At one time, I ran a blog called Fitterverse: A universe of fitness. One of my favorite features of that blog was an interview series I did with a variety of people at different stages in their fitness journey. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I’ve been able to recapture the text of those interviews. I’ve published them here on their original publication dates.
Emily M is a 30-something Community Outreach Coordinator at a non-profit working for individuals with disabilities. She’s from Cliffwood Beach, NJ. She found Fitterverse on Twitter and submitted her interview via email.
FV: What made you start your fitness program?
EM: As a child through college, I was always active and played sports, but had always been overweight. After getting married, experiencing problems with my thyroid, and becoming more sedentary, I found that I had gained a good amount of weight. When my husband and I wanted to have children, we were unsuccessful. One of the tests that I went through as part of the infertility treatment showed that I had early stages of endometrial cancer. My doctor suggested that we treat the cancer through medication and in addition wanted me to lose 100lbs. As I was 26, these options were the least invasive and would insure that my husband and I were able to have children naturally. If the cancer spread I would need a complete hysterectomy. She suggested that I join Weight Watchers. I decided to start my weight loss journey that day. I had lost 10lbs prior to walking into my first Weight Watcher meeting about a month later.
About 5 months into my journey, I was told that the cancer had spread and I needed to have a complete hysterectomy. Losing weight, working out and getting healthy was a great distraction from everything else that was going on in my life. At age 27, I had a complete hysterectomy. I had also lost about 60lbs and was feeling the best I could ever remember. There were plenty of days that made me wonder “why me?” but the hopeless optimist in me believed that there had to be a purpose, a lesson in the bad. I felt I had no other option but to learn from my experiences, to continue my weight loss journey and my journey to becoming fitter and healthier. It was up to me to garner the strength, find the good and make a difference. So I persevered on with my journey. I continued to lose weight, to try new workouts and work on finding myself.
So here I am three years later, I have lost a total of 105 lbs, found out that I am both emotionally and physically stronger than I ever imagined. I am willing and want to test myself in new ways. In October, I completed my first half marathon. Something I never even thought possible. Losing weight and getting healthy have allowed me to actually live my life. It might have taken cancer to get me here, but I AM HERE and I wouldn’t change it for a thing.
FV: What are your goals?
EM: When I first joined Weight Watchers, my ultimate goal was to get healthy. Yes, I wanted to lose weight, but I wanted a healthy relationship with food. I wanted to live a full and rich life without worrying about doctor visits and medication. As I lost weight and became more confident, I started adding fitness goals and continued challenging myself. I tried new workouts like kickboxing and CrossFit, but I also started to run. I wanted to run a 5K, which I did in November 2011. My time was 33:27. So my goal for the following year was to run a 5K in under 30 minutes and to try a longer distance. Both of which were accomplished. In 2013, I had set out to continue to try new things. I wanted to do some mud obstacle races and run a half marathon. I am happy to say that I did three mud runs this year and in October completely my first half marathon. I am already registered for a half marathon for 2014, but I plan to start training to run a marathon. In the near future, I am hoping to become certified to become a personal trainer and start a career in the health and fitness industry.
I have about 10 more lbs until I reach my goal weight. The goal weight I am using is set by Weight Watchers. It is a weight in the “normal” range of the BMI charts. I have been working hard to shed those last few pounds. When people say they are the hardest to lose, they aren’t lying!
FV: Are you measuring progress? How?
EM: I do measure progress. I do use a scale as a tool, but I refuse to live by the numbers on the scale. I prefer to measure progress by how my clothes fit and how I feel. I also look at things like was I able to add more weight when lifting or do more reps. Or was I able to run a longer distance or improve upon my time.
FV: Have you made any progress? If so, what?
EM: I have lost a total of 105 lbs. When I first started my journey, I wore an 18/20. Now I wear a size 8. I am always looking for a new challenge.
FV: How long have you been working out? On your current program?
EM: I joined Weight Watchers on March 6, 2010. While I have always been active, I started taking my workouts more seriously about that time. I also started running in 2011.
FV: What are you currently doing for workouts?
EM: I currently workout 5 days a week. Two days a week I will just run. The other days I am focused on weight lifting.
FV: Do you use any tools? Apps? Which ones?
EM: I use the Weight Watcher app to track my food intake. I use RunKeeper to track my runs. I also use the Weight Watchers ActiveLink. It tracks my movements throughout the day and lets me know how many activity points I earned.
I am a big fan of social media. I am greatly inspired and motivated by people on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I do have a Facebook page called My Journey 2 The Fit Life that I use to share my journey and hopefully motivate and inspire others.
FV: What do you find difficult?
EM: Personally, I find the emotional aspect of losing weight and getting healthy the most difficult thing. It can be frustrating and discouraging, when you are working hard, seeing results on your body, but you aren’t seeing the numbers on the scale move. Sometimes I look in the mirror and still see the “old version” of me. I do use “before/after” type pictures to remind myself of how far I have come and all the things I have accomplished experiences I have had.
FV: What do you enjoy most?
EM: This is hard to pick what I enjoy the most, but I think it has to be the feeling of accomplishing something you never imagined possible. When I completed my half marathon, I was so tired and so sore, but NONE of that mattered. I had run 13.1 miles! Before starting my journey the idea of running .1 miles sounded daunting.
FV: Do you have any advice for people who want to start a program like yours?
There are a couple pieces of advice that I would give to someone starting a journey to weight loss and getting healthy. First, don’t always rely on the scale.It is a fantastic tool, but you will never be defined by that number on the scale, nor does not determine your success. Take your measurements, so you can see how many inches you have lost. (Not doing this is my biggest regret!)
Also do not give up. Things will not always be easy. You will not always have good days/weeks/months. Those are important parts of the process. I truly think that in those hard moments is when we learn the most about ourselves, our journey and our goals.