This is a story of how my fitness journey started.

I grew up in a small town in an island called Alabat, located south of Manila.

I grew up as a sporty, outdoor-loving individual. I joined sports competition during my primary and secondary school days.

Being surrounded by sea, we always have fresh fish to eat. I grew up eating fried fish or fried processed meat (tocino, longganisa, skinless etc.)

My grandparents love to cook so I didn’t really need to, nor found any reason to learn how to, while growing up.

Fast forward to my college days, like most of the students, I just bought cooked food sold near the dormitory for two good reasons: first, it was cheaper; second, it’s way faster than cooking my own food. Doing so saved a lot of precious time especially when I had to juggle between deadlines.

On my first job, my company provided everything – from lodging to food. We could eat anything we wanted, because we have company cooks who will gladly serve whatever you requested (and within the budget).

Because of that, I didn’t really learn how to cook except for the basic fried and boiled food. When I’m on break from work, I just eat out since I missed the food in the city.

In 2012, I decided to work out of the country where I will be on my own. This time, there is no company cook. I have to feed myself.

Of course, I found the easy way out. I said I was busy, it was impractical to cook when you are alone, it is still easier to eat out or buy cooked food so I did just that.

For 2 years, I ate fast food or cooked fried food. I don’t even like vegetables. I eat them occasionally but only when mixed with lots and lots of meat. I only eat potatoes, but in the form of french fries, what else. Whenever we eat at Lao style hotpot with lots of vegetables in it, I will always pick the meat. Always. My reason? Vegetables don’t taste good. I have no idea how wrong I was.

In the exercise department, I’m always active. I ride bicycle going to and from the office every day. I work out at least 3 times a week.

In 2014 together with a group of friends, we decided to do #abs2014 challenge. We all wanted to have abs so we exercised more, counted our calorie intake, did plenty of abs exercises. But after several months, still no abs were achieved. How could that happen? Something was missing in our program.

We continued doing what we know hoping that someday, those elusive abs will show itself.

In April 2015, I got engaged. Then it hit me. I’m getting married in a year and I don’t really know how to cook. I’m going to have a future family and I’m not sure if I can keep up with my future children because of my unhealthy food habits. I was slim/skinny, have normal weight but I know I was not healthy. How can I be? I was having tummy problems during that time because of frequent junk food eating.

That’s when I decided to start eating healthy. I wanted to be healthy to make sure that I can take care of my future family, that I can keep up with and have adventures with my future kids. I found my WHY! It became a full-blown fitness journey, a lifestyle change. Here is what I did:

1. I started looking for easy healthy recipes online that I might like and tried them.
2. I decided to learn how to cook by following healthy recipes I found on the internet.
3. I gave vegetables a chance and tried eating new vegetable every week.
4. I decided to try salads, started eating fruits and took notes on which ones I liked.
5. I bought fitness guides and followed them.

You see, it doesn’t have to be big overwhelming changes, you can do it slowly, baby steps. What is important is that you decide to start now. I did not learn how to cook overnight, I did not wake up one day and liked vegetables right away. I decided to learn, I decided to try, and I decided to eat healthy. By doing so, I fell in love with the healthy lifestyle.

The bonus is, after 6 months of changing my eating habits, that elusive abs said hello! That was the missing step in our #abs2014 program, cooking and eating healthy.

Fast forward to present, this is what my normal week looks like.

1. Grocery shopping and meal prepping on Sundays. We usually cook healthy recipes for the whole week.
2. Work out 3 times per week for 1 hour.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. Eat healthy 80% of the time (which is easier when you already have food prepared).
5. Enjoy treat meals/ eating out 2-3 times per week.
6. Rest day on Saturday

I still eat ice cream, burgers, pizza and French fries during my treat meal days. I get to enjoy everything I eat. What I do is to eat mindfully and STOP when I’m full. This is my lifestyle now and I’m glad to say that my husband joined in this journey too. We do grocery shopping and cooking together, and this is one of the reasons why it became sustainable. Because we both decided to commit to it, for the sake of our future healthy family.

If you can relate to my story and have been thinking about trying healthy, I am telling you now is the best time to start.  Try to find your WHY, write it on a piece of paper, post it on your wall if you want, and decide to commit to it. Try to remember that you can only take care of your family when you are healthy. And to be healthy, you have to take care of yourself first.

Whenever you feel that you’re losing motivation, wanting to just stay on the couch and watch TV, or wanting to just eat the whole pizza, go check your WHY and hopefully just reading it will take you back on track. Good luck on your journey!

– anonymous

P.S. I decided to create a facebook page where I post home work out tutorials and fitness related articles. Follow me there: Maya Gets Fit

New Instagram name: @maya.getsfit