The Humble Beginnings of my Active Life

When I started my fitness journey, one of the most difficult things I had to face was becoming more active. I was pretty big, and if you know me at all, you know I'm fairly uncoordinated. Yes, I had danced for a few years, but beyond that, I didn't really do anything. Because I had been in school for 5 years, I hadn't done any activity at all. Just walking up the stairs at the University library was not fun. Running to catch the bus was awful! At this point in my life, I was also clinically depressed and on antidepressants, so my motivation to do pretty much anything was non-existent.

My other obstacle was my health. And honestly, it still can be one of my biggest obstacles. First off, I'd had asthma for years. So I was afraid to push myself too hard because I didn't want to have an asthma attack. I've only had a few really bad attacks where I truly felt like I could not breathe, and those were terrifying. I didn't want to go through that again. Luckily, these days I generally only have asthma issues when it's very muggy out or the mold has been bad outside.

Second, I have moderately bad allergies. As I said about the mold...there's also the grass, some animals, some weeds, dust, etc. Being outside in the summer generally does not go well for me. And if I do activities where I end up breathing deeply, my allergies can really get aggravated.

Third, I do suffer from endometriosis, which used to be extremely painful and would completely disrupt my life. Lots of people really discount the pain suffered by people with endometriosis as not that bad, and that we just can't handle the pain, but unless your period makes you vomit on a regular basis, you can't really understand how it feels. Related to my endometriosis, I also have IBS, and that is aggravated by my period, by certain foods (mostly dairy), and stress. I also get pretty bad headaches around the time of my period. Basically, my hormones hate me. Fun!

Those are my basic health problems, but I've also had problems with my knees, hips, back, and shoulders.

If I sound pathetic, well, just imagine how I feel sometimes! I had all these problems to overcome, and I had no idea how to begin, but I did. I've suffered from so many shin splints, breathing problems, sleepless nights, skipped workouts due to headaches and other pains...man!

One of the first things I started doing to lose weight was biking. I'd go biking with my stepdad on his runs, and he's gone on bike rides with me for the last few years, even helping me train for a couple 50km charity bike rides I've done. He has definitely been a big help during my weight loss.

One other thing I did was walking. Walking is amazing! Walking rivals running for effectiveness in training because if you're walking fast enough, your body wants to run, and to keep walking your body needs to try harder to keep itself on the ground. It's a great leg workout and can be great cardio if you walk fast enough. I also find walking very therapeutic. Whenever I've been frustrated and needed to blow off steam, I've gone for a nice long walk. So calming!

I've also done a lot of swimming (again with my stepdad, and now with my husband), some running (my shins hate it though), some bootcamp classes, ballet, and workout dvds. Most of my workout dvds are Jillian Michaels and Biggest Loser ones. I remember that after biking for a little while, I had started watching the Biggest Loser regularly, and I thought, maybe I should try a Jillian Michaels dvd...I went to the library and rented the 30 Day Shred. It's less than half an hour, and nowadays, I could probably bust it out no problem. The very first time I tried the Level One workout, I was dying! I remember doing jump rope, and my calves were ON FIRE. It was awful. But I got better, and then I did Level Two one day. And I almost puked. But between that and biking, I started really seeing results. So I kept going, and now, I workout for about 8 hours a week, and I look fantastic. Ha!

Part of the point of this post was to share what I've had to struggle through. And to share what I've done on my journey. Honestly, I've tried so many things to find something that works for me. These days, I love weight training. It has changed my body in ways I never thought possible. I will share in a later post what I do now.

The other point of doing this post is to inspire other people! Perhaps you have health problems similar to mine. Maybe some of them, like asthma, will disappear after you started working out. Or maybe you have a condition like endometriosis or IBS or anything else that you know will never go away, but will be better managed by getting in shape. The question I have for you is: why don't you do it? I've had issues piled upon issues piled upon depression and excuses...and I did it. You CAN do it. Just go for a walk. And then tomorrow, go for another walk. And another and another. And then try swimming, and biking, and anything else you want. There are no limits to what you can do for fitness, and the best kind of exercise for you is the one you love! The reason I still go for walks even now is because I LOVE to walk. It's not such a huge workout for me these days, but I still adore it. It's like my exercise soulmate. Find what you love, and overcome your problems. Work within your current limits, and soon you'll see that your limits will expand.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave them below! I love to get them!

