My lovely sister-in-law, who is a dear friend and fellow
Beachbody Coach, dedicated her Transformation Tuesday post to me today. I’ve been struggling a bit lately, what with
trying to nail down a new routine due to my new job, etc. so her post gave me
some nice perspective. The picture on
the left was taken on a trip to New York and New Jersey. I was already 6 months into my fitness
journey by that point but you might not have noticed much change yet if you saw
me every day. I remember it being so hot
that morning but my husband and I got up early, before it got too excruciating,
and took a run in the industrial park behind our hotel. Then we walked around New York city for a few
hours. (Boy do I wish I’d had my Fitbit
then!) It was a long and tiring day and
I think we even went swimming that night.
That’s a lot of activity for a person that size, even one who was
working out regularly. It’s tough to
look at my face sometimes in these older pictures but, in retrospect, I’m proud
of that day. It kept me on the path that
lead me to where I am today. I’ve gotten
out of the habit of running (temporarily) but looking at where I am now
compared to where I was then, I can imagine how much less taxing that kind of
day would be on me now, or that I could run farther and walk longer, and really
make the most out of the limited time we had in the city.
Speaking of walking, I went for a little spin on my lunch
break this afternoon. I wore a dress to work today,
something I did rarely in the past. This
was mostly because it was uncomfortable for me to wear dresses or skirts unless
I had pantyhose or shorts on underneath to combat my thighs rubbing together and
getting chafed. This is not an
unexpected consequence when you’re an overweight woman but it’s not one that is
easy to admit. As my legs have gotten
more toned due to my workouts I’ve noticed this is not really an issue
anymore. I don’t have that thigh gap so
many covet, and I may never, but I can wear a dress with no hose or shorts on
underneath and survive the day. Such a
small thing but just one of the many benefits of making my health a priority.
I guess the bottom line of this post is that I understand
what it’s like to be really overweight.
I get how you hate yourself but you keep eating anyway. I get that you think there’s no hope for you
or that diets won’t work or that you’re not physically able to exercise the way
you think you should to lose weight. And
to be honest, there was no real rock bottom for me. I sailed past that number on the scale I
thought I’d never ever see and that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make a change but it was tough. I’m the kind of person who thinks and thinks
and thinks about something for a long time but when I finally make a decision I
act on it as soon as possible.
There were two things that were turning points for me. I can’t remember exactly how the timing went
but I think they happened at approximately the same time (say within a month or
so of each other). I had been a sort of
going to the gym kind of person but had kind of fallen off the wagon after my
wedding. (That happiness weight, ya
know? ;) A coworker mentioned to me
about this boot camp competition that was starting in a few weeks. I’ve never told her this because in the end I
was so appreciative of her telling me about the program but I remember first
thinking something on the order of “WTF?
Is she only telling me this because I’m fat?” And then I thought, “Well, wake up sister,
you are fat. Almost the heaviest you’ve
ever been in your life.” So I did my
thinking routine. I thought about how it
might be embarrassing to do these workouts in front of other people and all
that but then it finally occurred to me that I really had nothing to lose (so
to speak.) I could try this program for
8 weeks and if I lost 5lbs then I lost 5lbs.
And maybe, if I stuck to it, it would make an even bigger
difference. Which is exactly what
happened. I went to all 24 sessions and I
lost over 18lbs. You always hope for
more but that really was enough to start me on my way. I realized that working out actually made me
feel better. And not missing any
sessions told me I had the drive and the endurance to do what needed to be
done. (My page is called Persistent
Fitness for a reason. Even if it’s 20
months later and I’m still working on my goals...It’s a long journey but so is life.)
The second thing was running. I had heard a lot about couch to 5k programs
and wanted to begin training for one.
The first step of that process for my husband and I was walking. It’s such a simple but such a beneficial
thing to do. If you do nothing else but
go on a brisk walk every day you will see your health start to improve. Unfortunately for my husband’s sake, I had
this hair brained idea in winter. I
distinctly remember those tentative first jogs we went on. Wearing all these layers and dodging ice in
the street and on the sidewalk in our neighborhood. It’s a miracle neither of us hurt ourselves
and I’m so thankful my husband loves me as much as he does and agreed to go
with me because those runs were another stepping stone to me regaining my
health. I remember when the prospect of
running for 10 minutes seemed so daunting.
Then 10 minutes was barely enough of a run. That’s the wonderful thing about
running. Your progress is evident every time
you do it. But like I keep saying, it
all takes that first step.
If you or someone you know is overweight then please reach
out to me or send them my way. I
understand the difficulties but I’m also proof that you can overcome them. All you have to do is try.
Fill out my online form.
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