The Start of My Fitness Journey

I have been on a rollercoaster with my fitness for several years now. I set these elaborate goals for what I want to weigh or what I want my body to look like. I last about three months, lose some poundage, but also lose motivation and give up - which ultimately results in that poundage coming right back and the full-circle routine starting all over again. So this time, I decided to take a little more action and to put in a lot more dedication. Part of the reason I started this blog was to hold myself accountable, too post about my progress and to feel confident and motivated to keep going. That said, today will be the first day that I ever post a "progress photo" (really it's just my first day so I want to see where I started) on anything where people can actually see it.

I am a fairly insecure person, who am I kidding, I am extremely insecure. I have severe anxiety and at the end of September 2021-January 2022 I was at a pretty dark place in my life with my anxiety. I took initiative with that and decided to address the issues that I had been having with my mental health. Since then, I have grown significantly in my faith and have even felt myself becoming slightly more extroverted (which says a lot because I am incredibly introverted and usually leave the talking to my husband in social situations). So while I have felt encouraged by that progress, I have still felt insecure about my body and my fitness. I have goals this time, which I will share, but they are far different from any of the goals that I have set in the past.

My fitness goals this time: 

1. Feel more confident 
2. Become healthy mentally as well as physically 
3. Grow in my relationship with my own body and my own self-talk (DON'T BE NEGATIVE!) 

As you can see, none of my goals are focused on the number on the scale. I am trying a different approach this time. While I will still certainly be weighing myself, I want this fitness journey to reflect more on my mental health than anything else. I have a hard time looking in the mirror and not seeing every single one of my flaws and making myself feel bad about them. I dwell far too much on what people think of me and if they only see my chubby chin. I want to focus on being body-positive and feeling more confident!

So, here goes nothing. Below are three of my starting photos for where I am at today. (I have a pretty gnarly sunburn on my shoulders from a cattle drive this weekend - so ignore that!)

There is certainly some progress to be made, but I am looking forward to the challenge! An additional reason that I am taking this fitness journey at this time is because... we are FINALLY going on our honeymoon in March! We are heading to Cancun for a week and I would be lying if I said I didn't want to feel confident and a cute swimsuit!

Now that I have shared my starting point, my goals, and my super goal (honeymoon) - here is my plan to follow through on this: 

• Exercise six days a week:
  • Monday, Wednesday, Friday: lift and cardio 
  • Tuesday, Thursday: run and pilates 
  • Saturday: something fun with the family (ex. kayaking, biking, paddle boarding, hiking)
• Count my calories and watch what I eat to be more healthy 

That's it! It's a simple plan, but one that I feel confident that I can stick too! I am going to be using Mari Llewellyn's app Slay and Cassie Ho's app Blogilates for my workout schedule. I feel like the combination of these will help me focus on my muscle strength in addition to my flexibility!

I am genuinely excited to take on this journey. I am excited to see myself grow and change physically and mentally.