My Fitness Journey: How I rediscovered my love for working out

Today in America there are so many people trying to lose weight that the diet industry is BOOMING!
Eat this and you’ll lose weight. Do this for a day and you’ll lose 20 pounds. Take this pill so you won’t eat as much. Blah. Blah. Blah!

I, for one, never bought into any of the lose weight quick schemes. I’ve always been the “if you want it, you gotta work for it” type of gal. So when I finally decided to stop making excuses I made something happen. No I didn’t head to the nearest store and pick up one of the numerous amounts of weight loss supplements that there are. I started light so not as to burn myself out as I have a few times trying to find my rythym the past year.
What I mean by starting light is that I didn’t get myself all pumped and decide to wake up the next morning removing everything bad from my diet and knocking out 40 minute workouts. Not gonna happen! You do that for about two or three days and you’ll likely cave and go back to your bad habits. I’ve learned it’s much easier to start by taking baby steps in the right direction. I set two small goals to start with in the kitchen. (Secret: fitness isn’t just a good workout plan, but a healthy meal plan to go along with it.)

So, I have a huge knack for desserts. I love sweet treats! Surprisingly, during my pregnancy I didn’t want sugar AT ALL but a few months after I had my son my sweet tooth came back strong as ever! I found myself baking and making sweet treats all the time and although I knew it wasn’t healthy I did it anyway. So my first goal was to remove all of the sugary foods from my diet. I’ve looked into finding healthier sweet treats to replace the sugary ones I’ve been eating, so I’ll have an apple or baked pears instead of that piece of pie or cake… My second goal is to stop eating after 8pm. I am horrible about this! It’s like I don’t get to eat much during the day because I’m chasing around my son all day who just recently gave up crawling for walking so by the time he’s asleep I’m ready to get all the foods I don’t get to enjoy when he’s awake. A horrible habit. So if I do happen to eat after 8 I make it something light and healthy.

Then I set a goal for my workouts. I simply wanted to workout 3 days a week for 20-30 minutes each. Some days I came up short and only made it about 15 minutes before my duties of motherhood were called. But I didn’t get down on myself or feel bad (okay, some days I may have thrown a small pity party). I accepted what I did and knew that it was better than nothing. As far as my workout goes, it’s just a mix of HIIT and yoga. I do whatever feels right that day.
A couple days ago I decided to go for a run at the park to see where I was at with my cardio. Me. The girl who hates running! Although I did have to stop 4 times to walk (not a surprise) I ran my mile in 13 minutes! That’s much less than the 15-20 minutes I expected it to take… Needless to say I was super proud of myself. I hadn’t run like that since high school because once I got to college I always used the elliptical. I had actually only ran outside a couple times before the other day and this trail isn’t just a simple flat trail. So… YAY ME!! That next day I could feel it in my legs and butt and it was the greatest feeling! It was a feeling that I had once adored. And that was it; I was hooked! I’ve found my groove. My rythym.

Oh! I also downloaded a couple apps on my phone to help me track my exercise and food intake. Of all of the apps I’ve tried I always love MyFitnessPal and Runkeeper. I also plan to take my measurements and check in with my weight and measurements every once in a while because I know if I do too frequently and don’t see results I’ll get frustrated with myself. So I’m going by how I feel and I feel great. I can already feel my confidence boosting which is what I need. So, there are no excuses for why you can’t do something. Just get out there and do it, even if you sick at it. Find your groove.

Don’t forget to stay hydrated, especially when exercising in the heat!