So this blog is super personal, but I decided to write it as an encouragement for others.  For a while, I was really embarrassed when people I hadn’t seen for a long time had asked me if I had lost weight.  I felt weird that people were judging my body and that no one told me I was super fat before or something.  But YES, it is true.  Apparently, I’ve lost around 45 lbs (and going on 50-55) since January 2012.  I guess it took a whole year and a half for it to all happen, but I think the slower, the better, yeah?  Some reason, I feel like I look no different at all, but your own mind works in very strange ways.

So how did this all happen?  No diets, no juicing, no fasting, no couch-potatoing.  Pretty much after I got laid off from my full time job, I no longer had any source of disposable income.  I stopped eating out because I couldn’t afford it anymore, got on food stamps and started making my own meals.  Because I started working from home, I could cook every meal, and I got super into cooking/trying out recipes.  I also had a ton of free time, so I joined the gym and just started exercising.   Before, my life consisted of commuting to work, sitting at a desk all day, commuting home, editing or meeting with people and shooting on the weekends; life was a hot mess–there was never time for anything.  Pretty much since my work/daily life drastically changed, 30 lbs literally just melted right off of me in the first year.

I wasn’t really expecting any of this to happen, but because I was too poor to eat out, I became EXTREMELY frugal…somehow I survived the entire year just paying all my bills with photography.  It’s not that I had no money to feed myself because I was definitely eating food.  I also decided to get back on my bike and started to ride more regularly on the weekends–mainly because it was free.  I’m not sure if people understand my passion for long distance cycling, but I just absolutely love it mostly because it’s free,–you get to be outside and you can go so far just on two wheels.  It’s amazing.  Sometimes after a good 50 mile ride, I look down at my bike and can’t believe this thing brought me to Redmond and back for free.  I think I just really appreciated all the free things in life.

This also affected my working life.  I became much stronger and was able to shoot a wedding and not feel completely destroyed the next day.  Therefore, I was able to do more double headers without a problem.  After getting injured a few times, I realized how important it is to take care of your body, especially in an industry where your body demands so much of your energy.  I finally gave into an individual health plan when I was able to afford it.  Super expensive but I wanted to be protected in case I fell off my bike and died or something.

Coming into this year, I signed up for the Seattle to Portland bike ride.  So far for training, I’ve been spinning TTH’s, running MWF’s, weightlifting in between and riding 40-50 miles on the weekend.  I’m also going to interchange a few rides for hikes up until STP.  I have another 10 lbs to drop to reach my goal.  Food wise, been eating pretty much 70% paleo.  I know it sounds really stupid and how paleo is so trendy, but it’s quite amazing how everything you eat just goes straight through you.  The food doesn’t get stuck in your body and feel all bloated.  I still eat normal food during the week when I’m out though because how else can you stay sane??  I also want sugar ALL the damn time now, which is weird because I’ve never craved sweets in the past.  But whatever.  You’ve gotta have your froyo/cookie/candy fix.

Anyways, it feels so strange to talk about myself so much in my blog except that life is very different for me now.  I became a weird homemaker in the process but also realized how important it is to take care of your health and be active.  But being laid off was probably one of the best things that has ever happend to me.  Also, learning how to live a frugal life has been very eye opening.  $2 no longer meant the same to me as it did 2 years ago (think I’m also looking into extreme couponing).  In the end, I’ve been loving/appreciating life and the people in it more than ever.  Been just super blessed with everything that has been thrown into it since 2012 and many new changes ahead.  Living a poor life is SO amazing, trust me.

I can go on more, but if you have any questions or thoughts please send me an email!  karen@karenkwang.com  I’ve been inspired to become a personal motivator, ha.  :)  I love hearing other peoples’ journeys or goals and is super encouraging.  I encourage anyone who wants to change their lives to just go out and do it!  I know it’s hard to find the motivation but somehow I woke up one morning and decided I was joining the gym (weird, I know).  But sticking to it is probably the most important part because results don’t show overnight.  And EAT FOOD, don’t starve yourselves.  Totally not into the juice fast right now (no offense, ya’ll).  Okay, I think this is all.

P.S.  Sorry these photos aren’t exactly the best comparisons.  But they were similar, so it kind of shows?

Venue:  Craven Farm

Venue:  Broadway Hall in Bellingham, WA

Venue:  Melrose Market Studios

Venue:  Bellingham Farmers Market // Depot Market Square

So as most of you may or may not know, I signed up for the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride this year.  I just got more serious about training for it last month.  My lovely friend and cyclist encourager, Erika, had a friend, Peter, who was organizing his own Chilly Hilly 2013 a week after the real ride.  He was awesome to meet and super inspiring to learn from.  Pretty much you take your bike on the Seattle to Bainbridge Island Ferry and ride around the pretty hilly island.  The distance around Bainbridge is 32.4 miles with a 2,313 ft elevation gain.  For my visual people, there’s some images from my app of the map and elevation gain information.  A 2k+ elevation definitely scared me–I’ve only just recently did my first 2k+ hike (not counting the snowy one)!  I couldn’t even imagine what that’s like on your bike.  All I know is that you should have legs of steel to power up those massive hills.

We left my house around 8am today and caught the 9:45am ferry.  The route was nicely marked from the ride last week, so that was super helpful on not getting lost.  TONS of rolling hills, and we were surrounded by giant trees most of the time.  My favorite parts were along the water, and there were these beautiful houses that lined the road.  At one time, we could see Seattle’s skyline, and it was quite majestic.  Really wish I had some type of helmet video camera to capture all the scenery.  So…let’s talk about them hills.  The first 2/3 of the route was not TOO bad.  Except there was this one killer 12% grade hill right before the halfway point where my legs gave out and couldn’t clip out of my pedals, and I ate it.  Just scraped/bruised my knee a little but mostly bummed because I made a hole in my Under Amour.  :(  And let’s talk about the downhills….if you know me, I absolutely HATE going fast down hill.  It’s like the most scariest thing in the world to me.  But in order to get up these hills, you needed to get your momentum going.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so fast on my bike; so scary.  The last 5 miles were probably the most brutal.  I was pretty much over every hill after that and felt like my legs were going to fall off.  It also started to rain the last part which was actually quite nice.  We actually got to experience the “chilly” part of the ride.

Finally made it back to the city center, and we got a warm meal at Streamliner Diner.  I absolutely could NOT wait to put some real food into my mouth.  During the ride, I ate 2 small apples and a Cliff Bar–I kept feeling like I needed more fuel, so that has to change in the future.  Also, I kept getting stomach cramps after I ate my last apple.  :(  After that, all I wanted to do was lay down and pass out.  We made it back to Seattle, and we had to ride our bikes all the way home.  Took the Smith Cove Trail though and got to see a change of scenery.

Made it home around 4pmish and looked like we had spent about 8 hours out all day riding.  Burned around 2507+ calories and not sure what my legs are gonna feel like tomorrow.  All in all, I’m so stoked that we got to ride Chilly Hilly for the first time–I feel like I can go up any hill now, but also feeling like I never want to ride up another hill again.  But I’m happy it was done with good company who were super encouraging and wonderful!  :)  Ready for STP 2013 though.