Fitness Journey

Update:  October 6, 2016

I have not updated this in a while.  I find myself starting over again.  Last year,  had dropped down from 190 to 165!  With that weight loss came fertility.  I became pregnant in September of 2015 and had a beautiful little girl this past June.  I found myself over 200 pounds during pregnancy.  Only to be at about 190 again after having the baby.  In the past few months, I have lost only 10 pounds and need to start losing weight all over again.  

May 19, 2015

I have been overweight a lot of my life. Aside from playing sports my freshman year of High School, I have never been very active.  One of the main contributors to gaining weight has been Poly-Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).  I was diagnosed in my early teens.  The thing about PCOS is that it causes you to gain weight and makes it difficult to lose, however losing weight could greatly improve your symptoms.  So finding balance is a struggle. 

I won’t blame my weight gain on PCOS alone.  I love food!   I have never had any restrictions on what I ate.  I was never taught how to eat in a way to simply sustain my body.  My favorite foods have always been pastas, breads, and good ole soul food. 

I never exercised.  In fact, I have always called exercise “the E word.”  As a teen, mentioning exercise was like saying a cuss word to me.  I despised it!  I hated it.  BUT because the weight had not caught up with me yet, it did not seem like a big deal.

The weight didn’t really start catching up with me until my late teens/early twenties.  I didn’t realize it as a problem at the time because it was all proportionate.  I didn’t think I was fat.  I was just ‘thick.” It looked good, so I didn’t see a problem and never made any changes to ensure that it didn’t become a problem.  

Throughout my twenties, my weight would go up and down a lot.  I tried various fad diets, to no avail.  Again, I didn’t make it a habit to add fitness to my routine because it wasn’t a big problem

At the age of 32, I topped at my max weight of 190 lbs.  It was not the cute “thick” weight that I was carrying in my early twenties.  To me, I started to see FAT on my 5 foot, 2.5 inch frame! 

On 3/6/15, I made a decision to see a weight loss doctor.  He basically told me that at the bare minimum, I needed to lose 40 pounds.  That was the only way, in which my body would be in a place where health risks would diminish and the weight wouldn’t come right back.  He told me that whatever I do, do NOT stop until I reach that 40 pound loss.  If I do stop before that point, I will put the weight back on almost instantly.  Losing more than 40 pounds would be ideal, but 40 is bare minimum.  That day, I made a decision that I needed to be serious about getting fit. I started counting my calories from that moment. 

About a month later, I found a book called Skinny School.  This book has changed my life!  First, I learned that it is okay to make fitness one of your major life goals.  It is also important that you treat it as a major life goal.  That means working it hard until you reach your ideal.  Failing is a part of being a champion.  It teaches you where you are weak so that you know where to spend more time growing.  One of the main concepts of this book is to get rid of sugar and simple carbs. I will post a review of this book very soon. 

To date, (5/19/15) I have gotten rid of 15 pounds since that appointment on March 6.  I am very proud of myself and will continue to drop pounds until I reach my goal.  I use terms like “get rid of” or “drop pounds” because I have learned how the mind works.  When you lose something, your subconscious sees it as something that you want to find.  I never want to find these pounds again.  I am purposely destroying them!  

To see some of the products and equipment that  I am trying or using,click here.