S/O of "resolutioners"

[Doc_Lobster]

How did you get started in your H&F habits?

I was never in any sports in school, because I am slow and uncoordinated (and also nerdy). I was also always naturally thin so I never really felt all that motivated to work out when I was younger.

Then I chubbed up quite a bit in my early 30s. In 2011 there was a fitness challenge through work, and I decided to participate because I was starting to become overweight and I just didn't feel good or healthy at all.

I did the whole challenge and then continued working out, and started lifting and switched from the elliptical to running. Then a few months later I started spin and yoga in addition to the other stuff.

Been at it ever since.

[brittmk0922]

My parents put me into martial arts at a young age, so I was lucky that I grew up pretty h&f minded. I ended up getting into the army and keeping that up for awhile until I was forced to leave due to health problems. That was the start of a couple years of gaining weight while I struggled with other problems. I recently got back on the wagon full force again after dabbling for a good year poking it with a stick

[mollyjean]

Jan 1, 2013 22:51:38 GMT -5 Doc_Lobster said:

How did you get started in your H&F habits?.

I was always an athlete, but NEVER a runner. However, my Dad ran many marathons and various other races. Growing up I didn't grasp how amazing this feat was... I just knew it was cool because we got to take a lot of trips to far away places and make signs for him Oh how naive!

Last year, in April, I decided that I wanted to experience that "runners high" he always talked about. So I just started running. 3 weeks later I signed up for a 5k and I've been hooked ever since!

[joenali]

I grew up swimming. Started swimming lessons at three and joined the swim team at 7. There was a few years post college where I didn't do much, I may have hit the pool sporadically, but that's it. I started racing triathlons a little over 5 years ago. I've been hooked since.

[kams]

I grew up playing sports, and always worked out. After having my DD (2 years ago today!), I experienced some ppd and gained almost 20 lbs after losing my pg weight. So, last New Year I decided I needed to get back to myself, and so I kicked it into high gear. It's been a great year.

[RoryGilmore]

I grew up involved in a lot of sports. I was very active and always on a team. When I went off to college, I ruptured a disc in my back, had to have surgery, was out of commission for a LONG time and my weight started on a yo-yo pattern. Once I could exercise again, I just did the gym and casual running thing and would start and stop over and over again. Right before I got married, I started running to lose weight and was doing great but when we started trying for kids, I had several losses and spiraled into a pretty dark place. After having my 2nd child and transitioning to being a SAHM, I decided it was my turn to take care of my body and find a way to focus on me (I had been pregnant or nursing for something like 4 years with 2 live births). I started running and have just loved my body for its strength and resilience since that time. My daughter is turning 2 in 6 weeks and her birthday is so special to me because it was also the birth of a new me -- the kind of mom I want my kids to see -- healthy, strong and balancing being a mom, a wife and a woman.

[mollyjean]

Jan 1, 2013 23:02:14 GMT -5 kams said:

I grew up playing sports, and always worked out. After having my DD (2 years ago today!), I experienced some ppd and gained almost 20 lbs after losing my pg weight. So, last New Year I decided I needed to get back to myself, and so I kicked it into high gear. It's been a great year.

Happy birthday, Baby Kams!

[kams]

Jan 1, 2013 23:10:00 GMT -5 mollyjean said:

Jan 1, 2013 23:02:14 GMT -5 kams said:

I grew up playing sports, and always worked out. After having my DD (2 years ago today!), I experienced some ppd and gained almost 20 lbs after losing my pg weight. So, last New Year I decided I needed to get back to myself, and so I kicked it into high gear. It's been a great year.

Happy birthday, Baby Kams!

Thanks Mollyjean!! It was very happy

[vanillahip]

I have always been... What's that term, skinny-fat? Fairly thin but flubby, I "played sports" but was never athletic.

But I AM crazy high strung with an anxiety disorder, and I threw myself into yoga in my early 20s in an attempt to avoid meds. Then I dabbled with jogging for a few years until this summer, when I quit smoking and once again needed something physical for my mental health (also as a measure of my lungs healing, running now is so different from 4 months ago!)

