This is for real… that’s what I have to keep telling myself. I’ve been down this road so many times. Well, started down this road so many times. I’m sure anyone reading who has every tried to lose weight can relate. You know you need to do it, you get inspired, you start exercising and eating right… for a week. Okay, maybe two weeks. At least that’s what always happened with me. It never worked out very well for me because I never made any lasting changes, I always went back to what I knew and what gave me very temporary satisfaction.
I have always been overweight, ever since I can remember. I don’t know what it feels like to be thin, to be normal. I weighed 176 pounds by the time I was 12. I remember hitting the 200 pound mark when I was a freshman in highschool. I was 230 pounds by the time I got to college, and 277 pounds by the time I got married in 2007. Somewhere in holiday season of 2009, I hit the 300 pound mark and on May 26th, 2011 I reached my highest weight ever of 322 pounds.
Of course I always knew it had to stop at some point. But when was I going to get to that point where enough was enough? I guess when I realized that my life was never going to be what I wanted it to be unless I made the change. I’ve spent so much of my life waiting for life to happen to me instead me fighting for the life I want. I have settled. ”I have the husband, the house, the job, the dogs, the car… that’s good enough.” Since when is that good enough for me?? Yah, it’s great, but what about my dreams that haven’t happened, that I’ve just let go of because I didn’t believe they would ever happen? To be honest, part of me has held back on losing weight because I have always known that once I do, I won’t have any more excuses.
I went to the Your Healthy Life Starts Now Expo here in Tucson, AZ in May where a few of the contestants from the Biggest Loser Season 10 were speaking. Personal Training Institute in Tucson had their booth set up there and so after getting some info, I signed up for a trial session. I decided that if I was going to do this right this time, I really needed some help and needed to be held accountable instead of trying to do it on my own. Of course I was a little a lot hesitant because I have never joined a gym or had a personal trainer. Those are for skinny and athletic people. I immediately felt more comfortable when I found out the owner used to weigh 300 and some pounds, one of their other trainers has lost 140 pounds and Jessica Delfs from the Biggest Loser season 10 is their nutritionist. I am now on a 1200 calorie diet and I do 2 strength training sessions a week with PTI as well as 30-60 minutes of cardio a day. I have lost 9.6 pounds in 2 weeks so far. My first goal is to be under 300 pounds by the 4th of July.
I hope to use this blog as a way to track my journey and to also hopefully inspire and help some people out there who need a little nudge, or a big push, in the right direction. I will be updating regularly with my progress so check back soon! I know it will be hard, and I can guarantee you there will be bad days, but this. is. going. to. happen.
I’m so excited to follow your progress! I am needing to lose as well and have had trouble finding inspiration, so I look forward to hearing your updates and going through this process with you. You can do it!
Wow! What a brave woman you are. Everyone here at PTI could not possibly be more proud of you. I am looking forward to this exciting journey that you are on. Thanks for letting us share in your experience!
Hey Natalie! I wanted to let you know that we have a different Club page now that contains our PTI Blog (also WordPress). I was wondering if you would update our link on your blog as it will help with our traffic. I also wanted to let you know that we have linked your Blog on ours to help promote your Blog. Here is the link for our correct page:http://www.personaltraininginstitute.com/ptiblogs/tucson/
Great job!
Actually the club page link is :http://www.personaltraininginstitute.com/ptiblogs/tucson/club-page/
Sorry for the confusion!
Got it, updated the link, thanks!
You can do it…. I lost 143 pounds between November 2009 and May 2010… my blog is still up at echavis64.blogspot.com if you want to read about my journey. My pics are up on my facebook page.
I know exactly what you mean when you say “if you lose the weight, you have no more excuses.” I’ve lived in my fat safety bubble for too long, and have started to lose weight with healthy eating & exercise. I’ve lost 24.4lbs since 19/03/11 (03/19/11).
)
I look forward to reading more on your blog.
I’m so proud of you Natalie, you are such an inspiration. I’ve been excersizing with Linette for about a month now and was totally feeling bummed about it, but reading your blog just got me excited again. Thanks! Looking forward to following your journey.
Loved getting to hang with you at the wedding by the way. =)
Very cool! I am so much in the same boat as you and I am also excited about this most recent change Josh and I are making! I will be praying for you for success…for me God has to be in it or I am just too stubborn to let it happen.
HI Natalie, I’m Evan A Kaplan President of Personal Trainining Institute (PTI). I just wanted to say how wonderful it is learning about your thoughts and experiences and following your blog. Wow, how compelling. Good luck to you from the entire PTI family.
good luck Nat…will pray for your success
Yeah Natalie! You can do it! You can make a new life for yourself! Say, if you’d like, I could drop by and take a walk with you. Just let me know. We were also thinking of getting a ping-pong table. Would you like to do that?
Love Dad
That would be fun! We could either go walking here or maybe also go on a hike on a saturday morning… ping pong table sounds fun too! I also have Biggest Loser Wii game which burns a lot of calories!
So so happy,excited, pround of you Natalie!!keep up the good work!!
Love You!!
Jessica
Good for you for taking that first step! I wish you lot’s of luck!
Natalie, I want you to know that your story touched me when we met at the PTI booth at the Your Healthy Life Starts Now seminar. However, reading your blog while on my recent 2 week trip to Oregon really inspired me, and I feel helped me, to eat properly even though I was eating out 2 to 3 meals a day. I came back and met with Jessica and I haven’t gained any weight and I now have a renewed focus on not just losing weight but being fit. Thanks so much for sharing, and encouraging, through your blog. Keep it up…we are not alone!