What I Learned After Working Out for 6 Months

So much has changed.

Photo originally by Nathan Cowley via Pexels. Edited in Canva by author.

Back in March, I started a fitness journey. This was a big deal at the time; while I was already fat to begin with, the pandemic made me even fatter. It got to the point where one day in March 2022, I noticed a tingly feeling in my arms — turns out, a bra I had purchased in late 2019 was now so tight it was cutting off blood flow.

I dragged myself out of bed that Saturday morning, went straight to my apartment complex’s gym, and jumped on an elliptical. I haven’t looked back since.

A little over two months ago, I wrote an update on my journey. I didn’t expect anyone to care about it; I just wanted space to process what it’s like to be a fat woman on a fitness journey. I was pleasantly surprised by how positively people responded to it.

Now that half a year has passed since I started this endeavor, I decided to make another update. Just like before, this will be an honest reflection on my experience. (I’m not a health and fitness expert, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt.)

I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight, but my clothes feel different.

Now, when I wrote my first update, I verified that I do not own a scale. That fact has not changed — I…