Fresh Start Fitness

Willingness to face the facts and the determination to work through it. Before I started my fitness journey, I never weighed myself because it hurt my feelings and it was better not to know. When I started my journey, I had to face the facts and weigh myself which felt embarrassing. I had to look at “fat” pictures of myself and accept that the picture was accurate in how it reflected my appearance. I had to accept that the choices I had made up until now had resulted in me being in the place where I was: I made my bed, so I could either lie in it, or remake it.

Willingness to learn new things, even if it means feeling embarrassed. It was embarrassing to go to a gym for the first time and not know how to do anything like use machines or clean them off. I still feel embarrassed when people say things I don’t understand— it’s not embarrassing to not know what you don’t know. It’s exciting to learn!

A commitment to stick to it. Weight loss can be slow, building strength can be slow, changing habits can be slow, changing mindset can be slow. It takes time. There are days and weeks that feel like taking steps back: stick to it. There are days that are really hard and defeating: stick to it. There are days when the temptation to quit outweighs the reward: stick to it.

A real desire to change and follow it up with action. There were times in my twenties when I kind of wanted to lose weight but not enough to do anything about it. I would barely exercise and have two pieces of pizza instead of three and decide it wasn’t worth it. I had to really sit with my feelings and figure out what I wanted, why I wanted it, and how much I was willing to do and work for it. The good news: if you aren’t “all in” yet, you can talk yourself into it, not out of it. A fitness journey starts in your brain, not in the gym.

Comfortable with being uncomfortable. A fitness journey means physical discomfort: high heart rate, tired and sore muscles, underboob and thigh chafing, bleeding blistered toes, sweat and exhaustion. It is also mentally uncomfortable: the hard work of convincing yourself to get out the door for a workout, to stay in it and not quit, to push harder, to sacrifice your time and money. Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and accepting that “this is tough, but so am I” is how you push yourself through it.