WBF Blog

“Challenges are what make life interesting;
overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”
-Joshua J. Marine

“Confessions of an Ex- Couch Potato and My Second Chance at Life”

I want to start out by saying that in all honesty if someone would have told me two years ago that I would be writing articles about weight loss…healthy living…exercise…and proper nutrition - I seriously would have thought that I had landed in an alternate universe. My life was the polar opposite of all of those things. I knew nothing about weights or reps and to me a “circuit” was something that had to do with electrical wiring in the house. The gym used to just be somewhere that I drove past on my way to California Pizza Kitchen…and my old food shopping trips consisted of me whizzing past the produce on my way to the Doritos’s. I had spent years running past full length mirrors and avoiding the scale like it was the plague. It’s hard to explain how something so immense and so obvious could “sneak up” on me…but it did. Stepping on that scale and seeing 355 pounds pop up was probably one of the most horrifying moments of my life. It was worse than seeing Milli Vanilli in concert…it was worse than watching the movie Waterworld…it was worse than having liver and onions every day of the week. However, it was at that moment that I knew I needed to change my life. Not just another trip to Jenny Craig but a true total and complete lifestyle change. I guess there are only so many mirrors that you can avoid before it all catches up with you.

So I started…I took the first step that launched a whole new journey in life for me! I started Lisa’s Lifestyle and Weight Management program and after spending several afternoons talking to her and actually seeing what she had in her kitchen…I could see that I was going to need to rethink a lot of the things I had been doing. I got a garbage bag (actually several of the big leaf bags) and I just started throwing away and getting rid of stuff that didn’t need to be in my pantry. I was then introduced to Trader Joes…Mother’s Market…label reading…cooking…spices in food…low fat solutions to some of my favorite items…and my world began to change! I started getting out and walking everyday…each day I tried to go a little further. I started doing strength training… stadium stairs…the elliptical…biking…treadmill…and then everything but the kitchen sink! I started getting out on the weekends and instead of just going to a movie…I went out for a hike. I became active…felt awesome…and yes…lost weight! However- I didn’t just lose weight…I found a whole new part of myself that I never knew existed!

Sometimes change can be scary and other times it should be seen as necessary and wonderful. We all have challenges in life…things we want and need to overcome and it’s at that moment that we get to see all that we are capable of. We are reminded of things that we let fall by the wayside and we are introduced to things that we never even knew existed. I was reminded that eating those In & Out burgers did have a cost…even though I wasn’t aware of how big of a cost at the time. It cost me a day of volleyball on the beach; it cost me awe inspiring hikes up Yosemite Valley; it cost me whipping break neck speed down a mountain on a pair of skies…and eventually I realized that the cost was just too great. I never knew how many active things I wanted to do and would enjoy doing! I never realized that there were awesome hiking trails within 5 minutes of my house…or that kayaking on a warm summer’s day could be such a wonderful experience! I never thought I would be running in a 5K at 7am on a Sunday morning…or climbing to the top of a big hill and loving every minute of it! I never thought that the couch potato that sat home watching the Travel Channel…writing down all the wonderful destinations in a little notebook (in essence my life’s “To Do List”)…would be crossing off so many things these days! I have had the wonderful opportunity to travel the world…and now I’m not afraid of fitting into a seat…or walking around sightseeing for hours at a time. Furthermore- I realized walking around those Roman ruins… Paris streets and museums…and hilly Italian towns – it wasn’t just the amazement of seeing all of these things. It was seeing all that I had been able to accomplish. It was seeing that I had completely changed my life and with it I was rewarded with living my dreams!

Not to say that there weren’t “road blocks” on the way…because there were plenty of those. I had a string of unfortunate events that challenged me physically, emotionally, and mentally…and I wondered many times if my journey was going to end with me retreating to my old habits. In fact…one of my major hurdles was when I broke my foot about a year into my weight loss. I wish I could say that I was out mountain biking down a huge hill, instead of me just being klutzy and missing the last stair - falling on the side of my foot. Yet…there I was not only battling trying to lose weight but also battling with a cast on my foot and lots of pain. I was stuck on the couch…on the sidelines…with a perfect excuse to revert to my old ways. And that scared me…I was hardly able to even move around the house…and I had no idea if I could sustain all of the momentum I had been able to gain with my weight loss. However- someone once said that “you don’t realize how strong a person really is until you see them at their weakest moment”. I got to actually see that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was! I got to see that the couch potato that could watch hours of TV with no problem…does not exist anymore. The “new me” took over…and while the broken foot slowed me down…it didn’t take me out! I actually went to the gym…wheelchair, crutches and all… and did lots of upper body and one leg workouts! I still lost 7 pounds during those two months! And most of all…I realized that I could make it…and I would make it! I had finally “got it”…I had changed my life…my priorities…and the way that I dealt with everything that came my way! I realized that we are always going to have challenges in life…hopefully not broken foot challenges…but challenges none the less, and it’s all in the way that we deal with those challenges. We can overcome a lot more than we think we can!

Paying It Forward

There are few times in life that we can say we had “a calling” to do something. But sometimes if we are lucky in-between car payments and mortgages – something speaks to us in a way that is hard to explain. We find the thing that allows us to feel passion… excitement…meaningful purpose…and we believe that we can help make the world a better place than we found it. I discovered all of those things during my weight loss journey and I truly believe that it’s important for me to “pay it forward” and give to others all that was given to me. I was given a second chance at life…a chance to rediscover and reinvent myself…and in the end - I wouldn’t change my journey for anything because I couldn’t be here if I hadn’t been there. I know it’s hard to believe that I would be standing here…with a weight loss of over 140 pounds…a person that just a short time ago needed so much help, to a person who is now able to give so much help and guidance. However, unbelievable things sometimes happen in life; things that defy what we believe is possible. So just remember that even the highest mountain has a top and to get there you have to just start…put one foot in front of the other…and soon you are scaling great heights and realizing all the things in life that are possible!

Monica Hirtreiter, Whole Body Fitness Personal Trainer

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