Kate

My Journey

Over the 23 years of my living I was always considered overweight, but there was a point where I went from being “overweight” to “obese”. I look back and I don’t know exactly when that happened, but I do know that I was blind to it. I denied who I was becoming. Reality was distant, and I liked it that way. Anytime that I felt some kind of emotion, I turned to food. Food was there to comfort me in my sadness and stress. Food was there to help me celebrate in my accomplishments and joys. And food was there to distract me when I didn’t want to feel anymore. To say that my relationship with food was unhealthy was an understatement. I was addicted, but I loved it.

Around age 17 I went on my first major diet and exercise kick. And for the next 6 years I would force myself to do some kind of health program and I might last a month or two. And then I would stumble and fall. Each time I would lose some weight, and end up gaining the weight I just lost plus some. I was the classic chronic dieter. Nothing really seemed to work. I had the worst view of my body, and started believing that I didn’t deserve anything better. I hated who I was physically and who I was continually becoming.

And early in 2015, something clicked. I faced reality. I always told myself that I’d never weigh more than 360 pounds. Then I passed it. And then I told myself I’d never reach 400 pounds. And I hit it. It was time to change. I was 22 years old and I felt so lethargic. I didn’t have the energy that my friends had. My body kept me from going after the dreams that I wanted in my life. And it made daily life hard. I was worried that I’d break plastic chairs, wouldn’t fit in airplane seats, and wouldn’t be able to comfortably walk 2 miles to a football game. I felt trapped in my own body. But, I knew that I wasn’t supposed to live feeling trapped and tangled in chains. I was meant to experience freedom. And I wanted to live my life to the fullest. It was time to make a change.

Enter personal training with Swamp Fitness…

The first day that I met up with my personal trainer, I shared my health journey and how so very badly I wanted to make a change. I had the desire, but no idea where to even start. We sat down and talked about my goals, and my trainer outlined a plan for us to get there.

My personal trainer offered so much help with nutrition. I knew the basics, but I was showed how to plan a fully nutritious meal, when to eat, and how much to eat. And because I wanted to make such drastic changes early, I needed a lot of accountability. Each week, my trainer kept me accountable by checking in on my food log and offered how I could make even healthier choices. I was showed the importance of eating whole foods and how to easily introduce them into my diet. In the beginning I didn’t enjoy eating all the new healthy food, but now it tastes surprisingly wonderful! It’s amazing to see how my body runs differently on better food. I am filled with more energy and feel more able to accomplish all of the activities set before me each day!

When it came to working out, I was a complete newbie. Gyms made me generally uncomfortable. I would always feel like everyone was watching and judging me, like they were thinking, what is this fat girl doing in here? But thankfully, my personal trainer encouraged me to push through the beginning awkwardness. One thing that I loved about training with Swamp Fitness, was that when I asked, my personal trainer would do the exercises with me. There were some exercises that just looked plain weird to me. For example, I hated doing burpees and certain ab exercises by myself, so my trainer joined with me and laughed along side me. I’m so grateful that my trainer didn’t judge me and make me feel embarrassed. He embraced my flaws and even helped me work through my fears of others judging me at the gym.

And the workouts that my trainer designed for me were perfect for each stage of my fitness level. He pushed me to my limit on the days where he knew I could be pushed. And on the days where I was just trying to get through workouts, he still pushed but knew when to stop. And I even had days where I wanted to be really challenged; My personal trainer loved those days and made me work super hard! But hey, I totally asked for it!

My personal trainer was really great at being mindful of my past and current injuries, modifying exercises so that I’d still get a good burn but without straining myself. And he also created workouts that worked my entire body! I did a good amount of resistance training with him and I chose to do my cardio on my days where I exercised by myself.

And one of favorite things about personal training with Swamp Fitness was my trainer's personality. I always felt very comfortable around him- whether talking about why I chose to binge and eat 10 brownies or just laughing during lunges in a workout. He is good at seeing your individual needs (physical or emtional) and trying to meet them.

During the 7 months that I did personal training with Swamp Fitness, I was set up for future success. I definitely needed a time where I received individual help multiple times a week. And I needed the accountability to make true and lasting changes in my life. It didn’t just happen over night. But now I have the skills and habits necessary to continue my health journey on my own. Even thought I am still no where near perfect in the health realm, I’ve been able to share with others how I continually overcome binge eating and push past the physical apathy to train my body. I lost 85 pounds training with Swamp fitness. With the knowledge that my personal trainer left me with, I have continued on to lose 35 pounds since then. And I hope to lose around another 100 pounds. Health isn’t a destination, but a journey that I will continue on for the rest of my life!

For even more on my health journey, you can read more at: transforming-kate.blogspot.com

*results may vary from person to person