[Deleted]

I learned that running was a great stress reliever from my dad, and started running a lot in college. I also had access to a gym for the first time there, and fell in love. Working out distresses me (mentally and physically) in a way that nothing else can.

[HiC]

I didn't grow up in a sporty house. They discouraged most sports because they interfered with dinner time. I rode horses as a kid and that's about it. I started working out and taking up sports when I turned 40. I wish my parents weren't so lazy....I'm doing the exact opposite with my daughter.

[Doc_Lobster]

My mom grew up in abject poverty and my dad was from a farm (he had to spend his after school time working on the farm) so I think that might be why they never encouraged us to be in any sports. It just wasn't something that was on their radar.

However, we were active kids. Always outside, almost never any TV.

[taratru]

I played sports all through high school and ran for a couple of years in college, but these last couple of years started after DD3 was born. I was at an all-time high in weight - in fact, I had lost it all and gained back 10 more. So it started as a way to lose weight after I saw my fat butt from behind in a picture.

Now I just love running for a lot of reasons - the goals of it, the time alone every day, the way I look, the way I feel, and it allows me to be competitive. It's also something my daughters are super proud of.

[Deleted]

I was watching The Biggest Loser with H and few years ago and realized some of the contests weighed less then me (at their starting weight) that was a huge kick in the pants.

[al320]

I was also never athletic and was always skinny. I gained weight in my late 20s/early 30s... I hit apoint all of the sudden when i didnt recognize myself in pictures andsuddenly realized i had gained a lot of weight (i never weighed myself, so i never actually knew how much). So i started eating less and i joined a gym, started going to spin, then After a few months, figured i should be able to run a mile, then when i couldnt it became a personal challenge lol

[krista]

My mom took me to an aerobics class in 1987 and exercise has been a routine part of my life ever since. wow, 25+ years!

[agswife]

I was a lazy bum. I swam in high school, but was chubby and slow. I started working out before my senior prom for vanity purposes and then realized I liked how it made me feel, so I stuck with it. I started with aerobics/weight training classes and the elliptical, then moved on to doing weights on my own, spin class, and in the past few years, starting to run (I say starting because it seems like every time I start and get a good mileage going, I have a major life change - surgery, a baby, etc.)

[juliahenry]

I've always enjoyed exercise and once I got to college and could do it on m own terms, I started to run and work out regularly but with no real plan. My dad is still really fit at 77 and he modeled good h&f choices to me my whole life - he still runs and goes to the gym 4-5 times a week!

Between grad school and work, my fitness routine got more sporadic (still there, just no plan or routine whatsoever). Then, when dcs came along, I had terrible pregnancies x2. I gained a ton, lost it all with #1 and was thin and in great shape before getting pg with #2 (they're 4 years apart so I had a good few years between them).

Since having dd, it's been harder to lose and to exercise -we moved basically three times in six months in 2011, my work situation isn't what I want it to be, and I have less time and flexibility for exercise and healthy eating.

So that's me. Exercise has kind of always been there, good food choices come harder. I'm working in it and I think that this is the year when the last pregnancy/baby weight will be gone!

[agrippa]

My parents tended to sign us kids up for sports to burn off energy when we were really yoing, so I just grew up playing them. By high school, I played multiple sports all year round. In college, I dropped all of them for attempting rowing. The first year I sucked (what 5'2" kid wouldn't?), but, the risk of being forced to be a cockswain pushed my competitiveness into overdrive and I busted my butt to get fast. The second year, my friend (also a shortie) and I were the top two rowers on the team, and our boat won what was then the defacto national championships. Doing that really changed my outlook on what I could make myself do if I really wanted to. So, now I run and dabble in other sports as well. They interest me, and I love feeling like I could really do well if I sat down and actually worked hard for it.

[sadlebred]

I was a fat kid even though I was active on the swim team and equestrian competitions. I started to get in shape in college. I loved riding my bike around campus and going for walks. I saw how unhealthy my parents were and vowed never to be that way. Unfortunately, they are both morbidly obese smokers today.

After college, I got into mountain bike racing and haven't looked back. I do about 20 races/year between mountain biking and my beloved cyclocross. I ride my bike 5 days/week. I still ride horses as well.

