When I was a kid, I was fat. Not chubby, not chunky, but capital F-A-T FAT.
My name is Samantha, but my classmates never called me by my name.
Instead, they called me Fat Cab, Tubbo, Lardo… whatever hurtful hate they could hurl at my face.
I cried EVERY DAY on the way home from school.
“I’ll show them!” I’d think to myself as I clenched my firsts envisioned myself taking setting the pace during our school’s daily mile. In reality, I was always the last one.
But in spite of these moments of inspiration, things didn’t change. In fact, they got worse. Because by the time I was entering college, my weight was starting to become a serious problem.
At my heaviest, I could hardly walk up a flight of stairs without heavy breathing.
I couldn’t run, and honestly, my walk was more of a waddle.
I had lost all my confidence, I mean ALL of it, but stuffing my face with sugar was the only way I knew to feel better.
So I ate, and ate, and then ate some more.
I started showing signs of pre-diabetes and but it wasn’t until I watched my Uncle Rob undergo a quadruple bypass that I knew something needed to change, and fast.
If I continued on the road I was on, I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have left.
The changes were gradual at first…
… I started taking the stairs instead of the elevator…
… I started biking more and driving less…
… I bought a gym membership and yes, I actually went!
Not every day, sometimes not even every week, but I was usually pretty damn consistent.
I started reading up on nutrition and I changed my eating habits.
I was SHOCKED to learn how wrong I’d been about nutrition...
… I realized that eating fruit first thing in the morning was spiking my blood sugar and making it harder for me to drop weight, even though I’d been told it was the “healthy” thing to do…
… I learned that I was truly addicted to refined carbohydrates, and I cut 90% of them out of my diet…
… I discovered that I could have a “cheat day” once a week and return to my old ways, and I’d STILL lose weight!
Name a diet, I tried it: keto, paleo, Atkins, Mediterranean.
Ultimately, what I found is that my body responds best to a high fat, low carbohydrate diet that most people call the “Keto Diet”.
After going full keto, I started losing weight fast. Combined with now almost daily exercise, and I was no longer “waddling” through life.
I was walking, and sometimes, running through it!
Eventually I discovered Crossfit, my local box, and learned what the hell a WOD is. As I started lifting weights, I reintroduced a moderate amount of carbohydrates back into my diet and started packing on muscle.
The milestones started coming faster and faster…
… My first sub 8 minute mile…
… My first pushup…
… My first pullup! (I can still only do 3 😉…)
No, I didn’t have a six pack then and I still don’t, but I was happy, healthy, and honestly felt like a damn hero some days.
Not because I was doing anything all that impressive in the weightroom, no. I say I felt like a hero because I had overcome my own worst enemy- myself.
I had overcome piles of misinformation, sidestepped dodgy diet fads, and found out what works for ME and MY body.
So yeah, I’ll call myself a hero and I’ll call you one too. Because if you are committed to improving yourself, if you grind day in day out to create a better version of yourself, then that’s exactly what you are.
And my website, Healthy Heroics, is for you. I started it in 2017 in an attempt to share my experiences with the world and help guide readers to fitter, happier versions of themselves.
I’m early in my mission of creating a million Healthy Heroes, but I’m not going to stop until it happens.
So whether you find yourself here in a state of health or not, whether you are comfortable in your own skin or crawling to get out of it, I want you to know that you, too, are exactly where you need to be.
And here at Healthy Heroics, I’m committed to help you realize that better version of yourself.
Until Next Time,
Samantha
