So you've lost a few pounds....now what?

As anyone who has lost a noticeable amount of weight can attest there comes a point where you wonder, what's next? After dropping twenty pounds I was into smaller sizes, feeling good, getting compliments (granted I was still in the 180's) all was right with the world.  Then I got lazy.  It had been a few months, I was pretty good with the diet, no more pop, was managing to go to the gym a couple times a week but really I was dialing it in, no zest, no vigor, no huts-pah!

It's hard to maintain focus on one goal for a long period of time.  It can seem daunting to have to lose another 60lbs and it was. So I slipped....for five months the scale slowly crept back up...thankfully I nipped it in the bud at 10 pounds. I was beyond frustrated with myself. 



I decided I needed a new activity, and based upon a poster at my local drinking establishment, what could be better than volleyball? Who doesn't want to see a heavily perspiring 190 pound vertically challenged individual humping it from one side of the court to the other? With the encouragement of my friend T we both signed up for recreational volleyball, how hard could it be?

Now I'm not sure what it feels like to literally be kicked in the ass for an hour but I will tell you the day after my first volleyball match I was looking for shoe prints on my shorts.  I was hooked!  I played volleyball for the next three years once or twice a week and improved enough to play on a competitive team.  I wasn't ever able to spike the ball like T but I gave it my all, and even though I wasn't ever the MVP I realized that finding an activity I loved turned it from exercise to fun.

Here's a fun site which shows calories burned by sport...and the food equivalent! FYI you'll have to bowl 3.5 hours nonstop to burn off a Big Mac. 

http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-sports-ac15