[robin]

I did gymnastics through elementary school and danced thru high school.

I became a lazy sack in college and was horribly unhealthy.
I didn't really start working out until after I was married, so 5 years ago? I became a massage therapist and started working in a gym and traded with a personal trainer. Then I just fell in love with exercise and now I'm a spin, bodypump, bodyflow instructor and couldn't be happier

[IIOY]

I was a competitive swimmer starting at age 9 through until I graduated from high school. After that I ran.

In my mid-twenties I started gaining weight. Once I figured out that the whole concept of "low-fat" was code for "simple carbs that make you fat," I was able to change my diet and slim back down.

I exercise more for my mental health than anything else. I need to work up a monster sweat several times a week for an extended period or else I just don't feel good.

[gumi]

i did swim team for many years as a small kid, and figure skating. my dad started taking me hiking maybe when i was 10? by middle school, we were running flat parts of trails. i joined cross country in high school. got sidelined by a stress fracture my senior year, became a raver and got addicted to horrible substance. then started marathons in college to sober up. did that for awhile , got injured again and became a triathlete.

[mrshandy]

I didn't grow up in a very H&F house. My mom did lose weight here and there, but it was always up and down.

I did JV soccer and volleyball in high school, but was not good enough to make varsity. In college, I worked out occasionally, usually running on the TM. I lost like 15 lbs in grad school before DH (then BF) moved in with me, but once he got here I gradually gained back all of the weight.

It wasn't until a year after I had DS that I finally became what I would call a runner. I committed to training and stopped making excuses. Running races is really what motivated me. It's been an awesome addition to my life and I'm excited about what my future will bring.

[cinco]

My Dad started a gymnastics team, so I spent my early years in a gym. I quit gymnastics in high school, but stayed fairly active with running and work out videos. After college, I started running races with my now husband. I went through running spurts and also loved going to the gym. I've always been a cardio junkie, what can I say? I started getting into racing after having my son. It's been fun pushing myself and getting faster than I thought was possible. I would definitely lap my 20 year old self

[jene]

I started as a NY resolutioner my senior year of college. I managed to pack on about 30 pounds through lots of late night eating and drinking. I lost about 10-15 pounds and started the cycle of gaining and losing them. I finally got sick of wishing that I was healthier, skinnier, etc, and started working out with a trainer and got my diet back in order.
I finally lost the 30 pounds, and maintained that weight for a couple of years. I am up about 15 pounds from that weight right now. The thing that hooked me was running. I started out barely being able to run around the block, and I just completed my 6th half marathon this fall.

[shorty20]

I was always athletic as a kid, but after college, life got in the way. Totally stopped exercising and ate horribly, gained 20+ pounds.

I vowed on New Year's Day 2006 to lose weight for my upcoming wedding that May. I totally changed my way of life, lost 15lbs by the time of my wedding and another 10 after that. Started the C25K program the next year and became a runner. Have kept *most* of the weight off since then, and have now completed over 70 different races of varying distances, and am now a green belt in Taekwondo, and took up snowboarding.

[osulori]

Shortly after I got engaged in 2006, I discovered that the scale had hit a number that I'd always said it would never get to (thank you, grad school stress eating and a total lack of working out). I joined the gym immediately after seeing that number and started paying attention to what I was eating. My sisters decided to train for a half marathon that next spring (so, spring 2007?) and dragged me along for a lot of their training races and runs while we were in Myrtle Beach for spring break. I got the bug and never looked back.

[Deleted]

I was really beat down emotionally with issues that I struggled with and in the past have always had an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. In the past I have exercised for hours and hours on end and restricted diet or not exercised at all and ate a ton. I got myself into therapy about 8 years ago to work on my mental health. About 3-4 years in after I really started to learn how to take care of my mental health, I wanted to start taking care of my physical health.

I also volunteered to help a 5k near my apartment and a few weeks later I was out walking the same. Slowly I started running it little by little and I've been working out ever since.

[texassmith]

In 7th grade P.E. we had to run a mile. I beat all the girls and most of the boys, so I decided to join the cross country/track team. I ran in high school too, then quit for basically 10 years. I finally picked it back up last March.