Friday Fitness: Getting Started

First I'd like to give a shout-out to all the wonderful people on WWC (Weight Watchers Connect). I had asked for some suggestions for my Friday Fitness segment and I got some pretty good ideas that should keep me busy writing! So thank you to everyone who took the time to reply!

So for this week's Friday Fitness blog I decided to go with the topic of getting started with fitness. Because I think for me, and for many weight watchers out there, just the idea of getting started can feel overwhelming and daunting. So I'll share my story of how I got started with you, and hopefully you'll find something in here that resonates with you and will help you on your journey.

When I first joined WW back in January 2000, I did not exercise. Not even a little. At the time I was teaching at the preschool level and that job kept me pretty active during the day. I was running and playing with four year old students and I found that I didn't really need the exercise to lose the weight. What I was doing was working. The weight came off. I had a loss on the scale every week, and by mid-May I had lost 33 pounds and hit my goal. Six weeks later I made lifetime.

Now that's not to say I'd never tried exercise before in the past. I had a membership at a gym for a while and I did use it - I'd take the step classes (oh God I'm probably dating myself a lot there!) or the kickboxing classes once or twice a week. But after just a few months I stopped going. It was too far from home, out of my way, the classes no longer fit my schedule... Excuses, I know, but I stopped going. I bought a few workout DVDs that I'd tried but the collected dust more than anything. I even briefly had a small, folding manual treadmill that I'd tried about three or four times before it became a very convenient clothes rack in my living room when I was folding laundry.

I think there were a few reasons why I was having trouble getting started. First, I was losing weight without specifically planning work outs into my daily life so I wasn't really motivated much to exercise. But more specifically I hadn't found anything that I really liked. Everyone at my meetings walks - they all talk about how they walk, and walk, and walk... I can't think of anything more boring. Doesn't matter if I'm outside in the fresh air or in front of the TV trying to watch a favorite show, I can't really stand walking. The classes at the gym weren't bad, but they were somewhat inconvenient and that was enough for me to come up with excuses.

Then in 2006 I was in a car accident. Not bad at all - the cars only had minor damage, but I had twisted my back soooooooooo badly trying to steer my way out of getting into the accident in the first place, I became crippled with muscle spasms that would strike and incapacitate me for days on end. So I started going to doctors. Neurologists, physical therapists, chiropractors, etc. and they all told me the same thing. It was damage to the muscle tissue, it's a difficult injury to heal, but strength training will help. And so I started thinking about exercise seriously.

At that time I was also not attending my meetings and not tracking or doing anything I should've been doing and I was about 20 pounds over my goal weight. And being overweight wasn't helping me heal faster either.

One night around that time I was watching late night infomercials (don't judge me but I like to watch infomercials) and I came across an exercise program known as "The FIRM". They had women on the commercial who had lost weight and looked great but what hooked me in was that they combined weights and cardio. I knew I needed strength training for my back, and I wanted cardio to burn calories so I could get back to my goal weight. I was sold! I went to the website and ordered it immediately!

So, how did I actually get started? And what made this time different? Well, for one I was in the right mindset of being properly motivated. I wanted to help my back pain. And I was teacher on summer vacation. I had a whole 8 weeks stretched out before me with no plans to work for the summer and therefore - no excuses. So I put on my sneakers and sweats, studied the beginner guide and popped in my first DVD. The trainer starts out with breathing, stretches, then squats, lunges, and all the while I'm thinking "Oh my god what a workout! This is intense! How many more minutes do I have to last?" Finally she pauses, looks at the camera with an annoyingly perky smile and says "Great warm-up!" My face fell. I think I yelled out loud "You have GOT to be kidding me!!". But I continued. And I finished! And the next day I couldn't walk :P

But I kept going. And I got back to goal by the end of the summer. And I looked better. Felt better. Felt stronger than I ever had. I had to go to the sporting goods store to buy heavier weights because it was getting too easy. And when September came, I knew I had to figure out a way to keep the momentum going. Because I felt SO GOOD I knew I couldn't stop! By continuing to work out I kept losing weight and I found that I could eat more (yes, a weight watchers dream come true!) and maintain my weight easily. I added to my DVD collection. I added days to my workout schedule. I kept it going right up till my pregnancy in 2011. I felt fantastic. I craved exercise. Yes, I craved it! I would hate missing a workout!

After my daughter was born, I found getting back into exercise to be difficult. I found that the home DVD programs weren't working for me anymore - it seemed every time I'd tried to put on on I'd get interrupted. And even though the workouts were only "20 minutes" by the time you get dressed, workout for 20 minutes and then take a shower, you've really used up at least an hour of your time. And when my daughter was much younger I felt like I never had an hour to myself. Like ever. I had a friend who'd been a runner before she had her first baby so she suggested we get together, put the girls in the jogging stroller and go running together. And I did that for a while. It helped me lose the last of the baby weight and I like the company :) But she got pregnant with her second and had to give it up. And while I tried to keep running on my own, I deep down hated it and gave it up.

So I went back to what I loved - DVD workouts at home. By this time my daughter was old enough to ask her to play independently for an hour and I could do the workouts consistently again. Of course she still interrupts from time to time, but overall she's generally really good about letting me do my thing.

That about sums up my experience with getting started with exercise.

Two things have to happen - you have to really have a good "why" or reason to want to exercise. And you have to have something you like to do. If either of those are missing you're not going to stick with it.

But once you do find something you like and you do start to see the results - sticking with it becomes easy. Once you see how great you feel, and how much better you look, and how much stronger you are - you will crave your workout much like I do. Now, that's not to say I love it every single day and there are definitely days I don't feel like it - but on those days I remind myself of how good I'll feel once it's over and how I'll start to feel sluggish and crappy if I skip a day. Not guilty - but I definitely feel less energy overall when I'm not working out so I don't like to miss a day if I can help it.

Like I said, that's just my experience with becoming an active person. I hope something here sparks you or helps you get on your way. Because really once you start you won't want to stop - as long as you have something that works for you. Have a great weekend! See you Monday!