Welcome!
I originally created this blog several years ago with the intent to document my transition from working as an engineer to working as a teacher. That year happened to be the craziest and busiest year of my life (it was like a full year of college finals weeks, over and over and over again) so the blog was a complete failure. TODAY I’d like to start writing for no particular purpose other than to document my life and to hold myself accountable fitness-wise. I will use later posts to get more into my meandering life and the choices I have made up until this point, but I want to spend this time discussing why I decided to try BBG!!
Before I get into my fitness story, I want to address something. In my professional life, I work in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault prevention. Therefore, I am constantly learning how to empower people (specifically women) more, so writing a blog about my issues with body-image feels terrible and counter-productive. However, I also know this is an issue that so many people are dealing with and I think the more we can relate to one another and empower each other, the better off we will be! I have come a long way in my journey toward self-love but I also recognize that I have a long way to go. Although I discuss healthy body image all the time, I am still struggling every day to truly believe it for myself. I want to make it clear now before I begin sharing my story that I do not believe that you have to have a low body fat percentage or weigh a certain amount or look a certain way to be healthy. I think healthy looks completely different on every person and I am only looking to become the healthiest version of myself. With that being said, I will mention weight loss in my discussion because that is currently a goal of mine. I just want to make sure everyone reading is prepared for that discussion.
Okay, so BBG! If you haven’t heard of Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide (BBG) program yet, google it. Better yet, Instagram it because there is some INTENSE motivation on Instagram from women all over the world who have made amazing transitions through this program. I am often skeptical of transition photos and of workout plans that promise amazing results, but I decided to read more about it and what I’ve found seems completely credible. First off, it isn’t an overnight program. It takes 12 weeks to complete 1 round, and most people who have amazing results are over a year into the program. This is way more believable to me and I love that it isn’t a “quick fix.” So, I decided on Monday to give it a shot. If you’d like to learn more about the workout itself or the plan, check out her site https://www.kaylaitsines.com/collections/guides or just google it and read the many other reviews out there. If you have any specific questions for me, feel free to ask!
So, a little about me, fitness-wise. I was always an athlete growing up. I played soccer my whole life and was pretty serious about it in high school. I also played rugby in college and now I play volleyball (much less competitively). With that being said, I have NEVER been happy with my body. I can remember one short period of time in my entire life that I managed to go several days in a row without thinking about how my body looked (I was living in van and hiking every day – more about that later). This was amazing to me since I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t obsess over body image after the age of 5. I have always had very thin friends and I am built like you would expect a rugby player to be built. I have never considered it “girly” enough to possess the amount of muscle that I have and to have bone structure as large as mine is. After my freshman year of college, I started gaining weight and my image of myself began to deteriorate more, not because of the number on the scale or because I think I need to be thin to be happy, but because I felt sick all the time. I was exhausted, depressed, and I ate to make myself feel better. Eventually, I would reach a breaking point where I would say “enough is enough” and I would begin a clean eating plan and start exercising a ton. I would track everything and remain extremely strict but I would always go right back to my old habits once there was an excuse to do so (finals week, holidays, etc.) and lose all the progress I had gained. The one time I did see some success was with a vegan diet plan where I lost 12 pounds in a month and felt much better. I’ve realized now that this was because I have a dairy intolerance. Since I figured this out, I have been seriously limiting dairy and definitely feeling more energized and less bloated.
So, before starting this program, I weighed myself but I haven’t taken any pictures yet! I know, I know, I’m supposed to take before pictures but they just sound terrible. I’m not going to post my actual weight here because I think it leads to people comparing themselves to each other, but I will say that my goal is to eventually lose about 20 pounds. With that being said, I’m going to try and focus my attention on how I feel and my ability to do the exercises and just hope that I make slow and steady progress.
Let’s do this!!!
I’ll write another post once Week 1 is complete to let you all know how it’s going!
-Melissa
gracelessevolution 