Haters, find the love! Working out can be fun!

I used to be one of those people that absolutely DESPISED working out. Apart from dancing, a short competitive swimming sting in elementary school, and being a member of my high school color guard, I was never really into physical activity. I'll admit it, I'm athletically challenged. But because I never "trained" or conditioned for anything in my entire life, I never had a desire to work out.


And I never felt the need to work out, either. I thought I could go right along eating Dairy Queen for dinner, or scarfing down a whole package of Oreo cookies just because I as bored, or eating McDonald's twice a week with no repercussions. I thought I would be skinny forever.

Then college happened, and although I didn't gain "the freshman 15," I did put on weight, and I was putting it on at a rapid pace. Before my freshman year of college, my family and I all took part in the 17 Day Diet (it's excellent--buy the book!) and started eating cleaner and healthier. But once I got to college, that all went down the tubes for me. I was in Chicago! There's cupcakes on every corner, and some of my dining hall choices were far from nutritious.

But the biggest problem was that I wasn't getting any exercise. Truthfully, I wasn't eating that horribly, but my metabolism could no longer keep up with my level intake of food without any means of burning any calories. So after the new year, I took it upon myself to get fit and healthy. Yes, I was cheesy and made a New Year's Resolution to become more active.

And that's when I fell in love with Zumba.

The Ray Meyer Fitness Center at DePaul offers some amazing classes, but I was lucky enough to find Zumba, my soulmate of fitness classes. For those who have never heard of Zumba, it's an aerobic exercise based on Latin dance. I didn't have to be athletic to do it; all you need to do is move.

I started going once, maybe twice a week. But after a few weeks of attending classes, you get to know the routines. This is where Zumba gets to be fun. Once you know the dance moves, you can concentrate less on following the instructor and more on your level of intensity. So once I started getting good, classes started getting harder, but I was more confident with myself physically and mentally, so I would push my body further and further each class.

As many of my friends and family know, I went through a difficult situation with my roommate in my freshman year. Zumba not only became a way for me to get fit, but it became a daily escape for me. Whenever I just needed to get out of the room or take my mind off something for an hour, I would go to the gym and take a Zumba class. Truthfully, I don't know if I would have survived the year without Zumba. I think this is why I was able to keep my resolution for getting in shape--the gym became the place I could go to escape, making it somewhere I wanted to be.

Almost a year later, I'm still taking Zumba classes multiple times a week. It makes me happy. I feed off the energy of the people in the room to push myself further and further every class. I, the preverbal couch potato, found a way to get my exercise and enjoy it, too.

My favorite Zumba instructor is leaving after this term, though. So who knows what my future holds in terms of Zumba classes. But I'm sure there's something else out there that I'll fall in love with. And for those who are struggling to get active, just take a chance and try a group fitness class at your local gym. Give something--anything--a shot. Once you find something you love, it'll become a wonderful (and healthy) addiction.