The following is a post contributed by our guest blogger, Tracey DeLong.
Fact #1: I used to be fat. Not obese – just fat. Boys wouldn’t ask me to dance at the school dances, I borrowed my mom’s baggy clothes and I tried to get my hair as poufy as possible because I thought, somehow, that would balance out the rest of my body.
Fact #2: I used to be unhealthy. Not terminally ill – just unhealthy. I ate mayonnaise sandwiches, always went back for seconds and didn’t really care about the Food Pyramid.
Facts #1 and 2 are unquestionably related. But when I was younger, I didn’t care about fact #2 – I was more concerned with fact #1. So I tried the usual fad diets and even made it to the gym a few times. But nothing really stuck until I started taking group fitness classes with a friend. It wasn’t particularly fun at first – I felt out of place and like everyone was staring at me. But something amazing happened after just a couple of short weeks – I felt GOOD!! I didn’t experience some miraculous physical transformation. No – this was even better. I experienced something on the inside – something that made me feel powerful, in control.
I had always heard that “exercise is good for you” but I never really understood why (Google something like “how does exercise make you feel good” and you can read up on endorphins, adrenaline, etc). And honestly, if anyone had cared to explain why, I probably wouldn’t have cared or it wouldn’t have sunk in. It was just something I had to experience for myself. So I encourage you to do the same – EXPERIENCE something!!
The beautiful thing about exercise is that you can do it just about anywhere for any length of time – at home for 30 minutes, in the great outdoors for 2 hours, at a gym for 60 minutes, at the local park for 10 minutes…the list goes on and on. Just get moving!! It’s great to have a goal but sometimes, when we don’t have that instant gratification, we lose confidence in our ability to achieve it. Let how you look take a back seat to how you feel. Because the feeling you get from working out is instant gratification. You will immediately feel more in control of who you are – and who doesn’t want to feel more of that??
So if I used to be fat and I used to unhealthy, what am I now?? I am not the fittest person, nor am I the healthiest. But I have found a balance that works for me…and that makes all the difference.
What’s your balance?
Tracey DeLong, BA, CLC is a multi-certified group fitness instructor at the award-winning Gold’s Gym – West Cobb in Atlanta, GA. She has also taken health and wellness education to the most basic level by teaching new moms and babies how to breastfeed as the Lead Breastfeeding Peer Counselor for Cobb & Douglas Public Health. Through her passions of health, fitness and breastfeeding support, Tracey hopes to inspire a new generation to be their best “me”!!