Let's Go

[SamandtheTown]

Hi,

 

My name is Samantha, I am 16 years of age, and I am here to get fit. I know what some of you might be thinking, 16? Really? Kind of young. And you are right, sort of, but I believe you are never too young to start thinking about fitness. I'm not suggesting that 12 year olds get put on diets, or 9 year olds kill themselves on treadmills, but the habits you form as a kid are the habits you keep as an adult. All through grade school, junior high, and up until my freshman year of high school I was always active in sports and activities, playing up to three sports year round. Then High School hit and I realized that my true passion was in music, not sports, so I stepped off the court, and onto the stage. Sadly, stopping sports also meant stopping working out. Since I had been an athlete for so long, I was consuming huge caloric numbers that would get me though my day and work outs, most of it, however, was at night afterwards as a sort of reward for doing so well at practice. It wasn't healthy and it wasn't helping. Then the summer before sophomore year hit and I knew I had to turn things around, I wouldn't let myself get pushed any further down that road. So I worked out, attempted, and failed, to eat less and healthier, and obsessively looked up workouts to get me looking closer to celebrities like, Zoe Saldana and Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately that led to poor dieting choices, and longer time spent working out. Couple that with my insomnia and weaker immune system, and I was out of school every other week with some illness or other. In addition, it gave me horrible body image issues.

All through school, I was way taller then everyone else and at least two sizes bigger in clothes than my 5'2 size 0 friends, so I always secretly felt a little shady about things. Add into the equation that my older brother, now 6'10 and 200 lbs, couldn't put weight on to save his life and my sister, now 6'1 and 145, had the same problem, I was an anorexic waiting to happen. Fortunately I don't and never have had the will power to go without food, and throwing up always grossed me out, so bulimia was so far out of the question.(Though you should know I never seriously considered either of these) In the end, I was left with the gym. In the beginning, it worked, I lost weight, ate less than I should have, and looked smaller, however I still wasn't looking like the girls on the magazines. I was already unhappy, and then, it stopped. Literally all leeway I had made had halted and nothing I could do would change that. I went to the scale and weighed my self, and was actually scared to find I went from 5'9 and 156 to 143 without gaining a single ounce of muscle in the span of a month. I looked awful and felt it. Seeing how quick that had happened, how dizzy I was feeling, and how guilty I felt when ever I ate one more calorie then the app on my phone said I should, I knew something had to change. Scared, I gave up working out enitrely and went back to my old habits.

I can't tell you when it happened, or how, but one day I got up and decided I was going to be healthy. I started eating better, not pristine, (but hey, I am still in high school.), and worked out right. I made sure I was getting enough protein and talked to my doctor about my sleeping issues. I realized that magazine covers aren't always telling the truth, and that I had a different build than my sister and my friends. This last summer I was in the best, and most healthy, shape of my life, and I loved it. I grew confident in my height and my body, celebrating my curves instead of hating them.

Unfortunately, however, I am the kind of person who is short term. I want results, I want the fitness, then I never want to do it again. I stop when I get to where I want to go, and that's exactly what I did. My goals are to reach my top level of fitness, and maintain it. I want muscle and endurance, fitness over thinness. I want to beat the voice asking me to eat an entire bag of Doritos in one sitting and then justifying it. I want to focus on a healthier diet and on leveling up my life. I managed to change my view on working out, I love it, but I haven't quite found a way to incorporate it into an actual lifestyle. I want to stop being lazy, and just do it. It's time to clean myself up and get healthy, and to create a lifestyle and body that I am proud of. In addition I want to help other teens appreciate their bodies and learn the proper way to get fit, so they, hopefully, won't have to go down the road of body image discrepancies. It's been quite a trek, and it's definitely not over, so most of all I'm just looking for the support that I know I'll find here. I'm so excited to be a part of the Nerd Fitness community and to be here leveling up with everyone else. We're all here with the same basic goals right? Get fit and get healthy. So.... Let's Go.

