Live Healthy North Texas Success Stories
The Queen of Excuses
I struggled with weight my entire life. I have tried just about every diet plan and diet pill on the market. While all the diets worked for the short term, there were none that I could sustain for a long period of time. In 2006, At the age of 25 I set a personal goal to run a marathon before my 30th birthday. I was nowhere near being in shape for such a strenuous event and didn’t know the first thing about how to train for one.
I started working out randomly but again fell back into bad habits. I told a few friends about my plans for the marathon and when they noticed I stopped working out they started asking me questions, “When are you going to start going back to the gym?” And “If you start running again I will run that marathon with you.” Every time they asked, I had an excuse. “My bad ankle hurts today.”, “I think I’m coming down with the flu.” And my personal favorite, “I think I’m allergic to exercise! I can’t go work out!”
I turned 27 at the end of 2008 and realized something needed to change. My back hurt all the time and even lying on the couch was no longer comfortable. I decided to start changing my eating habits since I knew that was going to be the hardest part for me. I utilized prepackaged frozen meals to help me get used to portion control and before I knew it, I had dropped 10 pounds without even working out! Then, I decided to start slowly with an exercise plan. Live Healthy Iowa was starting so, I decided to join a team through work and I started going to the gym just one day a week. I wanted to go slow so I wouldn’t overwhelm myself with too many changes at once. The weekly e-mails from Live Healthy Iowa helped keep me motivated by including new exercises I could try and new meals I could make. I started increasing the number of days I was going to the gym until I reached 4 days a week. Live Healthy Iowa has ended, but unlike other years that I participated, I have continued to lead a healthier lifestyle. I hit a plateau half way through Live Healthy Iowa and decided to enlist the help of a personal trainer. With her help, I have lost a total of 44 pounds in 6 months. I told her that it was my goal to run a marathon and she has helped shape me into a runner. She even volunteered her personal time to run my first 5K with me. I am now well on my way to a marathon.
I still have weight to lose and often struggle with choosing the best foods for me, but I know that in the end this is a permanent lifestyle change. I have kept some of the e-mails from Live Healthy Iowa and refer back to them for reminders of why I’m choosing to live a healthier lifestyle. I’ve learned that every day is a new day for me to choose to live a healthier lifestyle, and that is OK to “cheat” on my meal plan every once in a while. We’re only human after all!
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