What this is all about..

I have been on a journey for over 2 years now... a personal journey, fighting only against myself (and my cravings, laziness, excuses, etc). That journey started out merely as wanting to lose weight.  It has evolved over the course of the years, and my goals have changed more from just "losing weight" to "being fit", strong and healthy.  Hence the name of the blog... Fat, to fit.


I am swallowing my pride, and sharing information here, that I would never have considered sharing in the past.  But I want to be real, and honest, in hopes of helping or inspiring someone else.  So I will not candy coat (maybe not the best choice of words for a fitness blog, lol!) anything, and I will blast my failures and bumps in the road, because this is real, and nothing is perfect!


I started this Journey somewhere around the end of 2009.  I was 290 lbs, yes, almost 300 lbs.  It's ok, gasp, cringe, whatever you need to do, believe me, I still do all of those things when I think about it.  I am 5'8, medium build and this is how it looked....

In 2010 we started a Weight Watchers program at work.  It was reimbursable by the company, and helped us get a discount on our health insurance... so I thought I might as well give it a whirl.  This wasn't my first rodeo... I had done weight watchers, MANY times.  I remember following it with my mom as a child, doing it on my own as a young adult, unfortunately sticking to it was the problem.  But anyway, I was determined, so I gave it another shot!  I stuck with it for 12 weeks (I think, or something close to that), I had lost weight, but not that amount of weight I figured a person of almost 300 lbs would be losing, and I quickly became discouraged. 


I decided rather than giving up, like every other time before, and just going back to my old habits, and getting fatter by the day, that instead I would find something that would work for me, and that's how my mission began.  I did research, I talked to doctors, friends, etc.  I looked into Gastric bypass, 3 day diets, medifast, HCG, you name it, and I probably considered it!  I was very close to settling on surgery, I had spoken to my doctor, gotten the information about the orientation, and was completely considering it, when I decided that I needed to give myself one more chance, one last shot to do this on my own, and prove that it could be done!  


First things first, I joined the Gym.  My doctor told me specifically "You can NOT just go and walk for 20 minutes 3 times a week like other people, and expect to lose this weight.  You need to do 40 minutes or more of cardio, 4 days a week, at least".  And I did.  I did walk, but I walked fast, and I walked long, and I did it 4 days a week. I also started following the Atkins diet plan.  I struggle with insulin resistance, so I narrowed it down to needing to control my carb intake to see the results I wanted to see.


Unfortunately since it has been so long, I can't remember when I hit some of my first milestones, Like 20 lbs lost, 50 lbs lost, etc.  I also can't remember when I decided to change up my work outs... but when I did, I added a Step class at the gym, and the time on the elliptical.  I eventually branched farther and tried the Tai Box class, zumba, and intervals as well.  Tai box is no longer, and zumba wasn't for me, and I think that's ok!  You can't like everything, and if you don't like it, you won't want to do it! But I still frequent the Step class and the intervals classes.  I also started the "couch to 5k" running program.  So currently I work out 6 days a week, sometimes 2 times a day (2-3 times a week I'd say).  I have even written up some of my own interval work outs so I can do them on my own if I can't make it to the gym!


As far as my eating plan currently, it is still very low carb, but I have incorporated complex carbs, fruits, beans, whole grains, etc.  I will make note of things I eat along the way, and recipes I think are worth sharing.


So currently I have lost 113 lbs, and still have 22 to go before I reach my personal goal. Now, keep in mind, I have veered off my path MANY times, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks!  Hopefully this blog will help keep me accountable and focused! Here is my "now", or close too, this was actually at 103 lbs lost, but close enough...

 

So I think that about covers it for the back story.... Feel free to ask questions, share tips, give advice, ask for motivation, support, whatever!  Thanks for reading :)  And if you are on this journey, too, Good Luck!