Friday, March 15, 2013

My Weight-loss Journey

I have finally started to seriously start losing weight and getting healthy.  As a little kid I was what they called a skinny minnie.  I was a picky eater who never sat still.  I can remember so many times my parents trying, begging, threatening, bargaining to try and get me to eat.  When I reached middle school I finally decided to start trying new foods and I liked it.  I started gaining weight and I got a little hefty.  I was never over weight, but I was a little bigger than I probably should've been.  I was not athletic at all, I didn't have an athletic bone in my body.  I hated any kind of physical activity because I wasn't any good at it.  When I reached high school I knew I was heavier than some of the girls, but I wasn't really worried about it.  I had my friends who liked me for me and I didn't try to change myself for anyone.  Until Prom came up.  I started trying to lose a little weight cause I wanted to look good in my prom dress.  I succeeded too! I lost a little and had a sort of flat stomach.  I kept the weight off for two years and then I got married.  In the first four years of my marriage I gained just a little weight, enough that it was starting to show.  In the fourth year I got pregnant with our first son and after that I had that "mom pooch" around my waist that never went away.  After our second son was born it got worse and I weighed the most I've ever weighed in my life.  I'm about 5'4 and I weighed 147lbs.  I was not happy with that.  For two years I would stare at my body in the mirror wishing I looked better.  I didn't like the way clothes looked on me, I didn't like how I felt about my body, and I knew there was only one way to fix it.  But for two years I kept telling myself that I didn't have time for a workout routine, that I wasn't really fat, it would go away on its own, that I couldn't do a workout, I wasn't strong enough or coordinated enough.  Then I started seeing other women my age on Facebook telling about their weightloss.  I wanted that.  I wanted to be able to post before and after pictures and say how many pounds I had lost.

I finally started one day after two years of putting it off.  I started slow.  I own Zumba Fitness 2 for Wii, and I started with that every other day.  Zumba is so much fun and burns so many calories.  After about a month of Zumba every other day I had lost two pounds.  That was good, but I wanted more.  So I borrowed the X-Factor ST workout from my sister in law, I printed out the workout calendar it provided, I stuck the Week 1 DVD in and I began.  I am in Week 6 and have lost five more pounds.  I'm down to 140 and I feel great.

It's been hard.  I've changed some of eating habits, given up a few things and replaced them with healthier choices.  I admit to that I slacked off my workout once one week and once the next week, then my mother took me to Applebees and I stuffed myself.  With the slack off and the extra food, I gained two pounds back.  But I'm working them off extra hard.

I've also started Zumba at my church once a week.  I carry my Wii and my Zumba game and I boogie with a few of my church members! That's a sight, older people doing cha-cha's and salsa!! Even my pastor, his wife and my own parents have joined in.  Everyone who has tried it has loved it.

When I get through with X-Factor in two weeks, I'm starting Les Mills Body Combat that I have ordered and is on it's way.  My husbands cousin who lives in Wisconsin is a coach for BeachBody and she convinced me to get Body Combat and we're going to go through it together.

So if you're like me, thinking you'd like to do a workout and lose weight, but you don't think you can, take it from me.  You can.  I really did not believe I had it in me to do the moves: pushups, squats, lunges, planks.  They seemed so hard and I knew I was not strong.  But I did it.  Some I have to modify so that I can get through them but that's okay.  As long as you're doing as much as you can do, you're getting a good workout.  Even though I'm doing assisted pushups on my knees, it's still a lot better than sitting on the couch watching tv, which is how I used to spend my mornings.  Sometimes during the workout I have to stop and rest, sometimes I'm going slower than the trainer.  But that's better than walking around with a box of Cheez-Its in my hand.

I wanted to share my journey with you.  It's been a little over two months so far, and I plan on it going for a very long time.  My overall goal is to lose the 'pooch' around my stomach and tone up my muscles.  I'm not concerned too much over the number I weigh.  As long as I'm fit and healthy.  I'm not looking for a body like those Hollywood skeletons, I don't want my bones showing through.  I hope my story has encouraged you to consider where you want to be and what you have to do to get there.

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