I was never much of an athlete either.. I liked to play sports, but I was never good enough to play on an actual team. I was a big kid (when I was a toddler I looked like the Michelin Tire Man lol).. then I kindof stopped growing around 6
I was always into fitness however, in one way or another.. in grade school I tried getting up extra early to "Mousercise" hee, did it sometimes, other times I just had to go back to sleep
In middle school I had a real rough time, I was very chubby and extrememly unattractive.. err.. you know the phase..
I hated everything about the way I looked and my shape and extra weight. I used to do a lot of pushups and whatnot (to control my anger) and then in 6th grade I joined cross-country (HATED IT) --BUT, they made me run like 5 miles after school every day (I walked most of it) and I shed the weight like what..
In (early) high school I was very tiny. I would get up early every morning to watch ESPN (back before they had FitTV they had workout shows on there form like 5AM til noon). I liked watching "Perfect Parts", "Co-Ed Training", "BodyShaping" and "Kianna's Flex Appeal".
Although all I had was like two sets of dumbells, I learned a lot form those shows and I tried best I could (I would also spend just as much time sitting and WATCHING them as I did DOING them lol)..
I remember I wanted desperatly to look like Kianna, but what threw me off was the fact that I actually had to START somewhere's and work at it for like 8 months to get the muscles I wanted. 8 MONTHS?? Are you CRAZY ?!?!? So 8 months later I look the same and I could have just bit the bullet and DID it and have what I wanted.. Oh well.
After HS my compulsive eating disorder (that actualy first started to surface at the onset of puberty) starting 'acting up' and I slowly started gaining weight. I joined a gym for a year but lost interest. I moved to Florida and gained even more. I busted several of my favourite jeans (had only a couple pair I could still fit into).. and when you can't even afford to pay your electric bill you certainly aren't thinking about buying bigger jeans lol!
I moved back up north and in with my BF and said I was determined to lose the weight. He used to be a perosnal trainer and he's so skinny he almost looks anorexic due to low body fat (lol) so he knew a lot more about it than I did.
I joined his gym. I went 6 days a week and did 50 minutes (split up) of cardio with an hour to hour and half of weights. I couldn't figre out why after three months I hadn't lost any weight. I finally had my reality checked and realized that I was still eating waaaay too much (but at least I had stopped GAINING).
BF would pick on me and make fat jokes, and it only made me angry and pissed.. So I pushed harder and harder through it until I started losing 1.5 lbs per week. My diet was *very* strick and I didn't eat anything fried til the weight was gone.. no cheat days or nothin. I always did weights, but focused on losing the weight first before eventually moving into heavy training.
After I lost the weight I was already hooked and into the "change of life".. now for the mumbling and carrying on..
I realize (after having been a person that overate processed foods til I was sick my whole life) how much of a "change of life" it really IS to put your health first.. I hear people (like Dr.Phil and health professionals etc) use the phrase and it really is true. You can think about losing weight "for your health" or "for your kids" or whatever, but most everyone Ive ver known had to have a "moment", or a "revelation" that made them forever change their view on the matter entirely.
For my BF it was his father having a triple heart bypass at 60. For me it was realizing that I was being controlled by food. Im about the strongest female I know in every way, and the thought of being controlled and miserable from and INANIMATE OBJECT just threw me for a loop.. and that was my real turning point..
That and I realized that I look way too good at a healthy weight to "let myself go". I didn't want to be "one of those people" that thought being fat or overweight was somehting that happens "when you have kids" or "once you reach 30" or whatever other stupid excuse.
People used to tell me all the time when I was in HS (and very tiny) that I would be real fat someday if I kept eating the way I was (think three slices of cheesecake day, velveta, alfredo and everything bad you can possibly imagine).. I said "well when the day comes that I can't do it anymore Ill stop"-- and I did
it was simple. I had to a gain a few pounds, but that was it. Im not a slow learner and didn't need to be as big as the other women in my family to realize it was getitng out of hand.
AND I didn't want to look like my mother! Knowing what my genetics carry for me I knew what would happen to me (no, I never once thought that I was thin and could do what ever I wanted and that 'it would never happen to me').
So anyway that's my story.. if anyone made it through it hehe.. but I am forever changed and have been seriously considering getting into fitness training to help others find that "revelation" to change their own lives.
I know its hard when you don't know what you're doing and just having someone else tell you what exercises to do, how many sets, how many days etc can make a HUGE difference than going into the gym having NO clue what you want to do, what will work and how long to do it for
