While I can’t say that fitness is my passion, I can admit that I spend much of my time thinking about it.
Growing up, I was athletic and naturally skinny, to the point of being marginally underweight. I did all the sports and all the food. Stress was a constant in my life, and I liked to react with a comfort meal—a trait that I did not give up easily over the years, even when my lifestyle became more sedentary. One thing has remained the same: I do not like to exercise. I’m not a fitspo account or an endorphin junkie. I’m a girl who prefers to be tricked into burning calories—i.e. a group sport—and has the hardest time overcoming that hurdle.
College came and went, and during that time of incredible change, hardship, and growth, my body gained about 20 pounds in four years, mostly concentrated in the middle two. I can credit this to regular drinking, food consumption that abused my metabolism, and a lack of exercise: I moved from class to work to the train, and that was about it.
While I gained weight appropriate for a woman transitioning out of adolescence, I also began to struggle with the realities of extra weight on a body that isn’t designed to hold it. A few spots of cellulite and stretch marks, pants that don’t slide easily on and off hips, and a face rounder than the one I’d grown to appreciate.
In adulthood
When I got engaged, my primary goal was to look great on my wedding day.
Spoiler: I did.
And while I looked fabulous and chic and curvy, my body wasn’t meeting my expectations. I’d been exercising for months and not getting where I wanted.
I did, however, start a journey of happiness and healthiness. After the wedding is when I was really able to commit to new programs and start spending more time on myself, rather than on planning our nuptials. I’ve spent nearly every month since October exercising around 5 days a week and making physical activity a regular part of my routine.
I am still getting there. I struggle with finishing programs and sticking to meal plans and, if I’m being honest, I also have issues with giving 100 percent to every workout I try. But amid all of my setbacks and plateaus and roadblocks—external and internal—I’m here, trying to make corrections and be better than the day before.
This is my fitness journey. Thank you for reading and joining.
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