A Long Time Away

So where have I been? good question....

Falling off the wagon, switching jobs, moving to a new city, etc.

April 2013 I purchased a groupon for a week at the Biggest Loser. It was just opening up in Chicago and I decided I wanted to try it out - to take control. I set my week for November 2013.

A few weeks later I realized even though I had made this awesome decision, I hadn't done anything to get ready for it. If I went for the week in my current state of non-fitness, I would never come out alive. So, May 18, 2013 I joined Lifetime Fitness.

Why Lifetime?  I knew it was less than 5 minutes from my home, it had a swimming pool, and I just felt good when I went inside.  They took me on a tour, talked to me about my goals, and introduced me to Dan.  Dan was a trainer there who had an awesome weight loss journey of his own. The combination of all of that made me sign up.

I was there the very next morning working out. I was on a treadmill upstairs walking at my very...slow... pace.  I kept looking over at this group of people on a group of treadmills. They had a trainer who was yelling things at them, different numbers, Up, Down, etc.   I waved Dan over and asked about that class.  it was a Team Weight Loss class. I used my LT Bucks to sign up for two weeks of the course and I loved it!  It was teamwork, hard work, and I felt great after the class.  It also met three times each week - so I could establish consistency.

And I did.  I was a "regular", I made friends and went a lot. I started to adjust some of my eating habits but mostly just did a lot of the workouts.  I also started swimming again. working with a swim coach Amanda.  The 90 Day challenge came, and it was fun. Extra/bonus workout time, "Try it Tuesday", all sorts of fun.  I lost 16 pounds!

The holidays hit and my consistency dropped. I traveled, I got busy.  Excuses a plenty.
I had trouble getting back into it in January, and then February hit.  On the second day of February I got sick. I thought it was the flu, but that was masking another health problem. Because I didn't recognize the warning signs, I ended up in the hospital for a week. Even though I was cleared for exercise five weeks after my hospital stay, I didn't really go.  I'd go once or twice every couple of weeks. This went on for months.  Even when the 90 day challenge came around, and I promised my trainer Megan that I'd be dedicated to it... I wasn't.

It was time to get serious again and remember why I joined to begin with.  I scheduled a drop dead week for my first week at the Biggest Loser resort. I had rescheduled it twice already - but I wasn't going to reschedule it again. I made sure I had no conflicts at work, with my volunteer groups, or with my friends.  I told everybody what I was doing.

This week is going to happen.
This week is going to restart my drive
This week will be worth it during the week and after

Starting soon, I will be at the Biggest Loser Resort and I can't wait!