Three Months of Workouts: Wins, Struggles, and Surprises

Ninety days ago, I started taking my health a little more seriously and returned to the gym after over a decade (almost two).

In this post, I’m going to share my wins, struggles, and surprises from those ninety days. I don’t consider myself an expert in anything related to fitness, and yesterday I signed up for the professional guidance of a personal trainer. Don’t take anything I say here as advice. I’m sending it out as a way to document my story.

If you’re ready, let’s begin with the (flawed) mindset I had before returning to the gym.

My Mindset Leading Up to Change

Seventeen years ago, when I was twenty, I signed up for a gym membership for the first time. There, a trainer from the gym created a workout plan for me after taking some measurements and sending me on my way.

That plan was hard, but I didn’t know any better. The following days, after a workout, I was very sore, but I told myself I was not hurting, just sore, so I kept going.

One day, I experienced a physical reaction to the mere thought of going to the gym. It wasn’t the usual resistance you feel when procrastinating; this was deeper. It felt like the anxiety you experience after having a significant fight with someone, where you aren’t on speaking terms, but now you realize you’ll be in the same room with them. I was dreading the idea of going to the gym.

After that, I stopped going to the gym, didn’t renew my membership, and had the ingrained idea that if I wanted to improve my body, it was all about diet.

That led me through a few diets over the years. Since 2015, when my lifestyle became sedentary instead of moving all day as a shift manager, I started growing heavier each year.

One thing that still impacts my self-esteem to this day is the fact my weight is three digits.

So, with that mindset in mind, what changed? Why did I start working out again? Let’s talk about that next.

The Conversation That Changed Everything

Three months ago, in November 2024, I had a conversation with a personal trainer I’ve been following on Facebook. He was sharing content about his own fitness journey, and I resonated with what he said. In our Zoom call, he told me I didn’t need a big workout plan to see results. I could do a handful of workouts in about 20 minutes and call it a day.

That blew my mind. I know it must sound ridiculous to some of you, but I was thinking (falsely) that any workout plan would put me through an hour or more of workouts multiple times a week.

He offered a beginner plan to see if I could follow it - and I did. Starting with 5 kg dumbbells, I progressed each week until I held 15 kg dumbbells and finished sets.

So, now that you know how I got into this, let’s get the Struggles out of the way so I can talk about the wins and surprises later.

The Struggles

The first struggle was the demotivating idea of accepting defeat. When you complete a set, you get a confident boost of motivation. But when you only finish a few reps from the total intended, there’s a bit of a defeat.

But that doesn’t mean you aren’t growing and improving. I had to learn that, especially as I reached 15 kg, which at first felt very heavy.

The second struggle was injuring my left wrist. I still have a specific angle that I can’t rotate my wrist in because it hurts like hell.

I went to the doctor for the wrist pain, and he said not to put pressure on the wrist while he gave me anti-inflammation medication.

The third struggle was the soreness. In the beginning, the soreness was a lot. Now I’m far less sore than what I used to feel, but some days it still sucks. I’m writing these very words when I’m sore from my last workout over 24 hours ago. It is what it is.

Ok, enough struggles. Let’s talk about wins!

The Wins

The first Win was how much stronger my muscles felt. Now, I could easily lift things that I thought would be too heavy.

That feeling alone was all worth it.

The second Win was how clothes fit on my body. I had shirts that would now stretch as my arms went through them. That woke something in me that I want to nurture.

The third Win was how the gym became something I craved instead of feared. I still don’t like working out with other people (but I will if I have to) because I’m still conscious of my body and appearance, but I’m growing. As long as I keep going, I’ll progress further and further.

Now, let’s talk about a few surprises!

The Surprises

The first surprise was the compliments at work. People noticed my progress, and although it had been only three months, I received positive feedback.

The second surprise was getting a personal trainer to work with me. I wasn’t sure I was ready, but I made it official yesterday. I signed up to work with the same trainer who opened my eyes three months ago. He listens and helps me achieve my goals on my own terms, not on some mass-produced template.

The third surprise was my progress in three months. My personal trainer was surprised that I managed to lift 15 kg of dumbbells in three months. If I can achieve this in three months, where will I be three months from now?

The fourth surprise was my readiness to dive into a weight loss journey. In the past, I didn’t feel like I wanted this. I was depressed and annoyed with my weight and inability to take it down. Yesterday, in my call with my personal trainer, I told him I was ready to set a goal to reduce my weight from three digits to two.

That’s It For Now!

Thanks so much for reading! If you have any questions about my journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out! If you were forwarded this post as an email or see it online and want to stay in touch, please subscribe!