[marybelle]

Hi,

 

My name is Samantha, I am 16 years of age, and I am here to get fit. I know what some of you might be thinking, 16? Really? Kind of young. And you are right, sort of, but I believe you are never too young to start thinking about fitness. I'm not suggesting that 12 year olds get put on diets, or 9 year olds kill themselves on treadmills, but the habits you form as a kid are the habits you keep as an adult. All through grade school, junior high, and up until my freshman year of high school I was always active in sports and activities, playing up to three sports year round. Then High School hit and I realized that my true passion was in music, not sports, so I stepped off the court, and onto the stage. Sadly, stopping sports also meant stopping working out. Since I had been an athlete for so long, I was consuming huge caloric numbers that would get me though my day and work outs, most of it, however, was at night afterwards as a sort of reward for doing so well at practice. It wasn't healthy and it wasn't helping. Then the summer before sophomore year hit and I knew I had to turn things around, I wouldn't let myself get pushed any further down that road. So I worked out, attempted, and failed, to eat less and healthier, and obsessively looked up workouts to get me looking closer to celebrities like, Zoe Saldana and Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately that led to poor dieting choices, and longer time spent working out. Couple that with my insomnia and weaker immune system, and I was out of school every other week with some illness or other. In addition, it gave me horrible body image issues.

All through school, I was way taller then everyone else and at least two sizes bigger in clothes than my 5'2 size 0 friends, so I always secretly felt a little shady about things. Add into the equation that my older brother, now 6'10 and 200 lbs, couldn't put weight on to save his life and my sister, now 6'1 and 145, had the same problem, I was an anorexic waiting to happen. Fortunately I don't and never have had the will power to go without food, and throwing up always grossed me out, so bulimia was so far out of the question.(Though you should know I never seriously considered either of these) In the end, I was left with the gym. In the beginning, it worked, I lost weight, ate less than I should have, and looked smaller, however I still wasn't looking like the girls on the magazines. I was already unhappy, and then, it stopped. Literally all leeway I had made had halted and nothing I could do would change that. I went to the scale and weighed my self, and was actually scared to find I went from 5'9 and 156 to 143 without gaining a single ounce of muscle in the span of a month. I looked awful and felt it. Seeing how quick that had happened, how dizzy I was feeling, and how guilty I felt when ever I ate one more calorie then the app on my phone said I should, I knew something had to change. Scared, I gave up working out enitrely and went back to my old habits.

I can't tell you when it happened, or how, but one day I got up and decided I was going to be healthy. I started eating better, not pristine, (but hey, I am still in high school.), and worked out right. I made sure I was getting enough protein and talked to my doctor about my sleeping issues. I realized that magazine covers aren't always telling the truth, and that I had a different build than my sister and my friends. This last summer I was in the best, and most healthy, shape of my life, and I loved it. I grew confident in my height and my body, celebrating my curves instead of hating them.

Unfortunately, however, I am the kind of person who is short term. I want results, I want the fitness, then I never want to do it again. I stop when I get to where I want to go, and that's exactly what I did. My goals are to reach my top level of fitness, and maintain it. I want muscle and endurance, fitness over thinness. I want to beat the voice asking me to eat an entire bag of Doritos in one sitting and then justifying it. I want to focus on a healthier diet and on leveling up my life. I managed to change my view on working out, I love it, but I haven't quite found a way to incorporate it into an actual lifestyle. I want to stop being lazy, and just do it. It's time to clean myself up and get healthy, and to create a lifestyle and body that I am proud of. In addition I want to help other teens appreciate their bodies and learn the proper way to get fit, so they, hopefully, won't have to go down the road of body image discrepancies. It's been quite a trek, and it's definitely not over, so most of all I'm just looking for the support that I know I'll find here. I'm so excited to be a part of the Nerd Fitness community and to be here leveling up with everyone else. We're all here with the same basic goals right? Get fit and get healthy. So.... Let's Go.

 

Wow, you are living my high school life! I am 5'9  as well, and felt the exact same way in school. I couldn't understand why all my short friends wore smaller sizes, and felt really insecure about my weight and size as well.  Its great that you are realizing that you rock now, it will save you years of needless unhappiness. You have some awesome goals, its great that you want to help other teens. Good luck with everything, and welcome! I haven't been here long but I already know this is the coolest, friendliest fitness site on the internet.

[SamandtheTown]

Wow, you are living my high school life! I am 5'9  as well, and felt the exact same way in school. I couldn't understand why all my short friends wore smaller sizes, and felt really insecure about my weight and size as well.  Its great that you are realizing that you rock now, it will save you years of needless unhappiness. You have some awesome goals, its great that you want to help other teens. Good luck with everything, and welcome! I haven't been here long but I already know this is the coolest, friendliest fitness site on the internet.

Thank you! It's comforting to know I'm not alone with those thoughts, and that other people have gone though it as well. The image thing is still a work in progress, but so is everything else. Thanks for making me feel so welcome to this site! I'm excited to be here and to get to know everyone's story. I wish you luck with your goals too.