and then there was hope...

I was obese as a child and morbidly obese for 95% of my adult life.  At my heaviest I was 325lbs, 185lbs over the recommended weight for my age and height!  Buried underneath all that weight was about 500lbs of emotional baggage.  The weight has come and gone over many years…finally it was time to get rid of the weight and the emotional baggage that the weight was so desperately hanging onto. 

 In December of 2008 a friend of mine, Stephanie, convinced me to join a Boot Camp at a local gym.  Stephanie had lost over 80lbs herself; her success truly inspired me so I figured I would give it a shot.

I set up an appointment with her personal trainer about 4 weeks before Boot Camp was supposed to begin.  He was GREAT!  He was so encouraging.  We decided that I should do one-on-one conditioning training prior to the start of Boot Camp.  We tweaked my diet and he introduced me to exercise so I wouldn’t keel over the first night of Boot Camp.

I did great in those 4 weeks.  I dropped about 10lbs just from tweaking my diet and training with him once a week.  Aside from training once a week with the trainer, I would go to the gym a few times during the week but I would only walk on the treadmill.  I really HATE treadmills…blah!  Wait…I hate GYMS! The idea of walking into a gym gives me anxiety.

So, here it is, the “Big” day…January 20, 2009 Boot Camp begins. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was literally sick to my stomach.  I had no idea what I was walking into.  I knew 2 other people who signed up but had only known them for about a month.  I felt alone and scared and was already convinced this first class would be the last.

I walked into the room where the class was being held.  I see the 2 people I know and about 15 others who didn’t look like they needed to be there.  My thoughts:  “Crap, am I the only freak’n FAT person in here?”

Then I glance over to the instructors and think, “seriously?”  Standing across the room is some guy in camouflage pants and a perky little blond chic in pink.  My first thoughts on the guy instructor was “Geez, I guess he takes his job seriously”, and my first thought when I saw her was, “great”. 

So, Mr. Camou and Miss Perky get things started by asking us to introduce ourselves and tell us why we are there…wonderful…now I have to talk.  As if just walking into the room wasn’t humiliating enough for me, now they want me to talk…and do I really have to tell you why I’m here?  I wanted to say “Hi my name is Maria and I want to maintain my size 28 figure so I look good in my bikini this summer.”  Instead of saying what I thought, in a meek, sweet voice I just introduced myself and said I was there to lose weight.

So that part's done…AMEN!  Then they take us out side and say we’re going to run around the parking lot…WTF!!  RUN!!  I am so done with this.  I get paired up with a guy who towers over me with some long legs.  We’re a team; we need to do this together.  How am I going to keep up with this guy?  I was crying on the inside.  I tried to keep a smile on my face but, at that moment, I had never felt so humiliated in my life.  So the tall guy takes off and I am far behind.  He finished and I wasn’t half way done...CRAP!

So, I’m still running (running to me was walking faster than usual) and I see the tall guy coming back at me.  My first thought is “do we have to run back the other way?”  The New Yorker in me is silently cursing these 2 trainers out!  When he caught up to me and says, “C’mon, I came back for ya, let’s go”.  Huh…really?  I wanted to cry…that was the sweetest thing.  It was only because of that act of kindness that I even considered going back for the next class.  His name is Mark.  We became great friends.  Hey Mark…have I ever told you what a huge part you played in my success?  Thank you for what you did that day!