Starting Somewhere.

How about we just start with the facts?

WEIGHT:  203 lbs.

MEASUREMENTS:  Waist = 38 ½; Hips = 44 ¾; Arms = 14 ½; Thighs = 27 ½.

BODY FAT:  38%

Those numbers are brutal, aren’t they?  Yikes.  They represent the cold, hard truth that things have spun wildly out of control.  They reveal that I’ve been reckless, unaccountable, and that there comes a time when you really have to figure out what you want out of your life.  Because let me tell you, with statistics like these, it’s not difficult to guess that I’m not getting what I want out of my life.  Or, maybe I am.  I am getting out of it what I’ve been putting into it, which has been minimal activity, poor sleep habits, junk eating, and a shockingly steady stream of Mike and Ikes to boot (more on those later).  I have been doing awful things to my body and I’ve finally come to realize that if I don’t begin damage control immediately, those awful things could come to seriously harm my health and well-being in ways that it may be difficult to bounce back from.

I am 36 years-old and I’m struggling with a weight problem I’ve had for as long as I can remember.  I am a fiancé who doesn’t dare to even think about planning a wedding because I can’t get past the thought of trying on wedding dresses without breaking into a cold sweat.  I am a Daddy’s Girl without a dad because I lost mine in 2004 to heart disease and other health-related issues when he was only 57.  Most importantly, I’m a mom with a 19-month old daughter whom I constantly fear will someday model her habits after me, which shatters my heart even imagining it.

I am also here, with all of you, in the Gold’s Gym community.  As a matter of fact, I probably know many of you, as I work at the Clifton Gold’s!  I may have signed you up recently for your brand-new membership and some personal training.  Maybe I played with your kiddos and helped them make crafts in the Kid’s Club when I worked in there.  Perhaps you can sense my underlying insecurity that someday one of my co-workers will declare me a fraud and discretely suggest that the donut shop down the road might be a better fit.  I know good and well that won’t happen, but it doesn’t stop the irrational fear that someone will figure out that I am XXL, beyond  “adequately plump,” and that my secret which is not-so-secret will have been exposed.

So today, I take control and I expose it myself.  I have been waiting for that ever-elusive light to turn on and so far, the bulb has remained cold and dark.  Now, FINALLY, is the time to turn it on and fire it up!  Sixty-three pounds need to clear the path for all of the good things that can come my way through better health!  I hope you will follow me in my quest for change right here, at home with you all at Gold’s Gym, because I’ll need all of the support I can get!

Let’s do this…