Originally posted October 28, 2014

In the beginning of my fitness journey, I had no clue what I was doing or what I was really getting myself into.  Growing up and into my adult year I was always considered “skinny”.  I thought I could eat what ever I wanted and would not gain weight.  Boy was I wrong!  My reckless eating habits eventually caught up with me.  Initially, I was okay with the extra weight because no one was calling me “skinny”.  Apparently the weight gain was more out of control than I thought.  My mother purchased me a scale for my birthday, then weights with a workout video for Christmas.  Her subtle hints clued me in that I needed to make some major life changes.

Like most people, I thought losing weight meant do lots of cardio and that’s exactly what I did.  For about 2 years, my exercises consisted of the treadmill, running, and Wii fitness programs.  I performed them diligently and I did lose a few pounds, but nothing dramatic to write home about.  Last year I began to watch fitness videos on YouTube.  The young lady I was watching at the time incorporated weights into her routines.  I began to do the same I was following along but I still mostly did cardio workouts.

In January of this year, I made a conscious decision to make attempts to get fit and stay fit.  I immediately began surfing the net for workout programs that would yield the best results.  I came across the Butt Bible by Pauline Nordin.  I followed the program for 6 weeks.  For the first 3 weeks, I only did lower body.  I began to see results!  I continued with the program and also incorporated the upper body workouts into my weekly schedule.  The more I saw results, the hungrier I became, the more I wanted to workout and learn more.  Although I was seeing results, something was still missing.  I learned that I needed to change my diet as well to yield the maximum results.  If you ask me, maintaining the diet is the hardest part.

I eventually hired a trainer and competed in the GK Classic, a non-sanctioned competition held twice a year in March and August.  Thus far, I have only competed in one show, but have plans to compete in other shows along with the GK Classic next year.  I have learned many things along the way and still have lots more to learn.  The journey in the fitness world can be both exciting and exhausting.  The awesome thing is you are always working on a better you!