As many of you who’ve been reading my articles know, I once weighed 340lbs. It was in January in 1997 when I was 25 years old that I decided it was time that losing weight needed to become my first priority. It was the same New Year’s Resolution I had made in previous years, only this time it was different. Why, because I had a new attitude to support my efforts.
I felt empowered and no longer a victim. Being told by my doctor that I would never get below 200lbs was something I wouldn’t accept. While my severe weight gain could be contributed to a benign pituitary tumor, I knew that I needed to stick to a plan and be consistent in order to reach my goal. That very January, I also started a new job at another television station and was no longer working overnights.
So, armed with my new schedule and even more importantly attitude, I plunged into a healthy lifestyle and put my health first. I started out walking and planned my workouts each week, basing them around my work and social schedule. During my walks, I focused on my goal and came up with new ways to motivate myself. I constantly had the right attitude and was not overwhelmed by the amount of weight I needed to lose. I knew that if I had the wrong attitude, I would be setting myself up for failure.
Never once, did I punish myself for a bad food choice, I dealt with it and moved on to the next step. I looked at exercise as “me” time and did not look at it as an obligation or something time consuming keeping me from something else. If I felt my workouts became boring, I changed my scenery or my activity.
I worked on sustaining my willpower, but new that I needed to plan ahead each and every day to keep myself on track. I can honestly say that each day I was presented with some sort of obstacle, whether it was being called in early for work, treats in the newsroom or late night snacks with friends. I combated these potential sabotage factors with getting up earlier to exercise, planning my longer workouts on my days off and bringing plenty of health food choices with me to work so I would not be tempted.
Each night before I went to bed, I checked in with myself and smiled, knowing I had successfully completed my daily goal and was on my way to reaching long term success.
Joanne Sgro is a Television Fitness Expert, Certified Personal Trainer and Sport Nutritionist. She is Certified in Pilates, Pre-natal/Post-Partum, Yoga and Senior Fitness. She specializes in Weight Loss, Post-Rehab and Post Cancer Training. Joanne's fitness plans and recipes are available globally on her website www.fitnessanswer.com. She resides in the Phoenix, AZ area with her fiancé, where she runs her personal training business, Fitness Answer, LLC.