Working-Out my Goals As a child, I was always extremely motivated and active in many ways. I played at least one season of almost every sport that was offered, all the way up until I was 14 and had to choose which sports to stick with throughout high school. My choices ended up being hockey and soccer, as they were my two favorites which I had done the longest. When I was younger, I didn’t understand the importance of working out and eating healthy until it hit me like a ton of bricks. At the age of 16, I had come to the conclusion that I no longer wanted to participate in sporting activities offered by the school. I wanted to focus more on studying and getting into a good college. Therefore, I withdrew from my normal routine and started something different. At the time, I was only thinking about how I was bettering myself academically, not physical. With that said, I was used to being able to scarf down as much food as I wanted because I would normally just burn it off the next morning at practice. That was not the case anymore. As the weeks went by, my muscle slowly turned into fat without me even noticing it. I thought that my body was only changing because I was still in high school and growing. I didn’t realize that I was growing wider, not taller. It took about half the year until my mom finally told me what she saw. At first I was just plain offended and in shock, but then as I took a good look at myself, and the scale, and I realized what she saw and knew I needed to make a change immediately. Self-motivation is a hard thing to achieve right away, especially if you’re not used to having to find it within yourself. It took me weeks of having my mom wake me up in the morning so I could get to the gym before school. The majority of the time, I would fight her and tell her I would go later. Thank god she pushed me every day until I found it in myself to get up every morning and love it. I can remember the first time I woke up and actually craved a good sweat. Having addictions isn’t always bad, as long as it’s the right kind. I’ve found myself being addicted to the gym ever since then, but not so much that I over-do it. Getting up and going to the gym every day is not what got me into the best shape of my life, but also eating healthy and making the right decisions. I once read “losing weight starts in the kitchen, not the gym.” At the time I thought that couldn’t be right because you just burn off everything you eat, but the more I was working out, and not getting results, the more I realized that saying is true. Eating a healthy balanced meal can make all the difference. Being able to say I set a goal to get my life back in shape felt well, but saying that I accomplished that goal, feels even better. Just going to the gym and eating right wasn’t going to get me back into shape, but having the self-confidence to do it. There were many days where I thought I would never lose the weight I put on, and I wanted to give up so badly because I was convinced it was pointless. At one point I even went as far as hiring a personal trainer so I would have someone there yelling at me and telling me to try harder, like the old coaches used to do. Looking back now, I believe that quitting all the sports I was in and gaining a lot of weight was a blessing in disguise. Without going through the experience, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. I am now officially going to get my degree in Nutrition, and hope to one day even start taking classes towards my Dietician degree. It’s something that has always interested me, and now that I know I’m capable of anything, I’m putting my mind to it and trying my best.