About a month ago I came across these pictures from my honeymoon, and I thought to myself … “Oh my word, when did I put on so much weight?”
Almost 9 years ago, Ron and I were sitting on a beautiful beach in Punta Cana and I actually thought I was fat then and was very self conscious about how I looked. A lot happened since 2009. We lost a baby, I gave birth to 4 kids in 4 years, and just haven’t taken care of myself the way I should.
The thing is, I’m tired of being overweight but 95% of the time I am also just too tired to add one more thing to my endless to-do list. I made excuses as to why I bought the junk food that I bought, and listed all the reasons why it was too hard to get to the gym. But for some reason, when I came across these pictures last month I decided enough was enough.
Since August 6th, I have been at the YMCA 6 days a week. I have hurt muscles I didn’t even know I had. There were mornings I didn’t know how I was going to get out of bed. And you know what? I haven’t lost a single pound and I’m OK with that. I’m OK with that because I know I have showed up every day. I know I have worked harder than I have ever worked before, and I know I am making healthier eating choices
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See for me, non scale victories are just as important. Yesterday, I was out in my backyard and there was a HUGE pokeweed tree. Four out of the five roots I pulled out were bigger than my head. A month ago, I would have given up because it was too hard and I wasn’t strong enough.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have wanted to quit and give up. Every time I get on the stair stepper I want to cry. Every time I do something I don’t want to do or something that is difficult I tell myself, “I can do anything for 10 minutes”, and every day I either add more time or more weight depending on what I’m doing.
So here are some tips I wanted to share for what has worked for me
- Don’t look at other people. You don’t know their story or how long they have been working out. Don’t compare yourself!
- Bring headphones. There are too many distractions, the less you hear and pay attention to the more you can work on yourself.
- Workout with a friend- I have a friend who I workout with and she pushes me to workout harder and she doesn’t let me cheat. Find a friend who will push you to your limits but also celebrates your small victories with you.
- Remember that slow progress is better than no progress! Rome wasn’t built in a day and we aren’t instantly going to change overnight.
- Try new things. I used to LOVE cardio! Now that I know how to use the machines,I would do free weight and machines all day every day.
- Take a class, and if you mess up, get back up and try again.
- Use something to track your exercise. I use my Apple Watch, and I love being able to look at my progress each day.
Whether you are trying to lose weight or just have a healthier lifestyle, don’t give up! You may not see results in a week, or even in a month, but you will feel different.
I had to decide that this was something I wanted to do for me, because I was sick of feeling tired and miserable all the time. No one else could make me see that. But now that I’ve been going 6 days a week for a month, I feel significantly better than I did before.
Take it one day at a time. One workout at a time. Even if you can’t physically see results, every workout you do is changing your body. Don’t give up!
