Some may know that I am not the slimmest of girls. In fact, I'm far more than curvy. I am what you would call overweight/obese/whale-like, whatever. I know that, and I'm not pleased with that. In October 2012 I joined a gym. Not because I was ashamed of how I looked or because I wanted to be slimmer, but because I was getting a lot of pain in my joints. I didn't visit a doctor and wasn't told to join. I knew what was causing the pain and I knew what I had to do to fix the issue, so I joined a gym.
I decided to join the gym Curves. Curves is a womens-only gym which offers a circuit to give you an all over body workout. It can be on the pricy side compared to other gyms but I'd heard a lot of great things and my mum used to attend before her disability worsened.
For £35 per month you get your Curves membership. Each time you attended you would do 3 runs on the circuit. The circuit involves weight-machines and stations. You're on a machine for 30 seconds, a station for 30 seconds and so on. You do this three times, totalling only a 30 minutes session. Good, huh?! On average, I would burn 400 calories per half an hour session.
Curves weigh you and measure you regularly to track your progress. At first this was a little daunting. I'd been overweight, 'fat' and unhealthy my entire life and hadn't stepped foot on a set of scales for years! The thought of having to do this in front of somebody else terrified me! However, after my first time doing it, I was pleased to be seeing results and I looked forward to weigh-in day.
Not only do Curves offer you exercise and fitness, they also encourage their members to join their healthy eating plan. At first, I wasn't a bit resistant to do this. I'm a bit of a fussy eater and it seemed far too hard to me to stick to. However, I gave it a go the best I could and it wasn't actually that bad. You're allowed any amount of 'free foods' you like!
After 4 months being at Curves I'd managed to lose around 1 and a half stone! I'd shocked myself. I'd never managed to lose weight before. I'd only ever gained. I was proud of myself that slowly, but surely I was losing weight and I was noticing a change.
However, I went to the gym one day and the gym instructors told me that they were closing down within the week due to low number of members at this branch. I was gutted. I loved Curves. It worked for me. This meant I had to start my search again for a gym. (Curves have branches all over the country and some may be different to the one I attended. Please view the links to check Curves out. I would totally recommend them! They may be pricy and may not offer as much as other gyms but they really do work and they're designed for women just like me! The not-so-confident-gyms-are-full-of-thin-people type gymaphobe!)
I had more confidence this time though and I started to go swimming (something I'd not done in over 11 years!!!). I bought myself a swimdress that covered all the icky lumps and bumps and I now had confidence in getting into the pool. I now absolutely love swimming!
There were loads of gyms in my town and I decided on a typical bog standard gym. I enjoyed the gym at first. I went at least 3 times a week and I loved it. They did classes and I loved the Zumba. However, after a while the people who were at the gym started to change. People were getting slimmer and slimmer. So slim that they didn't really have any weight to lose. I lost a lot of confidence seeing people at the gym who were already slim. I stopped going to Zumba and I stopped enjoying the gym. When summer drew in and the months got hotter I couldn't cope being there. It was far too hot, too hot to work out and I wasn't enjoying it at all anymore. I'd leave the gym looking like I'd been dragged through a bush backwards then dunked in a bucket of water. Other girls would leave looking slimmer and more perfect than what they did when they went in!
In November 2013 me and my friends booked up to go on holiday to Magaluf in July 2014. This was my incentive. I'd unfortunately put on a stone that I'd lost at Curves, by not going to the gym over the summer months so I had even more work to do.
I still wasn't enjoying the gym and the holiday was constantly on my mind. I couldn't go to Magaluf looking like this. People would laugh, I wouldn't be comfortable in anything or with anyone. I suddenly hated how I looked and began to get more and more self-conscious. It wasn't about my joints or my health anymore. I wanted to look nicer and be slimmer. I was done with being big!
I realised this gym wasn't for me. I'd lost nothing since being here, I had no motivation to be here, I hated being here and I knew I needed a change. I cancelled my membership with the gym and I found another circuit gym in my town. Just like Curves except it wasn't women only, it was mixed. They also had a normal part of their gym just like a standard gym. They did classes too such as Zumba, Boxercise, Pilates and more!
I've currently only been at this gym for almost 4 weeks. However, I've already lost around 5lbs. I really enjoy it, the staff are great and it's definitely for me! I do Zumba regularly and try to attend the gym at least 3 times a week. I'm determined to lose weight for my holiday and drop a couple dress sizes.
I will keep regular updates on my weight loss.
I'm also going to do a post on diet food and what I'm eating to help achieve my goals. As well as this, I'm going to do a post on the best swimwear for curvy girls and also flattering gym wear to help give you the confidence to get in the gym and work.
Stay Confident x
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