The Fitter, Faster Me

Photo credit: Mike Seifer

This was me then.

Just over a year ago I made a decision - it was time to lose weight. In all honesty, I was not dissatisfied with my appearance. Sure, at 165 pounds I was carrying a little extra weight - I was curvy. I also had no health concerns. I was eating healthy and was active, so while I was on the high end of normal, I was still within healthy weight limits.

So why the decision? There were two reasons:
1) My feet hurt almost all the time, and I knew that reducing the load they needed to bear every day would help that.
2) The biggest driving factor - I wanted better performance on the football field. As a DB, I needed to keep up with receivers half my age, and that wasn't happening. I needed to be faster. And the easiest way to get faster was to shed pounds.

And thus began my weight loss journey (which I cannot even think without hearing it in Matt Falk's voice...).

The first thing I did was find an accountability partner. I didn't really do this on purpose - I was going to post workouts on Facebook to keep myself accountable, and a high school friend messaged me to ask if we could walk the fitness journey together. I jumped at the opportunity!

About a month in, I bought a fitness tracker. I'm very numbers oriented, and having goals set for me by my watch really helped. Shortly after, I got a MyFitnessPal account to track my calories. I started making small changes in both my diet and regular activities. And slowly but surely, I saw results.

A year later, I weigh just under 120 pounds. I am faster and stronger, and I feel better. My feet don't hurt all the time. And I was able to keep up with (most) of the receivers. I often get asked how I did it. It was simple. But it wasn't easy. However, if you are looking to make changes in your own body, here are my humble suggestions (which really don't vary much from the suggestions of others who have done the same thing).

1) Find a partner. This might be someone you physically workout with. Or it might just be someone you check in with. For me, it was the latter. I knew that if I hadn't messaged Susan for a few days with what I had been up to, that she would know I wasn't keeping up with my end of things. She has been nothing but supportive, whether I was going strong or in a slump. And sometimes you just need that person to tell your seemingly little achievements, and know that they will care.

2) Find the things you like about yourself now. I think the fact that I was content with my body, even though I weighed more than I wanted, was helpful. It gave me a positive perspective on my body all the way through. I can still easily find things I don't like, but it feels good to look in the mirror at any point and be able to see the good things.

3) Have a reason. If you don't know why you want to make changes, you won't. It might be better health. Maybe you want to climb the stairs without being exhausted when you're done. Perhaps you want to be able to keep up with the kids. Or the grandkids. Or the dog. Or maybe you have sport performance reasons. Whatever it is, find it.

4) Set goals. Make sure they are SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. I decided I wanted to get down to 135 pounds before the football season started. I told MyFitnessPal that I wanted to lose one pound a week to do that. I didn't lose one pound every week, but I did hit 135 well before the season started. Now I need to set new goals - strength goals this time.

5) Do what works for you. For me, estimating my calorie output with my Garmin and my calorie input with MyFitnessPal worked. I also downloaded the 8fit app (which I actually highly recommend as a good basic activity starter). This might not work for everyone. Find what is good for you, and do that.

6) Enjoy it! If you're not enjoying what you're doing, you won't make permanent changes. Enjoy the food you eat (maybe just don't enjoy quite as much of it). Enjoy the activity you do (or at the very least, the feeling when you are done). Really, just have fun.

Oh, and this is me now. I had actually retaken the first picture because I didn't like how my extra hanging belly skin was visible to all. And then I remembered how good it feels when I see other people's "imperfections" because I realize that none of us are completely "perfect" - some of us are just better at hiding stuff. ;)

Now I have to stop sitting in front a computer and do something better! Until next time!



(Leggings are from Prana Vida, and come extremely highly recommended! Locally designed, environmentally sustainable, and made in Canada!)