Hi! My name is Laura and I live in Alaska. But I guess my log in name gives that away. 

I’m 35 and I’m an office worker.  I grew up in Anchorage but now I live in Juneau. Juneau is a small town, right on the ocean and there is lots of hiking and sailing in the summer. And lots of rain in the winter. But overall it’s a place that is much easier to be active than Anchorage.

I found Motivation to Move last July, right around the third episode. I was getting bored with the music I had and books on tape can be expensive. Then I read an article about pod casts. They sounded great – mostly free and since they are voice and not music, I knew I would stay entertained on the hiking trail. Now that it’s winter I usually listen to MtoM at night, as I’m getting ready to fall asleep, but in just a couple of months Scott gets to go with me out on the trails again.

My whole adult life, since I put on that sophomore 15, I’ve been about 20 to 30 lbs overweight. Not enough to be considered fat by most people, but enough that it affected my self-esteem. Really though, considering I come from a family where my grandparents and three of their four kids were more than 100 lbs overweight, I was doing pretty good.

Then about three and a half years ago I went on some medication that caused me to gain 30 lbs in a year. Yuck. It made me ravenous all the time. After I went off the medication and moved to Juneau where I became more active, I lost the weight in about a year. I didn’t even diet, just moved more and ate normally.

Now I’ve been where I am for about a year. Certainly getting up as high as I did helped me to see my current weight in perspective – I look pretty good. But losing that 30 lbs gave me the desire to lose the rest of the extra weight I have. And even more important, I want to increase my athletic ability.  There’s fun outdoor stuff to do here that requires being in really good shape if you want to really enjoy it.

Right now my focus is more on ramping up my physical ability and muscle mass. I’m shooting for working out six hours a week, including fun stuff like skating and swimming. Then later this spring I may go for a couple of weeks of really focused eating to drop some extra fat. I’ve just found for me that when I’m hungry and my blood sugar is low, the last thing I want to do is work out. So that’s why I’m working on the activity habit first.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you better and being part of a Motivated support network.

Hey Laura-

Thanks for painting such a wonderful picture of your life and where you’re heading.  There’s just something about that “Alaska” thing
that keeps us wanting to know more.

Nice to meet you Laura. Feel free to talk, and we’ll talk back. Best of luck doing your six hours a week. Keep us posted.

Alaska - what a wild playground that could be for someone that’s motivated to stay in motion. What sort of things keep you occupied in the winter months? Is the snow boarding & skiing good? Snow shoe-ing? I would love to visit your great state someday.

Actually, staying busy in the winter is something I have a little trouble with.  I have done a little cross country skiing, but where I live we get more rain than snow. I have been skating a couple of times a month, but mostly I’ve switched to more indoor activities lately (swimming, dvds). But… as the days get longer I can start hitting the hiking trails after work instead of just on the weekends that it doesn’t pour.

But you’re right - for those that like to ski or snowboard, especially those further north, it can be really great outside in the winter. Plus a lot of people here are on hockey league, but 10 pm games are just too late for me.