What's Your Secret?

A while ago I posted this blog regarding my get fit journey. At the same time, I posted this and other pics on my FB:





This pic is from June of 2009. I was in the best shape I have ever been in my entire life! For some reason, just today, two separate people have commented on these pics on FB even though I posted them well over a year and a half ago. One of them asked me the very question that is the title of this post. Other people I know have asked me the same thing. Especially those that want to start, or are already on, a journey of their own.

My answer is this:

There are no secrets, no magic pills, and no quick fixes on my agenda. The biggest secret is time and dedication. During that time I was working out for an hour a day about 4-6 days a week and eating lean meats/protein, fruits, veggies, and complex carbs (brown rice and whole grains). It took at least 3 months for me to see any sort of progress, but then I kind of noticed it all at once.

When I first started, I didn't have much of an idea of what I was doing. Some cardio machines here, weights there. I started going to the group classes at the gym because all I had to do was show up and they told me what to do. Then I signed up for a boot camp that met three mornings a week. Soon (read 3 months) I looked and felt the best I ever had. I remember when I put on jeans and a clingy top for the first time and didn't feel gross. It was the best feeling! A better feeling was knowing that I had earned it. All of my hard work had gotten me where I was.

As usual, life happens, and over the following months I started to be less diligent about making it to the gym and started indulging more in not so clean eating. Since I don't have a scale at home, I would use my numbers when I would go to the doctor for something, which was extremely inconsistent, but the number was slowly but surely increasing and all of the pants I had to have altered to fit my new size 6 frame a few months before, were starting to get snug again. I was in denial at first, and then I was just lazy. With my 45 minute commute each way, it's hard to get motivated to spend an hour after work at the gym when I just want to get home to JB. Before I knew it a year had passed and my 4-6 times a week at the gym had turned into 2 times a week at the most.

And then...I got engaged.

Shedding for the wedding is no joke. I was having a hard time getting motivated to get my ass back to the grind. We started planning last July and officially got engaged in October and still, by the end of December I had not gotten serious about getting back into shape for the big day.

Then it hit me...

One day I was driving home from work and had a little conversation with myself. I said,

"Self. Let's be real. You have 5 months until your wedding day and you are going to need all of that time to get where you want to be. You know how to do this. You've done it before and you can do it again. You have already cleaned up your eating and it helps that you are too broke to eat out, so now you gotta put in the sweat hours."

And I did. I started the next day and have been going strong since. I'm definitely not stopping until the wedding, but even then, once we get back from our honeymoon, I want to be able to keep it up this time. There is no reason not to, really. No matter what time I get home, JB will be there to spend time with.

So, sorry to disappoint you folks, but there are no secrets here. Get your ass out there and do the work it takes to get where you want to be. Make the right choices about what you are putting in your body (and the research to figure out what those are). Put in your fitness time by doing something you enjoy. Try new things. I find that groupon deals are the best way to find new fitness endeavors. And if you are reading this and saying to yourself, "Sure, easy for her to say, she's already thin." or "Yeah, says the girl who is getting ready to marry a trainer." It's BS. Excuses, excuses. I had to start from scratch and educate myself on what to eat and what to do and find my own way. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

Remember, if you take a short cut to get rid of the weight, it will come back as quickly as it disappeared. You have to make the changes to sustain it for a lifetime.