Baby Steps

JHaakinson

Ok, so I've been lurking these posts and groups for a couple of weeks now and love seeing how far everyone has come. I love that I know the people on here are real people like me trying to live a healthier lifestyle and everyone's stories, no matter how little the progress may seem is helping motivate me to keep going. I started at what I would say is the heaviest I have ever been at 227 at 5'7 and I think I was somewhat in denial of how big I really was until I bought a digital scale and saw that number staring back at me. I think that was the moment that made me realize I need to make changes, with a three year old son and a family history of heart disease I realized that change is no longer an option, it's mandatory.

I started the beginning of May with MFP limiting my calories intake and really paying attention to what I have been eating, which has helped tremendously as I am already down around 20 pounds, although, I'm trying not to focus so much on the scale. My first big victory I would say was yesterday when someone I work with who didn't know I was trying to make changes actually noticed I had lost weight and it felt nice to have some recognition other than my husband and friends who know.

Now that I feel like I have the food portion under control, I took the next step this week and joined the gym. I went for the first time yesterday and did 30 minutes of brisk walking on the treadmill and then kept eyeing all the weight machines in the room. From a lot of the posts I've ready on here, everyone says cardio is important for losing weight but the weights make a huge difference especially once the weight starts coming off, but I don't know a thing about using weight machines or good free weight exercises. I'm not a huge people person and can tend to be on the shy side but decided to talk to the owner of the gym and he is going to help me get into a circuit program with the treadmill and weights starting today and will help me push through and teach me what to do phase by phase. I do have to say I am fortunate to have a job that offers a discount for gym memberships in town and even more fortunate and glad with myself that I joined the smaller of the two gyms where I can get one-on-one help.

These are my baby steps and I am slowly getting there; I have accepted that the weight didn't get put on overnight and it is going to take more than a day for it to come off and I think this has made a huge difference. My long term goals include getting down to 153 which will put me in a healthy BMI range and maybe one day even down to 130. I know it won't happen this season, but next summer I would like to be able to wear some type of two piece and not just a tankini with a pair of shorts...I want to be able to show a little more skin with pride! I know these goals are a long way off but working towards the ultimate end product is what I'm going for and I have confidence I can do it!

fablevins

Great job!

BreytonJay

AWESOME! Really great job on having the courage to talk to the gym owner!

astronomicals