The Beginning

Dear Self:
It has been a while since we touch bases.

Today, I have decided to keep in touch with you more often. We embarked in this journey many times before. Last time we started, I promised it was going to be the last time we started the same journey.

Time to remember and tell our story. We are not starting over, we are recovering lost time. A set back is not the end nor the beginning. So here it is... sort of, how things started.

2012. I did not knew myself, or rather did not wanted to accept myself. 2012 was a difficult year for me. In 2011 relocated to Virginia and I reconnected with people that I thought wanted to be reconnected, and they wanted to, but not in the way I thought.
Whatever happened is not important. This is how I started talking to you and connecting with you. Read up. We are going to have a long time together.

During December 2012 I took a solo trip to one of the places I had on my bucket list since a child: ICELAND. I dream of the Northern lights, the thermal waters... the trolls! So after having a difficult year I rewarded myself the trip of my dreams! Not to my surprised, the trip became a life changing experience; but not they way I was imagine.

I found myself in a beautiful country, having great experiences and meeting great people. It was not enough. I was not happy. I was crying constantly, and even when having everything I wanted, I was so unhappy. It was time to face the facts and start making changes. I did not liked the person I was becoming; always complaining, always unhappy.

I came back and the first thing I did was enroll in the gym. It was the beginning of 2013: New year's resolutions! My first goal: workout every day.
The gym I joined provides a 30 minute free session with a personal trainer just for joining. I did not had the discipline nor the financial means to pay for a trainer, but it was free. I did prepare myself to be honest and truthful to myself and not commit to something I could not afford (resolution No. 2: Financially wise decisions).

I met Cesar. He was nice, and friendly. He was not pushy and even when he offered to sign up for the training sessions (they were on sale), he was very understanding and respectful when I explained to him that I first wanted to get into the habit of working out.

So the journey started. I imposed myself only one rule:
"If you do not feel like working out, go work out anyways. If after 15 minutes you do not feel like working out then you are allowed to leave."
The idea is simple. If I leave after 15 minutes, at least I got 15 minutes! The reality is that most of the times I would stay at least 30 minutes. In my head the conversation usually went:
- "15 minutes? Dude, if you stay 5 more minutes is 20 minutes!" 
Then when I got to 20 minutes, I would ask myself:
- "Why not 10 more minutes?"

And most of the time ended with at least a 30 minutes workout (alas only cardio).

Time passed by and I created the habit of working out, slowly changed my eating habits and made some drastic and somewhat impulsive decisions that transformed my life and my body. I lost a total of 45lbs.

In this new blog I want to tell my story. I want just to think about the journey I started back in 2013 and make myself go back on track.

I've been slacking on diet and exercise and gained 10 pounds. I know, it does not sounds like much, but I feel I am putting at risk all the effort I have put on myself and my goals. It does not matter if no one reads this, but I hope someone does.

Most people think that loosing weight is a magic trick. Is not. Is quite simple to explain: DIET and EXERCISE.

Sorry for the disappointment there. But I have news: it is very difficult. And for me I struggle the most with the DIET part.

We'll talk more about this in the upcoming posts. But rest assure, the struggle is real, and we are not alone. We (me and myself) will get where we want to.

Until next time,
Self