From Out of Shape to Physically Fit

Before I tell you how I went from out of shape to physically fit, I must give you a little back drop of what brought me to this decision. As I have mentioned in my About section of the blog. I have had an interest in athletics and fitness since I was a teen. I chose to major in Sports Medicine in college. After college I had planned to work in a clinic helping young athletes train for their specific sport or possibly help them recover from injury. My focus was sports and youth.

life on hold

After finishing school, my husband’s job took us to Northern Michigan and I began looking for a job. I found the process to be a bit more difficult than expected. I began to apply at sports and fitness centers in hopes to land my dream job. While the applications were pending I found that I was pregnant with our first child. How exciting and what a blessing that I was able to be a stay at home mom for our first son! Life happened and 7 years and 4 children later, I had placed my fitness trainer dreams on hold. I absolutely loved being home with my young children and being elbows deep in all the mom things. But once our children started going to school I knew it was time for my dreams to come to life.

New Normal

I began to seek outside employment. I felt inadequate and a little out of the loop to jump right back into the fitness world. After all, I had experienced 4 pregnancies and my body was not quite up to par with the body of a Personal Trainer or Fitness Instructor. Not to mention, that I felt out of place in the gym. Who am I to help train others and convince them that I had something to offer? (I’ll write more on this aspect of my story in another blog post.) I was struggling to find anything fitness related and I wasn’t about to bust the doors down looking because I felt unqualified and inexperienced. So I let my fitness dream job take the back seat for another handful of years while I worked through my inner battles.

I found a part time scheduler and physical therapy aide position. Which consisted of me cleaning and getting rooms ready for patients and sitting at a desk scheduling. Because I was at a desk most of the day, I wasn’t able to be as active as I had been when I was at home with the kids. I was out of shape and I knew I needed to do more if I wanted to ever be physically fit. I knew I wasn’t taking care of myself like I should.

feeling stuck

Half the time I didn’t eat until late afternoon. Fighting feelings of fatigue and out of control cravings I realized I had not eaten all day! Because of this, I often chose the unhealthy options for nutrition because of not being prepared with something more substantial or wanting comfort to ease feelings of stress. Instead of drinking water, I would drink coffee to try and keep myself going throughout the day. This was my life for three years.

Working while the kids were at school and running around getting them to and from school and sometimes extracurricular activities. My husband was working full time and getting a Master’s degree so I was also picking up most of the slack at home. It was a tough season. Running on low energy due to lack of nutrients, sleep deprivation and trying to keep up with it all was killing me. Something had to give.

dreams revisited

During this challenging time, I came across information about getting a Health Coaching Certification that I could add to my knowledge base and possibly open up different employment opportunities for me. I knew that if I worked hard to get this certification I would also need to get my ducks in a row when it came to my own health. I had to make fitness a priority in my life. If I wanted more I needed to work for it. I needed to have a transformation and so began my journey from out of shape to physically fit.

new beginnings

I immediately set a few things in place to help me stay on track. Committing to a year membership at a local gym right away helped me move forward with my goal. I knew I would use the membership if I felt the pain of the upfront cost. Going directly to the gym after dropping the kids off at school on the days I had off from work assured that I would complete my workout. I wouldn’t run errands first and I wouldn’t go home. I prioritized the gym.

In addition, I went out of my way to connect to people at the facility. It helped me feel a sense of accountability that others would notice if I didn’t show up for my normal routine. Even if they wouldn’t notice, I told myself they would and held myself accountable in that way.

And finally, I chose to not listen to the insecurities I had about how others saw me. I told myself that the people in the gym don’t know or even care that I used to be a Personal Trainer. They are not holding me up to the standard to which I want to hold myself. They don’t know I feel inadequate or that I’m an imposter. So I chose to act confidently and be ok with asking the trainers questions if I didn’t know how to work a piece of equipment.

moving forward

As I made progress in my fitness level I felt more confident to try new things. One of the other gym members suggested that I think about competing for a physique body building challenge coming up in the spring of the following year. I have never been a very competitive person and have always struggled feeling like I was not athletic and a fitness fraud. The fact that someone would suggest this gave me a little boost of confidence. I started considering the cost of such an undertaking. It would be quite the commitment that would affect not only myself but also my family. It would take time and sacrifice.

