Today’s Fit Five Friday features Kim from New York. Let’s see what she has to say about health, fitness, and her body.
1. What do you love about your body?
I love that my husband loves it. 🙂 I really like my legs.
2. What would you like to change about your body?
How other people see it? That would be great to change, but I would settle for just looking smaller. I’m really tall, so I can probably pull off being heavy better than others who are shorter, but I would love to be able to walk into a store a shop in the “regular” section, or be able to walk by a mirror and not cringe at how I see myself. I would like my students to not see a fat teacher when I stand in front of the classroom. There is such a stereotype that fat people are lazy and eat all day. I don’t fit either of those stereotypes. Once people get to know me, they know that is true, but so many people don’t even want to bother…because “fat isn’t pretty.”
3. Have you ever been or are you currently on a diet?
Yes… I’ve tried so many diets. My doctor put me on a diet when I was about 6 weeks old… I truly believe that kind of sparked the cycle that brought me to where I am today. The most successful diet was the South Beach Diet. We cut out carbs and bad fats. The weight melted away on Phase 1 of the program. But, when it was time to start Phase 2 and introduce “good carbs,” the weight came right back on! It was a hard program to follow… everything was expensive and took so long to cook. I followed Weight Watchers for about a year, and some of the weight did come off. I don’t really see that as a diet, but really a way of changing your relationship with what you put into your body. The problem with that is, again, it’s expensive to go to the meetings… I have a hard time living the WW way and not having the accountability of the meetings, but I can’t afford to go to the meetings. Right now I’m not dieting. I always try to watch what I eat, but I have little to no will power.
4. Have you ever or do you currently belong to a gym?
I have belonged to the YMCA in the past, but don’t right now. Again, it’s mostly a cost issue. We pay for a membership, then you have to pay if you want to go to a class or work with a trainer. It’s cheaper to be heavy, not work out, and eat crap. I used to work out about 5 days a week when I belonged to the Y. I would go to the weight room and do a 45 minute circuit and then spend about 30 minutes in the cardio room. I would change the routine up and sometimes flip the times, but I would usually spend well over an hour working out, 5 days a week. It wasn’t the most uplifting experience. Because of my size, some of the machines were hard to use… the machines were a tight fit and were not very comfortable. I know that some people stared at me while I worked out, and others just ignored me. I had one friend who was a trainer… tiny, tiny lady, but she was wonderful. She was one of those rare people who can’t see what size or color you are… she just doesn’t operate that way. When she was there, I always felt great, but I hated when she wasn’t there!
5. What does fitness mean to you?
To me it means being able to keep up with the lifestyle you want to have. I have my 3 kids and a dog that loves walks. I want to be able to play with the kids, walk with the dog, go on bike rides (I have a really nice bike that I’m not able to use because of my ankle injury). It doesn’t mean having the ideal BMI or fitting into the “right” size clothing. It doesn’t mean meeting a certain number on my scale, and it sure doesn’t mean meeting the ideal that the masses expect me to meet. It means being comfortable in my own skin, being able to do what I want to do physically, and being happy with who I am and how I feel.
Bonus: What is your current fitness goal?
My current fitness goal is to get back to riding my bike. I know that since my ankle injury I’ve gained some weight. I would like to start losing again and see how far I can get. So much is on hold waiting for my ankle to be better, but once that happens, nothing will stop me!!!
