about 143-145 lbs. It also helped that I was cooking for myself for the first time in my life so there was no excuse that I had to just eat what was always bought or made for me by my parents and for my brother and sister (with whom, by the way, I share a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment off Hollywood Blvd.). I’d gained a few of those pounds back, though, because of a relapse over winter break where I’d gone back home to SF for more than a month and let me tell you, over the holidays there are no less that about 8 different kinds of desserts at any given time in our house (I’m not kidding) and I didn’t go to the gym once. So now I was back up to about 150 lbs. and, when I got home, Jillian and I didn’t have any classes together over the spring semester. I still went to the gym by myself, but I don’t drive (yes I’m 19 now but remember I’m from SF so its really not that unusual) so it was kind of an all day thing to get all the way over to the gym on the bus, work out for a couple hours, go all the way back home and shower before I could go do anything else so I mostly went on just weekends and stuff. I’d also fallen back a little bit into my bad eating pattern over the winter which was hard to break out of again, especially when Jillian and I saw each other so much less, and having her always ask me what I ate for breakfast that morning and willing to come pick me up and schedule times to go to the gym and talking about her whole experience losing weigh was always so inspiring and really kept me on my toes so I kind of relied on her a lot. Nevertheless, I still took off a few pounds on my own. As of this morning, I am 147. lbs according to my (actually kind of broken) scale which is pretty good considering I just came back from SF again after spending a month there with my family and friends for my summer vacation. This time, however, I was more determined to eat healthy and more used to shopping and cooking for myself and my family has now gotten more used to the idea of my being healthier, taking into consideration some of my dinner and snack suggestions or adding more veggies to a certain meal, ect… It was definitely a much better than winter vacation had been.

Present Day

Yesterday Jillian and I went to the gym together for the first time in ages and we decided that this is a new semester, a new school year and its time for some new goals. Since Jillian has already lost so much weight, she is now going to  focus more on building lean muscle. I am now going to focus on my calorie and protein intake, shooting for ≤ 1300 calories and ≥ 53 g of protein a day. We are planning to work around our schedules and find times to go workout together and I also have my behind-the-wheel test in a few days so hopefully from now on it wont be such a hassle for me to get to the gym anymore and I can go more often by myself if I need to. A great tool she showed me, and that ultimately inspired me to create this blog in the first place, is  http://www.myfitnesspal.com/. Its a great website that just helps you track and calculate whatever you need to depending on your weight loss goals. I like seeing everything laid out, from my progress to my goals and to just have a guide so if I’m unsure of something I can see whats required for my fitness plan based on my current weight, height, lifestyle, ect…. I just started my very first Log today so I thought it fitting to start my very first Blog today too. I don’t know if I’ll be writing here everyday but I will be logging in my progress on MyFitnessPal everyday so if you would like to keep up with my progress too, you can go here to see my profile http://www.myfitnesspal.com/EveaGornall and see how I’m doing :)

I think that’s it for now. Here’s to the start of a new happier healthy life!! Yay!!!