Being a healthy weight is important for the overall performance of your body. I don’t believe in advancing the skinny-agenda or I don’t believe in losing weight just to look like some impossible ideal. However, I do believe that everyone should want to be as healthy as possible.

Below is a slideshow of Before and After pictures of women who lost weight. I can’t guarantee that they are healthier. I don’t know how they lost the weight and if they kept it off. I do know just from a first glance they do appear to be a healthier weight – and if viewed with the right mental state that should inspire us all to get our butts in shape at the gym!

* For full sized pictures at the original source on Pinterest click through each photo.

If, like me, you’re looking to get into better shape, why not try the Couch to 5K training schedule? That’s the program I’m currently training under… and I absolutely love it. Never before have I ever even remotely enjoyed running, but now I can’t wait for my next session! It’s the perfect program for beginners or those looking to get back into the running game after a long time away. Love love love it.

Grade: A

Pros: 

• Easy to understand/use
• Can cycle through your own music
• Has a built in journal for recording progress
• Can share progress on Twitter/Facebook
• Alerts you as to when to start walking/running

Cons:

• I wish it worked with something other than iTunes

Review:

I’ve always wanted to be a runner, I just hated everything about running. It’s hard! Last year I heard about the Couch to 5K program which is supposed to help non-runners complete their first 5k within 12 weeks. I liked the idea of it, but I was afraid to go to the gym and I hate the way bugs stick to my sweaty face when I exercise outside.

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There was a short period in my life where I was gloriously skinny in my early twenties. Going to the gym when you’re skinny is no big deal. You’re among your fellow skinny people in a happy skinny world. But when you’re overweight or even just a bit out of shape going to the gym is really effing intimidating.

So many times I’ve planned to go, bought new gym clothes and ended up staying home because I psyched myself out. I would image that everyone at the gym was going to be thin and glamourous and staring at me wondering why I was even at the gym. The truth is though, no one cares. The really fit people at the gym are so into their workout they don’t give a crap about you, and most everyone else will be just like you, so there’s no need to worry.

By psyching yourself out and saying “I’m too fat to go to the gym” you’re just killing yourself. Kinda, literally. I know it’s hard to take that first step though, so here are some tips for making the couch to gym transition easier!

Go During Non-Peak Hours:

When I first decided to start going back to the gym after what I lovingly refer to as The Skinny Years, I called up and asked what the non-peak hours were. As you can imagine, the gym will be really busy during 5am – 8am since a lot of people like to work out before work. Additionally, gyms are usually really busy from 4:30pm to 8:30pm because a lot of people like to go right after work or right before they eat dinner. If you call your gym they will be happy to tell you when the “off” hours are.

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Going to the gym is all about focusing on a healthy you. About 90% of your time at the ol’ sweatbox should be focused on being active. The other 10% should be spent on being courteous towards others getting their fitness on.

Whether you’re a gym newbie whose not yet aware of protocol, or you’re a gym rat who is so focused you often forget the house rules, repeat after me…

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January is known as “new year resolution” month at the gym. For the ‘regulars’ the gym becomes annoyingly overcrowded by people who will stop showing up by March (usually earlier). The ‘resolutioners’ show up in fancy new workout clothes and hire a personal trainer to take them through a couple of sessions.

If you’re a ‘resolutioner’ and you want to make it past the spring break mark, you might want to invest in one of these new fitness gadgets to help you keep stay on track. Of course you could always just create a basic excel spreadsheet with progress notes. That’s actually what I do – each day that I go to the gym I note the date and approximately how many calories I burned. Then on the last Saturday of every month I weigh myself and note that in the sheet.

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