After some prayer and introspection I decided this was something that could help push me past my insecurities and into a new place with fitness. This was an opportunity to experience a new level of fitness I had never accomplished before and would force me to face my fears. I am the type of person who commits and follows through with the commitment. Just putting the words, “I’m in” out there was scary because I knew I would follow through.

commitment

It was October when I committed to this endeavor and I had 6 months for my transformation. This is plenty of time to achieve such a goal. But I also had to step out of my norm of procrastination and do the work. There was no time to waste. This was the start of my transformation from being out of shape to becoming physically fit. I began training 5 days a week and spending at least an hour on my routine, beginning with weights and ending with cardio. Once I established my routine I began to love weight lifting and cardio even grew on me. Missing a day was not an option. I looked forward to going to the gym. I gained confidence with machines and stopped caring what others might think. If I needed help I asked for it and I was willing to learn from others.

Once I decided to step out of my little bubble and interact with others there, the gym wasn’t so intimidating. I learned that the gym was a place of encouragement. I knew that others who were also working out regularly were cheering me on in my progress. My husband and children were very supportive in wanting to help me eat well and be active. We ate healthy dinners together and got outside most days for a walk or bike ride. My husband was my biggest cheerleader throughout the whole process. It would have been very difficult to accomplish without his whole-hearted support.

toughing it out

Choosing to push through on the hard days kept me going, but the support of those around me made a huge difference in my outlook. I was no longer out of shape but instead, I was becoming physically fit and it felt great! In order to get my body to respond to fat loss properly, I had to eat a very strict diet, even more so during the last weeks of training. I was able to get started with my own expertise but I also leaned on the support of skilled trainers who had already successfully worked through the training process.

It was important that I ate the right things at the right time. Nutrition was key and I stuck with it realizing it was the only way I would get my body competition ready. Getting up on stage in a tiny bikini was already way outside my comfort zone and I wasn’t about ready to do it without being in top notch shape! Following the plan got me the results I wanted. I wasn’t willing to get up on stage in that tiny suit without putting forth full effort for transformation.

competition

Competition week had finally arrived! The last week pushed me past my limits physically, mentally and emotionally. I had to come to terms with mindsets I had struggled with my whole life. I had overcome obstacles that most people would have allowed to block their path. And then I had to press in more. I had to push harder and sacrifice even more.

Finally the day of the competition was here and my nerves were in full force.

Uncomfortable success

Stepping outside my comfort zone, I faced my fear of being seen. I was going to be seen and applauded, noticed and esteemed. It was a very difficult thing for me to do. But I did it and I was so thankful to have the experience. I came out first in my age bracket and second over all for physique! Thrilled to have placed but even more thrilled to be DONE and to have accomplished something I had never dreamed of doing I left the stage that day feeling confident of who I was. I was no longer out of shape: I WAS physically fit. I had reached my goal! The most valuable take home for me was not the trophies or the body but the lessons along the way.

Valuable lessons

I gained knowledge I would not have gained without pushing myself to this level. I learned some valuable lessons:

• I did have time to exercise. I had to make time and move my schedule around to accommodate. We will always make time for what is important to us.
• The gym doesn’t have to be a scary place. I learned to be confident in my ability. I learned that if I wanted to be athletic, I could be.
• I was stronger than I thought. I could push myself harder than I would have without the deadline.
• How important it is to be surrounded by people who champion me and encourage me to be better. Find your tribe. People who are not afraid to push you and confront you when you are wrong but also will be there to carry you and cheer you on.
• Having the “perfect body” is a myth. If you have body image issues, they will not go away once you achieve a certain level of fitness. You must work through these heart issues to break free of these damaging mindsets or you will never be happy with the body in the mirror.
• The way I felt was worth the physical effort, but the way I looked wasn’t worth the strict diet. It is so much more difficult to get the supremely fit body than we realize. Most people would be satisfied with healthy over chiseled perfection any day, if they knew the intensity of the challenge.

maintaining fitness

Descending the mountain of fitness training and success was a quick decline I had mentally prepared myself for. Weight gain was inevitable but I was strategic in my nutrition intake as to avoid gaining an unnecessary amount. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my 1.5-2 hour a day fitness routine in place once this was over. Adjusting my nutrition to match my physical needs helped me maintain a reasonable fitness level.

It was difficult to watch the scale go up and my muscle tone lose its edge but I was ok with it all. I was no longer out of shape but I was physically fit regardless of what the scale said. Stepping into a new season I was ready to rebalance and find a new steady for my fitness. I knew it was impossible to keep this level of fitness. Choosing gratitude for the life I have been blessed with helped me gain perspective as I watched my body go through these rapid changes.

It was as if I was stepping into my fitness journey all over again with a sense of newness and accomplishment to grace my step. This time I had confidence. This time I had support. And this time I knew I was an athlete ready for the challenge. I stepped back into regular life with a bag full of tools to keep me motivated and energized for fitness. The trophies have lost their luster but the lessons I gained have continued to bring a wealth of insight to my daily experience of life and fitness.