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Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Beginning - Getting Serious

How many times have you started a new diet or fitness program telling yourself and others, "I'm serious this time. I'm going to stick with this and lose this weight."? And you're serious for a few days, or if you're really serious maybe even a few weeks. I know I've done this too many times to count or remember.

So, how did I know I was serious two years ago? Well, for me, before I could really be serious I had to confront and deal with the obstacles that sabotaged my health and weight in the first place. Yes, I know we all make our own choices, but I think most of us that have weight issues like this, the start of it is due to some negative personal experience that triggers these bad habits to form. My personal obstacles were getting my depression and anxiety under control, which meant I had to confront the main issue that was causing my symptoms. My issues stemmed from four years of childhood sexual abuse, from the age of 12 until I was 16.

About eight years ago is when I truly first started to take my life back and quit living it out of fear for other people. I sought out a professional counselor in order to figure out how to live life without out fear of being hurt again and learn to trust people. Within a little over a year, even though I'll never forget what happened to me, I was finally starting to learn how to cope.

At this point, I felt I accomplished something huge and decided to tackle my next goal. I went to college right after high school, but quit after my first year. The job I had at the time offered tuition reimbursement, so I went back to college! I struggled a bit in the beginning, not knowing what I really wanted to pursue, so changed majors three times. I started in computer science and went to information technology before finally deciding on business management. It just made sense for me, since at some point I was in some type of supervisor/management role in the majority of my jobs. I graduated with my associates in 2008 and then my bachelors in 2010.

Now, we're approaching the new year of 2011, and I'm thinking I really should focus on my health and get some of this weight off. At this point it had been so long since I had weighed myself, I was clueless on what it was. My job offered Weight Watchers (WW) at work, and paid for most of it as long as I attended the meetings. I signed up telling myself that same thing, "I'm serious this time. I'm going to stick with this and lose this weight." But what exactly made this time different from all the others, where typically after only a few days or weeks I would say I can't do it or it's impossible at this point? Well, I can bet if you were to step on a scale after many, many years and see you now weigh 350 pounds, you would probably get pretty dang serious also. Granted I was fortunate to always have normal results when they tested me for things like diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc., but I knew if I didn't take this serious those normal results wouldn't last long. The only thing I was on medication for was allergies and asthma. Which, by the way, I'm no longer on any type of medications. Well, with the exception of some ibuprofen after a killer workout from my trainers!

In January of 2011 I started the WW program, and within the first month lost 15 pounds. But then the next few weeks I basically went back up and down between 13 and 15 pounds (this is where I would normally tell myself it can't be done). I knew what I had to do, and if I was really serious about my health I needed to get some activity in. Like most people, I had no idea where to begin. I've always tried to do exercise programs and gyms on my own, but it just wasn't working. Again, I needed professional help, so I started to research personal trainers. And that's when I pushed all my fears aside and reached out to Michael Watkins at Fitness Together (FT) and that was the beginning of me taking my life back completely. I continued working with the trainers, while I continued the WW program; but because Fitness Together gives you all the tools and knowledge to learn and make healthy choices, by the end of that year I was no longer needing the WW program to live a healthy life. I had finally made that lifestyle change everyone kept talking about. I put all my trust into my team of trainers at FT and I have currently lost 105 pounds total, and still going strong!

How will you know when "this time" you're serious? When you're willing to push all your fears aside and do what ever is necessary to take control of your health. And I know, what works for one person may not work for someone else. So, when you are serious, find what works for you! But, if you struggle finding what works for you, I encourage you to contact Michael Watkins at our local Fitness Together and tell him Sherrie, aka Shui, sent you! He has a location near Jenks/Riverside, and opening really soon a new downtown Tulsa location. If you're not here locally, visit the corporate Fitness Together site and find a local FT; I'm pretty sure they can help you get the job done also!



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