Opening Up About My 2017 Post-Weight Loss Journey

Feeling very proud of myself! Earlier this year, I rediscovered my love for fitness. Before that, I had fallen off track a bit. A few months after I hit my goal weight, I fell in love with the gym. I would go by myself most of the time and alternate working a different set of muscle groups each day (back, arms, legs, abs) and incorporate cardio on the elliptical on most days (except leg days). I maintained this routine, plus my all-time favorite class, Zumba, for years. When I met my now-fiancé, I grew comfortable quickly and wanted to spend most of my time with him, which led to me slacking off on my workouts and making it to the gym once or twice a week, as opposed to 4-6 as I was previously accustomed to. Not to mention, I also began eating out more with him, which led to what I call the “relationship 15”. This continued on for a while until earlier this year when I finally regained control of my fitness. I realized that my clothes weren’t fitting as well as they used to, and as someone who went through a 150-pound weight loss journey, that just was not acceptable to me. I joined ClassPass and started taking many more group exercise classes. I joined 24 Hour Fitness after finding an incredible cardio kickboxing class that I love, which pushes me to levels I never thought I could achieve. Over the past year, I’ve grown so much stronger and I can do so much more than before. I can do more push-ups, more lunges, more cardio than I ever have done. I’m so proud of myself for realizing that I needed to make a change and following through with it, all while surpassing my expectations of my own abilities. After all, that’s how my original weight loss journey started! I just want to let you know that if you’ve achieved success and had a minor setback, it’s okay. You can always reverse it. There’s always another day to get back on track. Try your best not to get down on yourself. All it takes is motivation, determination, and dedication, and a ton of self-love. Be kind to yourself, because you’re beautiful no matter your size. I promise you can do it. You might even discover that you can become stronger than ever before!