Blaugust #3: Motivation Monday - The Gym

I would say I'm in fairly decent shape.  I always have been, really. But for the longest time I wanted to actively take care of my body.  Control how I feel after climbing a set of stairs.  Instead of being out of breath and gasping for air, I want to be able to take on more without putting my body through  stress and stopping for a 10 minute break.

My biggest issue was that I just didn't know where to get started.  Every time I told myself I would look further into it and educate myself (there are a large number of resources online that are there to help you begin your journey), I found myself discouraged and unable to grasp basic concepts.  The trouble was, I really needed someone to walk me through exercises, tell me what I'm doing right or what I need to change to see results.

The trouble with THAT was that every time someone offered to be my "gym buddy", I'd get extremely ashamed at the fact that I'm so new to the hobby that I'd back out at the last second.  Finally, I found someone I was comfortable going with.  Someone that I felt wouldn't judge me despite how much of a noob I clearly am.  Being the person that I am, when I was told I was doing something wrong I got frustrated, angry with myself that I could screw something up that I thought to be so simple.

I started out with really light weights, thinking that I was this extremely weak little girl because I could barely lift 10 pound weights per hand.  But I've doubled that in only a few months and I continue to grow every week I go back.  I've seen so much progress in my body, in my strength and in my endurance, all things I'm amazed I even had in me.  I've been noticing definition in places I never thought existed before, and even when I move my arms in the right direction my biceps want to say "haaaaay".

I by no means want to be in competitions or shows to demonstrate how much I can lift, I really just want to feel better about myself.  I want to be happy with the body that I'm in.  I want to be able to do something with my down time instead of just sitting around twiddling my thumbs wondering why I can only run for 10 seconds without getting winded.  I've started my journey to that happy place and I couldn't be any happier.

The next part of my journey is my diet.  Not the "I'm going on a diet to lose 10 pounds" diet, just monitoring my daily intake.  I want to cut out the stuff that's really bad for me.  It's going to be difficult, because that means cutting back on things like bacon... boy do I ever love bacon... I mean, I could actually get married to bacon.  It's going to be terrible, but I believe in myself.

I've thought about posting progress photos, to better document how I'm doing and show you guys the type of journey I'm on... but I'm just not too sure about that yet.  We'll see how I feel once I've moved into my new place.  That being said, I'm sore and tired from the gym today ;P

What's your favorite way to be active, may it be a sport, going to the gym, running, etc?  What got you in to it?