In Fitness and in Health by Jesse Velazquez

My name is Jesse Velázquez and my story shows all the struggles I’ve had trying to lose weight. All I can say is that I’ve been there and I’ve tried different ways to stay fit. It is not easy but it can be done.

All my life I was always skinny. It wasn’t until I got married and had a baby that I started to gain weight. I spent the next three years overweight and depressed. I hated the way I looked and the way I felt.

In my mind, everyone around me seemed smaller and fit. I was living like a couch potato not realizing the lifestyle I was being dragged into. “Insecure” is the best word to describe how I felt during that time. My daily routine was getting up early and barely eating anything, mostly junk foods.

I spent nights crying because of the way I looked. I didn’t want to go shopping for clothes because I would get depressed. The worst part was that I knew what it was like to be skinny and addicted to the gym. And I was so far from it. Getting older and having a family doesn’t mean that you are supposed to get unhealthy and stop thinking about yourself.

I had to make my health a priority. Not being able to look at myself in pictures and not liking what I saw was my turning point. In June of 2008, I decided to change my life. Not only did I want to fit in my old jeans, but I wanted a healthier lifestyle.

My aunt had the same struggles and achieved her weight loss goals. She gave me the tools to start my own path. It was up to me to follow in her steps. So I began this journey without any regrets. I knew it was the right thing to do.

First of all, I needed to concentrate on my goal. I set a date, kept a journal, and did research on nutrition and fitness. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I still took the risk. It was all worth it. It was hard at first to take my body out of a sedentary routine and force it to work out. I had to learn first how to distinguish between what was healthy and what was junk food. My main objective was to replace foods with healthy ones. I started by taking all the junk food out of the kitchen and bought healthy, nutritious foods. I followed a very basic eating plan. I kept an eye on the nutritional facts on everything. I didn’t deprive myself of food. I replaced them with nutritious ones. I had five to six meals day, small portions with snacks in between. I also forced myself to eat more vegetables and fruits. I also had plenty of water during the day and always allowed myself one cheat meal every week. I was always making sure I ate all my portions and keep up with my exercise plan.

For me it was very important not skip meals, and if I didn’t feel that hungry, I ate something light. This helped me avoid sugar and late night cravings. I also learned that breakfast it’s the most important meal of the day. It will give you energy and make you feel full.

Another thing that helped me was looking at old pictures of me when I used to be fit and imagined myself fitting again in those clothes. I took a lot of before pictures and after pictures to see my progress each month. That alone kept me going. During this journey I completely submitted myself to achieving my weight loss goal.

My routine included lots of cardio and weights. I remember going to the park and not even knowing if I could run. When I tried it felt like I was carrying shopping bags in my hands. That didn’t stop me. It took a while for my body to get used to that kind of change. After seeing results in the following weeks I got motivated to keep going! There’s no better reward than knowing that all your hard work is paying off.
First I started walking for half an hour. Then after the weeks passed I moved up to jogging and walking for 30 or 40 minutes. This routine was done five days a week with two days of rest. If there was a day that I couldn’t go to the park, I would follow kickboxing videos. Besides cardio, my other plan of attack was my weight routine. I did weight training three days a week.When I hit a plateau, I start to mix up my cardio workouts. From circuit trainings, boxing workouts, kickboxing and strength training. That’s when I start seeing results again.

It took me five months to achieve my weight loss success. I realized that this is not just a diet. This is a healthy lifestyle. I’m inspired to help other achieve their goals too. Now, I found myself inspiring others.