It’s Been Seven Years?!?

I did my own hair - a New Year's goal

I still can’t believe it’s been seven whole years since I’ve been physically active. When I said those words today to my personal trainer I laughed then thought quietly to myself as he scribbled down notes. Seven years ago I was in active in marching band and then that changed on December 2003. That month I came home to live with my mom and my sister and I sorta died. You would think graduating from college would be where life began, but it didn’t for me. Instead I worked at a job that I eventually didn’t love anymore and I fell into a boring routine that didn’t include exercise. I tried joining gyms and I even did a series of starts and stops as a member of Weight Watchers; all of which would have worked if I had one key element: motivation. I guess in some aspects I did have motivation. I wanted to be attractive and fit into smaller jeans. All of my life I’ve wanted things based on what other people had and today I’m 28 and I’m asking myself what do I really have to show for myself as a person? How have I really grown in the last decade from 2000 to 2010?

Sitting in front of my personal trainer, I had to face the reality of who I am. I am a lazy, unmotivated person who wants results but doesn’t put the work in to achieve them. I know this sounds harsh, but for me its the truth. And I want to change, but this time for me.  For as long as I can remember I’ve had so many issues with my looks and my weight and I simply haven’t been comfortable in my own skin.

Self-esteem, self-confidence and self-motivation all begin with the key ingredient for success – self! I realized today I don’t want my to spend the next decade of my life dealing with these issues. In seven or 10 years I want to be confident in who I am.

So, for the next year I will begin a journey of self-discovery. My first step on this road is to finally put the work in to lose weight. Here’s the plan my trainer and I developed for the next five months:

Two months – Lose 16-20 lbs.

Five months – 30-40 lbs.

Long term – 80 lbs.

Final target weight – 150 lbs.

I know these are pretty lofty goals, but my short term goal is to start going to my gym at least three times per week with a possible fourth on the weekends. I’ve already worked out twice just this week. Sure, I could only walk on the treadmill at 1.5 mph, but the point is I walked for 50 mins longer than I have for the past seven years. This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m looking forward to every moment of it. I’m already looking forward to my next training session on Thursday, Jan. 7th at 7 p.m.

My next step will be figuring out my work out schedule and figuring out fun and different ways to stretch my mind and my body outside of this seven-year snooze.