I'm overweight. I can finally accept that at twenty years old my weight has become a big issue in my life and it's really bringing my self confidence down to an all time low. It was definitely not an overnight realisation either, i've been dancing around dieting and exercise for years now but never really had the motivation to stick with it. I'd say I probably started seriously gaining when I quit dancing at age fifteen and year by year I have slowly been putting more and more on; especially recently where i've noticed a big spike in weight gain as i've ventured off to university (I know I'm definitely not alone in that respect). I love doing outfit posts and putting more of myself into my blog, but whenever I've had to put these images on my blog they have made me feel upset and unconfident because I can see where my tummy as gotten considerably podgier and a round face where there used to be a tones oval. I can think of many amazing outfit idea's as-well but I can't wear the clothes I know will look good because they won't suit my large chest or will show a bump of a tummy which makes me very self conscious. I'm turning twenty one in a month and finally I got fed up of my size and decided to get up and get active.
An avid watcher of youtube; I have watched all the fitness and healthy lifestyle videos under the sun and actually tried some of the workouts - to find myself falling flat on my face. I decided to take the plunge and join my local gym, I ended up choosing 24/7 fitness in Norwich because the facilities looked amazing, they have a ladies area specifically for the anxious one's of us who are intimidated by the bulky people in the main part of the gym (damn those big muscles), and also the community is amazing as-well - I hadn't even been there five minutes and I was already chatting away to another girl (mainly asking how the hell do you use this machine).
I also ventured over the gym the next day too (commitment right there) even though my whole body was aching. However I worked through it and developed a mini plan for a workout, I started with the treadmill doing thirty seconds of slow walking then a minute on a high incline (which is rather like walking up a steep hill to get your blood pumping) and then a jog for two and a half minutes and continue until I hit 20 minutes. Obviously to most this is nothing but since I haven't exercised since I was fifteen i'm going to be taking baby steps whilst continuing to push myself a little further each time. I then go on a bike for about 10 minutes followed by trying out everything in the weights section. I particularly like the leg press machine (you push your feet against a board and stretch your legs outwards and in again), probably because I do the same action to change my furniture around in my student room each week (weird habit I know).
Friday night I went to a Zumba class, since I had been doing dancing for such a long time I was in my element in this class. At fifteen I had seriously thought about getting a Zumba qualification because I enjoyed it so much! The class was an hour and by the end my face had changed colour to my gym shoes a nice hot pink, however I'll definitely be going back again.
As for my body pump class this morning (which was hell to wake up for) I didn't really get into it as much as Zumba the previous night. We used a mat, weights and did lots of squats and I just found that even though I was sweating I wasn't having fun (which for someone who hates exercise I find quite essential). Instead i'm going to try out BodyJam next week (again a dance based class where you learn routines) as maybe that will be more up my street!
Generally I eat quite healthy as i'm a pescetarian however I was still a little too fond of Mcdonalds and my favourite Shakeaway Milkshake (nutella with cream and milkybar buttons); I haven't completely cancelled these out of my diet but i've made some changes. For example I try and not buy meals whilst i'm out - because of temptation from bad food and also it burns a hole in my pocket, and instead of having a milshake a day; having one every so often for a treat isn't too bad For food prep at home I add a lot of fish in my meals and also have a lot of pasta (trying to curb my pasta obsession gradually) but have considerably smaller meals than I used to, instead having several small meals to replace the hefty ones I had three times a day. A helpful thing to do is if your meal is not overly healthy add some side salad, lettuce, spinach or kale into it to make sure your still adding a small amount of green's without it overpowering your meal.
As for gym gear as i'm a complete novice at fitness clothing i've dabbled in a few cheaper stores before fully investing in anything, except for my Panache Sports Bra. As a woman who's fuller in the chest region, when it comes to buying everyday bras that offer enough sport yet do not look like granny underwear it can be more than a slight challenge and that struggle is considerably worse when it comes to sports bra's. After researching on which brands have bras with more support and less bounce I found the lovely Panache. Since wearing the bra i've experienced minimal bounce, everything's stayed in it's proper place, and boobs have NOT gone flying which is all can ask for in a sports bra.
That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the first installment of the Slim Summaries and next post in the series will be up hopefully on Wednesday.
What are your favourite ways to keep fit?
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