Getting Started

Getting Started...

I have had many people contact me seeking information about how I have found the motivation to get active, lose weight and keep at it.  Enough friends were seeking help that I thought a blog about my experiences would be the most efficient way to share what has worked for me.  I know NOTHING about blogs, other than having read a few, so this is going to be a real learning experience for me to get this thing started.  On the subject of getting started, I will share where it all began for me.

First a disclaimer:  The only experience that I have is my own.  I am not a weight loss professional, a fitness guru or a nutritionist.  I have fumbled my way through this journey seeking things that might work for me; clinging to what does work and casting aside the rest. Weight loss and physical fitness are simple concepts on their own but a completely different matter when applying them to your own situation (or so I have found).  Please view this information as simply things that have worked for me and not any sort of gospel or guarantee.  

Believe it or not, I was a skinny kid.  That is, until puberty hit.  As if junior high wasn't horrible enough, I also had the joy of packing on pounds.  It boiled down to never establishing healthy eating habits and no longer having the time (thanks to homework and activities) to play outside constantly.  This was also the beginning of really screwy emotional stuff.  Fast forward through the trauma of high school (more pounds, worse eating habits and even less exercise!).  Add in some truly horrible personal loss in college, a complete lack of skills and no family support for dealing with any of it, and it equaled a lot of weight.  While the simple answer is too much crappy food and not enough exercise, anyone who has dealt with obesity knows that it's just not that simple.  I have found that dealing with what goes on in my head has been a much larger key to success than any eating plan or fitness regime.  I like to say that losing the weight has just been a perk of finally finding myself.

Unfortunately, for those seeking the magic answer for how to get started, I don't have it.  It is necessary to just jump in feet first totally committed to making the change for yourself.  No looking back.  You really do have to decide that you are worth it.  Yes, you do it for your kids.  Yes, you do it for your spouse/partner.  Yes, you do it to make your parents proud.  What ever it takes to get started.  But at the end of the day, it has to be for you because you are tying the tennis shoes at 5 am when it's twenty degrees out.  You will have the sore muscles.  You will probably, at some point, have to pass on some foods you love.  But they will see all that you are doing to make your life better and they will also grow from it.  For me that meant acknowledging that whether or not I felt my family could afford the monthly fee for Weight Watchers, I could no longer afford to continue down the path that I was on.  There was no "aha" moment.  Several pieces of the puzzle fell into place that made it possible for me to take the first step down this most important path:  Though it didn't feel like a positive step at the time, I was able to eliminate some key toxic people from my life.  And my family moved to a new city for a fresh start.  Keep in mind that these key events happened over a period of about three years.  After we moved, I spent about six months driving past the Weight Watchers store longing to go in but not having the courage to do it.  After all, I'm a stay at home mom and my husband is a teacher.  We definitely don't have any extra money for something as dumb and selfish as that!  The funny thing is, I found that after several months, we DID have the money and it wasn't a stretch to come up with it every month.  It took some work to convince myself that it is not selfish to commit resources to making myself healthy.

Since everyone seems to love excuses for explaining why they don't exercise, I am going to keep a list of the best ones and why they shouldn't stand between you and what you really want.

Excuse #1:  I can't afford a gym membership.  To date, I have lost 53 lbs.  I have NEVER set foot in a gym.  Walking (and running) is free.  Exercise videos from the library are free.  I have seldom seen a yard sale that didn't include some kind of fitness equipment at a very reasonable price.  We all know people who have treadmills or ellipticals with clothes hanging on them.  Also try Freecycle for items in your area that people are giving away and Craigslist for great deals on used equipment.  Of course, you should always play it safe when meeting strangers on these sites.