Day Seventeen

I've been wanting to write about this for a while.

The Conservators' Center is great for animal care, sure. But did you know it's good for people too?

I present to you: The Conservators' Center Diet Plan

Also known as: Good Old Hard Labor

Just kidding. Kinda.

So. Not gonna lie. I packed on the pounds in college. At one point, I was 22 pounds heavier than what I weighed in high school. Doesn't sound like a big deal until you think about the fact that I'm not even 5'0". I remember having nightmares about gaining more weight. When you're shorter, the more weight you gain/lose, the more obvious it is. There's less places to store the fat. ;)

Anyway. So I've been slowly working on losing the weight. I'm not there yet, but I'm already down a couple of sizes. Probably gonna stay that way since I do squats and they add, as they say,"junk to the trunk." Last summer put me on track for a healthy lifestyle. I went to the gym almost daily, and was up to doing ten miles a day on the elliptical (I know, I know... I didn't have much to do aside from work and my one class. Watching movies at the gym probably helped with the mileage). However, when school started, I dropped off the gym dramatically. I'd go every couple of days but I was unmotivated. I was stressed out. By mid-winter I was only going once in a while.

While I lived in an apartment with roommates, I was insanely busy my senior year (I had probably five different jobs, plus a sorority plus research plus... plus.. plus... the list goes on) so I pretty much ate on campus all the time. Surprisingly the weight stayed off!

At my graduation dinner with family, I ate. A lot. Not joking. I had steak and gnocchi and artichoke fritters and bruschetta (plus a margarita. I couldn't resist). I told my mom that it was my cheat day. I "started" my diet the next day. I ate right - lots of fruits.

Then the internship started.

And here we are.

Five full weeks of hard work, and while I don't look like a supermodel (I never will), I feel a lot more confident and feel better about myself. There is a huge full-length mirror in the bathroom at the Center. I used to hate looking at myself in it, but I caught a glimpse the other day and I actually looked... okay.

The keepers all look great. They're not rail-thin but they have definition and muscle tone. They look... healthy.

You know what it takes? Take one part working outdoors, one part scheduled activities, one part the heat (I hate eating in the summer. It's way too hot), one part water, and one part of squick.

Squick, you ask. Well, it's anything disgusting. For me it's a freshly dead goat that is still warm inside. Accidentally getting animal fat on my pants. Having to pull an egg out of a dead chicken.

Funny. Not too much phases me anymore. Even taking eggs out of chickens is fun now.

Anyway. While I don't have rock-hard abs (they're there. Just under a layer of fat for protection, ya know), I'm building definition especially in my upper arms and shoulders.

Mindy Stinner, one of the co-founders of the Conservators' Center, put it this way about Shannon, one of the keepers: "Look at Shannon. She's a model with real shoulders."

And it's true. Stay at the Center long enough, and you get in shape. You sweat off the weight or work it off somehow, and have fun doing it!

As Arielle (an intern) puts it: bear mode, everyone!