It's finally my turn!

I was chatting with a friend today, and he made me realize that I should be posting in this thread…so here I am!

This is going to be way too long, rambly, with a side of sarcasm. So if you don’t want to read it all, scroll on down for TLDR.

I started out at around 223 pounds, in March of 2011 – I pretty much hated myself every single day when I woke up, and I decided I was sick of feeling like that. I’d tried MFP before and didn’t stick it out. But I thought “Give it a week – you can stick anything out for a week”. And I did. And then the weeks kept coming, as I started to lose, about a pound at a time.

I had joined a gym and started exercising, because a) it was good for me, and b) I could eat my calories back and have this be easier on myself. It was a snowball effect – the more I exercised, the better I felt, and I slowly started making better food choices to fuel my body – not because I had to, because I wanted to.

A bunch of life stuff happened that wasn’t great, and I discovered lifting as an outlet that I am thankful for every single day. I started consulting a trainer and discovered that I picked up on form very fast, and was progressing quickly. I had taken an interest in compound lifting, and eventually started to think it might be cool to powerlift. I’ll note that I don’t work with a trainer all the time, just on an as-need type of basis when I need help with form, or something to that effect.

This past July I was convinced to throw my name in the hat for a meet. I didn’t think I was “ready”. The meet director told me he did his first one with only ten days of training, so what the hell was I waiting for? I decided it was time to nut-up or shut-up, and sent in my application.

Turns out, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I placed second overall. And now it’s like a freight train I never want to stop. I just did my second meet over the weekend, and finished first overall for women. All my lifts were up from my first meet. Squats: 107.5 kg (236.5 lbs), Bench: 60kg (132 lbs) and Deadlifts at 137.5 kg (303 lbs). Which, by the way was my first pull at 300+ and I was ECSTATIC!





My weight has been stuck for about a year, but has recently very slowly started moving again. And you know what? I’ve stopped caring about the scale – the following are reasons why:

- I’ve become confident in the food choices I make, and don’t beat myself up when I have a terrible day or week - it’s going to happen, so get over it. I know that I’m FAR better off now than I was when I started, and it’s only going to get better.

- I’ve learned how my body reacts to food and exercise, and I don’t freak out when I magically gain 5 pounds overnight. ZOMG! I LIFTED WEIGHTS THEN ATE CHINESE FOOD AND I GOT HYOOGE!

- I’ve learned that if I want to progress, I need to EAT. And I do. And it’s awesome.

- Even though my weight has stayed the same, my body has changed dramatically. Clothes I wore last year look ridiculous on me now.

- It’s done unbelievable things for my confidence – I wore my PL onesie to work on Halloween FFS, and rocked it.

- It’s the best anti-anxiety medication on the planet. In fact, I don’t even take mine any longer. If I feel squirrely, I go pick up some heavy *kitten*, and I feel WORLDS better.

- If you really want something bad enough, go and get it. Nobody’s going to give it to you, and you will probably have to work your *kitten* off for it. But good lord is it worth it.

TLDR: I discovered lifting and it’s so awesome that I never ever want to stop. And if you’re telling yourself you can’t for whatever personal reason, that’s baloney, because you absolutely can. Don’t EVER be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone – you never know when you might discover something awesome :flowerforyou:

Thanks for reading!