Fitness was never a priority in my life, even during times of obesity; I relied on puberty and my natural metabolism to burn calories. While my weight eventually fell into a healthy range, I continued to lack confidence in my body image. To me, I still had fat in all the wrong places, which repressed being comfortable in my own skin.
Why it took me until 11th grade to hop on an elliptical, I don’t know. I was tired of feeling groggy all the time; I wanted to feel productive, active, and healthy. After 3 years of diligent exercise, I lost 12 pounds, strengthened my abs, and adopted a prouder mindset of what my body can do. Here are the steps I took to transform my life into a healthier one.
1. Begin with an Exercise You Like
The reason why people struggle to exercise is because…IT SUCKS! Who enjoys sweating buckets, panting their lungs off, and feeling the burning muscle ache all over? It takes persistence for exercise to be impactful, and the only way to continue an activity is to make it enjoyable. I liked running on an elliptical, but it got boring pretty quickly so I would throw some headphones on and listen to Spotify. Because I had something to occupy myself with, time flew by, and I could actually appreciate the sweat, aches, and panting by the end of my workout. Walking, jogging, swimming, biking, whatever it is, pick an exercise you ENJOY. The goal here is not to lose weight, but to build up a desire to work out every day.
2. Start Easy, then work up the intensity
Many are eager to lose weight in a short amount of time, which can end up crashing and burning. By jumping into a workout that is far too challenging, it becomes very easy to lose motivation and not exercise the next day. After appreciating exercising every day, work up the intensity. Start simple, then make your exercise time longer each day, or maybe move on to workouts that are more difficult. I upped my minutes of elliptical running every month, and once that felt ineffective, I moved on to Youtube HIIT workouts. It takes a combination of exercising regularly and exercising intensely to see/feel a difference
3. Do Whole-Body workouts
Ok, so you now exercise regularly and feel the burn: why has your progress plateaued? To lose fat in one part of your body, you have to work the whole body. Only in this way does fat have a chance to distribute equally. Part of the reason why running on the elliptical rendered ineffective for me was that it was purely cardio: I wasn’t building muscle at all. Only after starting HIIT and lifting a little did I see more change.
4. Appreciate your strength, don’t scrutinize your appearance
There are hundreds of Youtube videos promising a 6-pack after a week, but the truth is every BODY is different. We have no control over our genetics and how our metabolism runs: we can only take the proper steps and appreciate the strength we’ve built. Even if exercising doesn’t make a visible difference, it can significantly improve your immune system, stamina, and mental health. It took me a year to get anything close to abs, but throughout that year, I only got ill once, could lift 40 lb items up the stairs, and grew a positive outlook on life (gotta thank the surge of natural endorphins).
I never expected exercising to become a regular practice, but now when I don’t work out, it feels like an itch that has to be scratched. It is wonderful to lose some poundage after diligent work, but you have to keep the work going to keep the weight off. With the plethora of benefits that come with regular exercise, I’m happy I’ve grown to like it. That same girl who disliked her body image has now grown to appreciate herself, not because she burned some fat, but because she realized her body’s potential.