About this site
This blog is a collection of articles, updates and musings about my efforts to keep my body, mind and spirit healthy.
About the quote
The quote from George Sheehan in the header reflects a lot of how I feel about health and fitness. I consider my own efforts toward improving my health to be experiments, from which I try to learn and improve my efforts.
About me
My name is Anastasia Cheetham. Until early 2017, I was an engineer working with the Inclusive Design Research Centre in Toronto. I am now semi-retired. I spend much of my time turning wood.
While I have no actual training in exercise or nutrition (save basic university-level introductory anatomy and physiology), I am very interested in the topics, and I’ve tried to educate myself through reading, research, experience, etc. I think I’ve learned a few things:
About ten years ago (when I was in my early thirties), I was very overweight: 5’8″, 200lbs and about 42% body fat. I wasn’t always fat – it was something that came on gradually. I think it started when I was in grad school trying to write my thesis. Weight gain can be insidious; it happens so slowly that it’s easy to turn a blind eye. You get used to what you see in the mirror, so you don’t notice how it’s changing.
Luckily, I did eventually notice, and even more luckily, I managed to do something about it: I lost 40 pounds – of fat. It took time, and it took work, but I did it: I lifted weights and tracked everything I ate, and the fat came off. And I’ve kept it off ever since.
It was a slow process: It took roughly a year to lose 40 lbs. That’s less than a pound a week. But I think that when you’re making what you want to be a permanent change, quick-and-dirty is not going to cut it.
So, while I may not be trained in any health or exercise sciences, I think I’ve passed the proficiency exam.
About the picture
The picture in the header is of the first floor of my house, circa January, 2010. At the time of the picture, my partner and I were deep in the throes of a full tear-down-and-rebuild renovation. For me, the picture (like the quote) captures some of what I feel about health and fitness: We are all under construction our whole lives. We remain a work in progress, and I think that if we can remember that, it can change our approach to life.