How I Got Myself Into Fitness // What Made Me Stay?

Hi 🙂 I’m excited to say that I’ll officially be blogging more on fitness and nutrition. I’ll still be posting recipes, so this will be a more versatile blog. I’m excited about this because I LOVE to talk & share about anything fitness/nutrition related. The topic ideas you all have sent me so far are GREAT. I plan to get through most of them by bunching similar questions together into one post 🙂

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Anyways, I’m Winnie! I currently live in Los Angeles, California. I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona this year in June 2016. I have a B.S in Food & Nutrition – Dietetics. I actually switched from an Architecture major into Nutrition after my first year in college, which was the best decision I’ve ever made! I fell in love with my major once I began taking my nutrition classes. I currently work as a Nutritionist in LA. It’s a fun & back job I temporarily have for this summer.

I’m currently applying to other jobs that are more clinical based. I’ll be looking for work in a dietary or nutrition office! I want to be a Registered Dietitian so I need clinical experience before applying to a 1-year dietetic internship program. This internship program will train & prepare me for a test I will take when the program is over. If I pass, I’LL BE AN RD!! I also plan to be a Certified Personal Trainer within the next 1-2 years.

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Was I Always Fit?
No, I wasn’t. I actually grew up being too skinny for my age. When I was in elementary school, I was required to take medicine to gain weight. I wasn’t resistant when it came to eating, I simply just didn’t eat enough. This lasted until the end of middle school, when I finally hit an average weight for my age & height.

High School: In high school, I was on the cheerleading team. After cheer practice, my friends and I would go out to eat. As you know, high school kids don’t have much money to spend so McDonalds (chicken nuggets were my life), Burger King (fried fish burger was my go-to) & cheap fast food it was! My breakfast EVERYDAY was literally a hot pocket or I didn’t eat. For lunch, I had pizza, macaroni + cheese or chili cheese fries a majority of the time. Dinner was the healthiest because my mom made food at home. I would eat many unhealthy snacks like pringles, ruffles, hot cheetos, candy, chocolate & more!!

During my freshman year, I realized I started to gain weight but had NO idea why. I remember looking at myself in the mirror & that’s when my body image issues began. I began to get really insecure & hated where I was. I continued to eat all this bad food but it wasn’t until after high school I took action because I figured out the problem was my food intake.

College: The summer before college, I got a gym membership. I went consistently for several weeks and then would fall off the train of motivation. I didn’t know HOW to workout. All I used was the treadmill & elliptical. Weights weren’t something I touched because I didn’t know where to begin. For 3 years straight (2012-2014), I mainly did cardio. It became SO BORING. I forced myself to run because I told myself it was the only way I would lose weight. I saw some progress but it never lasted. I ended up where I began.

First year of college in 2012, I began to weigh myself excessively. I would force myself to sleep in and skip breakfast in hopes of losing weight. I weighed myself everyday. If I didn’t lose weight, I didn’t eat. I would drink water and if I was really hungry, fruits and vegetables. This hurt me mentally & emotionally. I went to sleep with my stomach growling. I was angry with myself for not loving and caring for my body. I was angry at how I shamed my body. I was angry for starving myself, but I still did it. I knew it wasn’t right but I didn’t stop. This continued until I began my BBG FITNESS JOURNEY, which changed everything!!!

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So, how DID I start my fitness journey?
It started in March 2015. I was on Instagram casually browsing through my explore feed. I saw one transformation picture from a girl who did BBG & I clicked on it. The results were amazing and what I loved was that she was focused on HOW she felt and not how she looked. I decided to look more into the program she did, which brought me to Kayla Itsines IG page! There were so many transformation pictures that shocked me in the best way possible. I’ve heard of so many other workout programs, even tried several of them but they never stuck with me. It was either too time consuming or inconvenient.

I did research on the BBG guides because it stood out to me from the rest!! When I read more on what others said about them, I was IN. I did the free trial because the guides weren’t free so I wanted to be sure before I made my purchase. I did the arms & abs workout and the next day…. I WAS SO SORE. Immediately, I knew I wanted to do this. I wanted to lose weight & look amazing in 12 weeks. I could get my perfect body in 12 weeks right? Wrong. I remember I told myself I would get to where I wanted in 12 weeks. By the end of the 12 weeks, I didn’t reach my goal. I was mad. Do the guides not work? Am I eating too much? Am I not working hard enough? I decided to repeat it again for 12 weeks and during this time, my perspective changed without realizing. It changed from wanting to change my body because I hated it, to wanting to change my body because I loved + cared for it.

From then on, I’ve gotten hooked. I definitely still had times where I was unhappy with where I was because physical progress is what seems to first motivate us to keep going right? Little did I know, most of my progress was mentally and emotionally. I slowly began developing a healthier relationship with food and myself without realizing. I wasn’t scared to eat carbs (bread, rice, etc) anymore. It’s needed for BBG circuit workouts! I wasn’t weighing myself excessively anymore. Also because my scale broke LOL but I think that was a sign to not focus so much on the scale. The BBG program became a part of my lifestyle that was SO enjoyable. I couldn’t see myself stop anytime soon.

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Now: I workout 5-6 times a week. It’s become a part of my lifestyle! It doesn’t feel like a chore because I love it. I love working out because it’s a time to destress and be by myself. It’s me time. I get to challenge myself and try new things. I discover weaknesses and build on them. I discover strengths and strengthen them. Doing circuit training is extremely fun to me. I like to change things up. I’m a bunny when I workout so I LOVE all the jumping!! To this day, I still do BBG circuit workouts but I randomly sub in a different move when I want variety. I still do LISS & HIIT. I’ve been trying many new studio classes & have been hooked onto Soul Cycle! I have a much healthier relationship with food now. I eat as healthy as I can but when I’m out with friends and family, I allow indulgences! I don’t feel guilty for that anymore. I use to binge eat, but I have that under more control now (I’ll be writing a post on binge eating).

I’m able to find balance with my social life, food, and working out. I’m now someone who is a lot stronger physically, mentally & emotionally. I love where I am because I get to look back at how much I have grown. I’ve been through a lot and I thank God for all these hardships. They have led me to where I am now! I’m not saying it’s all easy from here. There are going to be many more difficult situations coming my way but I see them as ways to continue growing. I see them as ways to learn & build on my character.

SO.. ALL THIS is how I got into fitness. The body shaming, my fear of food, my obsession with weighing myself & all the hardships that came with it is WHY I am so in love with fitness and BBG training. There were times I needed to mentally push through because it would be worth it. It taught me so much & showed there was a purpose for everything. It changed me in ways I felt wasn’t possible a year ago. It taught me to focus more on how I feel, rather than how I look. It showed me that I can use my experiences to reach out & to let others know they ARE NOT alone in their struggles. It’s opened so many doors for me & I couldn’t be happier! I stick with it simply because I found that it’s something I naturally enjoy doing. It doesn’t feel like an obligation AT ALL. It’s a hobby, a passion & most of all, SO MUCH FUN! Stick with it. Sooner or later, you’ll fall in love with the process. Remember, if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you!! 

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I hope this post gave an informing intro on how I kickstarted my journey. I also hope it wasn’t confusing! If you have any questions, PLEASE ASK AWAY! Don’t be afraid or feel embarrassed because I’m more than happy to help you! 🙂 DM me on Instagram to get a reply for sure since comments on photos are more difficult to reply to or miss!!