Anyone go from lazy - fitness freak? Share stories here!!

Ummm......ME! I love anything fitness that makes me sweat and burn!

Yes. I used to be a total couch potato, hating sports and exercise with a passion, except for the occasional hike. Wanna know what changed? Four years ago, I bought a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog puppy. Since then, my whole personality changed drastically - it's as if I finally found the nerve and courage to become someone I've always wanted to be, but didn't know how. I've always liked dogs, but to this day, I don't really know why I chose to adopt one, of such an extremely difficult breed no less, at that time of my life. All I knew was that I was 19, first year in college, and depressed beyond anything I'd ever experienced. I just needed... something radical.
Ysanne the wolfdog changed my life. I really got into dogs and training, researched everything so that I could care for my new best friend properly, and since many people have trouble raising members of this breed, I was determined not to fail and prove to myself and everyone else that I could do this. Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs need extreme amounts of exercise, and my activity levels soared. I got back into hiking and found a connection with nature I always knew was there, but had almost forgotten about. My hikes started getting longer and more frequent. Then I started feeding my dog raw meat and veggies, and had to learn plenty of stuff about proper nutrition for canines. That made me take a closer look at my own diet, but I ignored it at the time. Two years passed, and although I was still very overweight, I was also a lot more fit. Soon, one dog simply wasn't enough. Now I'm a proud owner of a working line sable German Shepherd as well. He is really hyperactive, and with two large, energetic dogs in the house, I started moving even more. Soon, I added swimming and biking to my lifestyle, all of it just to keep up with the dogs. I refused to be an irresponsible owner and wanted to give them both long, happy, healthy lives. To my horror, one day I realized I had actually started LIKING all the exercise.
It was April 2013 when I truly understood my exercise level were more than above-average. I had a hard time believing this, as I always used to be the fattest, slowest person in every group I found myself in. But that was no longer true. It was as if a halo of understanding suddenly lit around my head - I realized I didn't NEED the excess weight anymore. The kind of person that used the weight as a shield grew up, and was now confident enough to do without. I sat my *kitten* down in front of my computer, and for the first time in my life actually had a look at how much I was supposed to be eating per day.
Here I am, four months later. I've lost 12 kg, that's 25 pounds, and am still going strong. I took up running. I found a new job and will finally take the riding lessons I've always dreamed of. I actually have some muscles, despite still being overweight. The dogs are healthy and happy, and have trouble to keep up with me. They're 4 and 2 now, and I'm 23.
You can do it. It's fun. You only live once - don't waste your chance.

YEP! Right here.

I wouldn't call myself a fitness freak but I'm currently training for a full marathon. 10 months ago I'd be out of breath and sweaty taking the garbage out from my office to the dumpster. I've always hated exercise and anything that involved hard physical work but I've always wanted to run. I started in January only able to do 20-30 seconds at a time, every week slowly increasing my mileage and here I am 2 weeks from race day. My longest run to date was last weekend at 37.2 km. Over the last few months I've discovered I love distance running which is why I switched to a full marathon from the original 10km I planned to do this summer.

Until 2011, zero exercise. First half of 2011, regular exercise but it was just a chore i did for results. Since mid/late-2011, regular exercise and I love it!

Used to sit on my *kitten* 24-7 now I can barely respect my rest days

Yes, after my second pregnancy and well after! But once a fitness freak, it's always easy to roll back into it when you're ready. Least for me anyway.

I don't know about "freak", but my level of activity has increased, and so has my level of physical fitness.

2 years ago I spent 90% of my day sitting around, watching TV, crocheting, or reading. I wasn't happy with my weight, and my self image was in the toilet. I knew I could get in shape if I got a gym membership.

So I joined the gym, determined to lose some weight. I busted my butt doing cardio, and a few weeks later I ventured into the weight machine area. Within a few months, the trainer normally on duty took notice of my dedication and started talking to me when I got to the gym in the morning. We got to be friends. After about 8 months I took one of his orientation classes, and he started giving me a few tips here and there...guiding me towards more challenging workouts. In February I paid for a few sessions with him so I could change up my workout a little. To my surprise, I loved working with him! he could convince me to try pretty much anything.


fast forward 6 months....I'm in the gym 4-5 days a week, 90-120 minutes at a time. I've tried every piece of demo equipment they have had in there the last 4 months. I've climbed up to 30 flights of steps in one day as PART of my cardio workout. I've done stuff that makes the muscle guys stare with jaws dropped. I've had gym regulars come up and tell me that my trainer is training me like a man...or come up and ask MY opinion on demo equipment.

I think I am more ashamed that I was a very active fit person and let myself get lazy and obese not once but twice.

A desk job with long hours and before I knew it I was skipping lunch and eating the vending machine diet.

Add a lot of stress and insomnia and high cortisol levels and the weight piled on again. Add a bad shoulder injury to the mess.

I'm a lot older now and I'm starting off much easier with the exercise.

Not sure if I will end up a fanatic again. We'll see.

Had that. I joined a gym on November last year but started going regularly February this year. After that it's just a matter of motivation and consistency .

I am about to start walking how did you start off, I need to start slow due to knee pain

Not seen pages 2 or 3 yet so maybe already answered, but for me, I went out at night (avoid the abuse of strangers) and knew a good few local walks suitable for me from previous activity and weight loss etc etc somewhere I could lean against a wall or have a sit down and it's a long slow process of baby steps from there but over time you can build up what you can do.

At the start it is a real mental battle not getting too disheartened with what little you think you are doing, if you can get past that, the improvements can come really quick, easily within the first week.

Obviously that is my situation and you may be at a different starting point from me, but that is how i started off.