My Fit Forties Journey

Forty years old??? Omg I'm having hot flashes just thinking of that number! It sounds so old, and not exciting. When you hit your "Dirty-Thirties", it just sounds cool, and you have finally left your childish 20's behind. You are finally a REAL adult, according to our parents at least. Then when you reach "Nifty-Fifty", it's an awesome milestone! I mean, there's no going back now! Half a century old! People want to celebrate you! But forties... there's nothing but to make sure you are fit and fabulous, and aging gracefully. Wait, that actually sounds exciting now!

I have always loved physical activities. I grew up running on the track team, gym and weight classes in high school, I became a certified personal trainer, I am a registered yoga instructor, I've completed races such as The Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, WipeOut, etc. Those kinds of things excite me!

But I struggled with my weight throughout my 20s and 30s. I was an underweight baby and teen. I had my daughter when I was 17, and the weight started packing on in my mid 20s. My weight fluctuated from 115lb to 130lb. Up and and down throughout the years. My fittest years however, were from 30 to 33 years old. I got into CrossFit, Boxing and Muay Thai! Then after 33, that's when most of my weight came and just wouldn't leave. By the time I reach 37, I weighed 155lbs. I am 5'1.

Ahhhh... the good old aging process. Or, is it? I got married when I was 33. My husband and I used to workout together before marriage, but once he had a taste for my cooking, it was game over! :P You see, I love to cook! He loves to eat! I love to make people happy with my cooking. My daughter and I rarely ate things like white rice at home. But my husband who loves good ol' traditional Filipino food, brought that into our house. I started growing a taste for the "white rice with everything" theme that seems to go with Asian eating. And AYCE sushi!!!! GAME OVER!!! Marriage was a journey of food! And weight gain.

I yo-yo dieted for years. I was in and out of the gym. It was so hard to motivate myself to get back there. I struggled with super painful joints that brought me to see a rheumatologist, who diagnosed me with psoriatic arthritis. It was too painful to workout. So I didn't. Oh, and yes! I have psoriasis! That was also a shock to hear as I thought it was just eczema. I am so insecure about my skin, especially on my feet, because of the psoriasis. I tell you, people have no shame in asking, "What's wrong with your feet???", with the look of disgust on their faces.

I also saw a respirologist, because I was not sleeping. I thought maybe I had sleep apnea, or maybe because the pain was so great, I couldn't sleep. So I did a couple of sleep tests where they monitor you for the night. He told me that I had a very mild case of sleep apnea, but did not believe it to be true sleep apnea. His next words are what got me. "Try to lose some weight. You will notice a huge difference with your sleep." WHAAAATTTT?!?!?! That's when it really hit me that I was overweight! People can see it? Its affecting my health AND MY SLEEP?!?!

I was embarrassed, super insecure and depressed.

In time, I reached a point where I decided to be a woman on a mission! I planned to begin a new journey in life. I had to. No one else would be able to do this for me.

It took me some time to get my act together and figure out what I had to do, because I still had too much pain and was too tired all the time to do anything. But I was on a mission. I made a pact with myself. I was going to be FIT in my FORTIES! I refuse to be defeated by my pain. And I refuse to be overweight and unhealthy.

I have begun my journey. It took a year to see any weight drop. I am 38 (39 in one month), so I have a year to reach my goals, which I will share with you below.

I joined a 10 week weight loss challenge with some friends last year. $50 in the pot, winner takes all. Prize was $500! I didn't win. Actually, I didn't lose either. Weight, that is. I lost nothing!! I wanted to punch myself in the face when I saw the winners new body! DAAAANNNGGGG!!! SHE LOOKED AMAZING!!!!!!! So, I joined the challenge again! And again... aaaannndddd again. Finally!!! I started losing weight and I won one challenge!!! I lost around 20lb this past year. I did however gain some back, but I am headed in the right direction! Now, I just need to get my husband on board...

GOALS for My Fit Forties (These are appropriate ranges for my height):

- Weigh 115lb to 120lb

- 118% to 121% Body Fat

- 26" to 28" Waist

- Sleeping 7 to 8 hours per night

- Pain under control

- Psoriasis under control

- Secure and confident in myself (As silly as it sounds, this is something I am really struggling with)

- I've always wanted to do a photo-shoot (Don't laugh!!! It will happen hahaha!!)

- I want to become more educated in pain therapy so I can help others.

- Like I stated earlier, I am a registered yoga teacher. I do not teach, because I have come to the point where I started believing I wasn't good enough to teach, and I was too overweight to teach people to be fit and healthy. I want to change this and start teaching my own classes, and get back into personal training.

I am sharing this with you in hopes that this will make me more accountable to my own words and actions. I hope you will journey with me and see my progress.

I remember loving the saying "Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving". Do you remember that? It's from 13 Going On 30! Well, my new mantra is, "Fit, Fierce and Fabulous!" Hard to choose from so many great sayings though, so I added some hashtags below. Leave a comment if you have some awesome quotes!

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone travels the path to good health. Everyone will realize how important is it one day.

xoxo, Sarah Jane

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