Nothing Really Happens Until You're 100% Ready.

A year ago I found myself in the ER with chest pains. Even though my blood pressure was/is well managed and my cholesterol has always been low, I was scared to death.  The diagnosis was that my potassium was low and that I should get it up. While there, they weighed me on a bed scale and even though I told them not to tell me the number, it was on my discharge papers. I almost fell over. I hadn’t seen a number like that since I was pregnant. Turns out the bed scale was off by about seven pounds and I was lighter than I thought but still MUCH more than I wanted to be.  I decided in that moment to do something about it. I joined a gym and engaged a trainer (Club Elevation-OJ Macklin) and also started taking hot yoga. I was going to get this weight off and get healthier if it killed me! 
Things started off very strong. I was working out and doing hot yoga six days a week and logging what I ate in the Lose It app. Slowly but surely, I saw changes in my body. I refused to weigh myself but my clothes were fitting differently. I found I enjoyed working out and missed it when the relentless winter prevented gym visits.  I kept it going though and along with my gym buddy, Sharise Nance for accountability, things were progressing nicely.
After a while though, I noticed some changes and not in a good way. My weight started to creep back up. I was still working out, although no longer six days a week—more like 3-4. And I started to be more casual with my eating. I wasn’t logging my food anymore and had convinced myself that as long as I was still working out, I was cool. Yeah….I wasn’t. Before I knew it, my weight had climbed right where it was around bed scale time.
So, challenged by our trainer, Sharise (who has a self-professed cookie addiction) and I decided to buckle down and start fresh. More working out but even more importantly, more focus on our diet. She chose the eating clean/no sugar route. I chose the Intermittent Fasting and calorie watching method. We have both seen great results. I lost eleven pounds in 18 days and my body is still responding well. I eat pretty healthily but also have what I like. This is really the only way I could keep this going. If I had to seriously consider never having another Oreo, I’d be a mean broad.
I wanted to share this reflection because I thought some of you might be able to relate. Also, I finally accepted the fact that you really can’t out exercise a bad diet, even though my trainer had been telling me that for a year. 
After seeing some of my gym posts, some have said that they know they need to get in the gym. I’ve told them that they will go when they are either fed up or scared straight. There’s no point in guilting yourself if you’re not ready to fully commit.  At the beginning, I couldn’t bench press anything more than 15 pound dumb bells. Now I can bench press ones that are 40 pounds each. I couldn’t do one push up and while they are still not my fave, I can do a number of them before I start cussing. There’s no way I would be ok with losing that strength so I have to keep going.
No matter what change you need to make in your life, you’ll know/feel when the time is right. So many of us are inspired by a new year or other people but those are not real motivations. You have to make changes for you. You have to want it more than you want anything else.  It’s not easy but it’s so worth it!