Inspiration and a Confession

My journey into fitness has been a long one. One that started about 5 years ago, after the birth of my son. I had gained a bunch of weight and was totally unhappy with myself.

So I started running, doing fitness classes and eventually got certified to teach group fitness. Teaching was a great outlet for me. I got to spend time each week with people who were serious about reaching their fitness goals. I truly think it's the most rewarding job out there! (To read my whole fitness transformation, click here.)

I've been teaching since 2007 and I absolutely love it!

BUT...

The past year has been a challenging one for me with my own fitness. Wait, that seems weird, right? You'd think that fitness came easy for me. That I have no problem working out or eating right. Well, it's not that easy for me.

Working out is great. I love teaching my classes, but when it comes to doing my own workouts, I not only struggle with fitting them into my schedule regularly, but if I don't have someone else pushing me, I can be lazy. There, I said it. I can be lazy.

I do have some motivation stored away, don't get me wrong. Once I get going into my workout, I can kick butt. It's just the initial jump-start that I lack sometimes.

I also love food. I love baking, I love eating, I love large portions. The problem with all of that is that 80% of how we look is because of our eating habits. And I haven't been doing as well as I should be with this.

My confession is that I've gained 10 pounds in the past year that I haven't been able to get rid of. Truth is that I haven't even really tried that hard to get rid of it.

I've been living behind a facade of the "fitness professional", but in actuality, I have been very hypocritical in a lot of my own habits.

So, here's my turning point. I'm coaching a group of about 12 people through an Accountability Challenge right now. They're earning points for doing things that help them start healthy habits with their fitness and their eating. Instead of being the 'wizard behind the curtain', I've been completely inspired by how hard they're working! They're eating great food, they're exercising... they're doing all the right stuff. I'm ready to be doing all of that stuff too!

SO... moral of the story? Find someone to get inspired by. I know I have. I've found 12 of them!

Here's to making a great 2012!

Make some goals, and don't let ANYONE, even yourself, get in your way!