From chubby to awesome in just 20 years

[Colette]

I never liked my body.

 

I remember being a little girl, maybe 9 or 10 years old, and staring at my belly in the mirror, wishing it were smaller. I was not obese, just a perfectly normal if not terribly athletic little kid. It makes me so sad to think about that now. I prayed that my body would look better once I reached puberty.

 

That didn't happen. In fact, things only got worse. My family's rather poor eating habits (tons of processed convenience foods) and my total lack of interest in sports, combined with what I now recognize as some compulsive eating habits and low self esteem led to absolute disaster. I gained a lot of weight. My self esteem and body image went into a tailspin.

 

It was when I moved away to go to college in a big city that things began to change. I started walking everywhere and started to lose weight very gradually, without even trying. I liked this, so I experimented with other kinds of exercise. I learned about nutrition and started cooking more. By the end of college, I'd lost about 40 pounds.

 

That was over ten years ago, and I've never gained that weight back. In fact, every year I find myself more and more in love with fitness, constantly finding new activities that I enjoy. For the last few years, I've been running and did my first marathon this past fall.

 

These days, I feel healthy and happy, but still definitely see room for improvement. I'm still carrying around that final 10 pounds of fat I never could seem to get rid of. I don't obsess about it, but it's there.

 

However, it's important to me that I approach fitness from a place of joy and excitement and fun, and not shame and self-loathing. I've done that, and it sucks. I want to push myself and appreciate myself at the same time, as corny as that may sound.

 

I'm excited to be joining up with such an awesome community!

[Pat G]

You've done a marathon and learn't how to cook! Already winning you are. Where do you want to go from here? Any particular exercise type or lifestyle? 

[Colette]

My goal right now is to feel strong! Part of my 6 week challenge is training to do a pull up. I think that would feel amazing.

Long term, I want to be a spry old lady someday.

[Pat G]

Wise goal, who wants osteoporosis and dentures anyhow.

Pull ups are a solid solid goal, Assassins have some good programming info on that, I'm fairly sure Steve has also written an article on how to progress to a full pull up.