I tried several times before to lose weight. I joined a gym and hated every minute of it. We even have a treadmill and elliptical in the basement and that couldn't get me going.
The New Years before I started my journey, my pastor gave a sermon on why resolutions fail. He said; "Its easy to make a promise to yourself and let yourself down. Instead, why not make a promise to God. It's much harder to let Him down."
I started back at the gym with the thought that this was going to be it. This time was going to be different. By March my gym visits were decreasing and I was losing interest because I wasn't seeing results as fast as I wanted. Then I was invited to try a Zumba® class. I have been doing Zumba® for almost 4 years and have been and instructor for over 3 years.
I attended my first Zumba® class on April 25th, 2011. At 330+ pounds just even standing for an hour was hard, never mind dancing, but I went back. You see the difference was for me finding a family. Going to class gave me friends- something I lacked- and these friends kept me coming back. It provided socialness. I looked forward to coming to class and seeing my friends. We would laugh and have FUN, the working out? Well that was just a bonus. My journey to lose 130+ pounds started with Zumba®. It now includes, Bokwa®, P90X, Butts and Guts, Personal Training and even running.
After losing 40% of my original body weight I had surgery on December 30, 2013 to remove extra skin that was painful when working out. It took me a long time to be ok with having surgery. I wanted to fix it on my own. I realized that I was never alone. I had my family, friends and God all backing me up. I haven’t done it on my own. I still have about more weight that I would like to lose. I tell myself healthy knows NO size. Healthy is a state of being. Healthy is beautiful.
There is no short cut. There is no right way or one way to go. There are ups and downs. You will slip up. You will get that flat tire. My doctor would say to me year after year. “Your test all came back fine the only concern is your weight- but until you want to make the change I'm not going to try to tell you otherwise. You have to want it." And 4 years ago- I decided that I wanted it.
You are beYOUtiful. Just the way you are.