Next time: Nutrition o.O

<3

Amanda

The Official Introduction!

So here's my official introduction about me (although you probably already know me if you're reading this) and mainly about my fitness journey.

First off, I'm 25 and I got married in October. That's pretty much it. We've got 3 cats, and my husband is in the Army and works swing shift, so I keep really weird hours because of that. I work out on the days he works, so I workout 4 days a week, and have 3 off, and try to get him to join me in doing something active on at least one of those 3 days off. If there's anything else you'd like to know about me, just ask!

As I said in my previous post, when I was in high school, I was very thin. My prom dress was a size 2, and I didn't worry about anything fitting or my weight or anything. My hormones didn't start changing my body until my second and third year of University, when I was 19-20 years old. All of a sudden, I just had these hips and butt and humongous boobs, just out of nowhere.

After that happened, I gained weight pretty rapidly, leading to some super awesome stretch marks all over my belly that I just don't like. I knew I was getting bigger, but I guess that I didn't realize how bad it was until a couple of things happened. The first was a picture a friend took of me after I was finished with my College course (I did a diploma after University) when I was 22. I had the fattest arm in that picture! It was awful! It definitely shocked me. The next thing that scared me was trying to find clothes for the summer. My size 14 was too tight, and I actually had to go into one of those special plus-size stores to try and find clothes. And the clothes were AWFUL. For some reason, designers think that larger women want to wear tents covered in flowers, and that's just not true. I ended up getting some size 16 shorts that were a little too big, which was good. But after that, I promised myself that those kinds of stores would NOT be my future. The clothing did not make me feel good, and I hated it so much.

My starting weight was 183, and I am only 5'5”. The good thing about my body is that when it carries extra weight, it spreads it out evenly, and so people were surprised that I was overweight by so much.

That summer was 2009, and I started losing weight by trying to cut back my calories and biking. I started a job in a daycare that September, and by November, I had lost 20 pounds. I was very proud of my progress, and eventually ended up losing another 20 pounds, for a total of 40 pounds.

That's pretty much my story in a nutshell. However, weight loss in not a nutshell, and there are reasons every person gains weight. I think it's very important that every person who has struggled with their weight tries to understand the reasons behind why they did/do. I have two reasons.

As you may know, I used to dance. I did Winterguard for 5 years, starting when I was 11. I danced 12 hours a week most weeks of the year, and sometimes more. And, I was young and had a crazy metabolism, so I didn't have to worry about what I ate because it didn't really matter at the time. I just burned it all off, and I was good. However, after I stopped dancing when I was 16, I kept eating like crap, and that continued into University, when I became even more sedentary, and so on until I was overweight.

My second reason is a little more personal. In the past I've struggled with depression and very low self-esteem. When I was young, I had very few friends, and to be honest, I was a troubled child. As I grew up, I was just awkward, and was slightly bullied at times. I didn't really like myself, and I just had issues, and the people around me weren't very helpful in my growth as a person. I fully believe that the main reason I am currently so successful at being healthy and getting stronger and more fit is because of the love and support of my husband and the healthy emotional environment we have created in our relationship. He is a strong rock for me, and I thank God for him all the time. Because of his presence in my life, I have blossomed, and I am grateful to him for everything he does to help me.

So that's my story! And if you care to share about your weight struggles, I'd love to hear it. When did you realize you had a problem, and what do you think are the causes of it? And what has helped you be strong enough to find the courage to be healthy? You can share here on my blog in the comments and you can do it completely anonymously. Or if we're friends on Facebook, you can message me.

Lots of people have asked me questions about what I've done to lose weight and get healthy, and if you'd like to know, then stay tuned! It'll be an upcoming post.

<3

Amanda