The Stages of Transformation

This evening I found myself alone in the gym, chugging away through the bike interval workout I did on Monday with Millie and Sylvia.  It was the end of a long day and I had lost interest in my music and couldn't concentrate on the televisions or magazines.  My mind started to wander, and due to my location and upcoming completion of our year long Transformation program, it wandered backwards through the months of this journey. The program was divided into four phases, named Phase 1, Phase 2, etc., but as I pushed myself through what Marisa calls "guerilla cardio," new names began to take form in my mind.

I decided to call the first phase Rebirth.  In the beginning, we started out relatively new to the world of exercise and being healthy.  Like birth is for the mother and the baby, it was painful.  Muscles that hadn't been used were stiff and sore, easy to fatigue.  Lungs that weren't used to exercise were quick to become winded. We had to learn how to eat, how to move, how to readjust our schedules. We felt unsure in our new surroundings, self conscious at times as beginners. We didn't know what we were doing.  We tried new things, learned new things, failed at times and learned lessons.  In my case, I started out only being able to do the most basic of things like standing up and sitting down over and over, and following Jeff as we walked lap after lap around the gym. In those simple exercises, my rebirth was formed.

The next phase I decided to call Credibility. In this phase, we gained self confidence and started to see results.  People began to take notice.  Gym regulars began to realize that we were now locked into the program and that our commitment wasn't just a flash in the pan desire that starts out strong and then peters out in a couple of weeks.  We began to test the waters of new exercise, like that first Step class or Zumba class attended, and started to form close relationships with each other. Folks that had seen us maybe start and stop good habits multiple times began to realize that this time was different, this time was for real. We started to invest in our commitment with Ipods for the gym, gait assessments for the right shoes, sports equipment like boxing gloves, and new gym bags.  The numbers on the scale came down and down.  Little victories were frequent and we rode high on our successes.

Then comes the next phase, one that I've decided to call The Trial.  In watching any long term weight loss show and in what I've experienced, this phase is usually inevitable. We were now gym regulars.   We were in there every day working out, but at this point you reach a stage where you become too comfortable in your successes.  You figure you can have a little of this former forbidden food, or a little of that treat that you wouldn't have touched before.  You are faithful to the gym, but your portion size becomes distorted.  You think you're doing well all week, but when the scale doesn't move (or moves the wrong way) you look back at the week and realize all of the places you've faltered.  You become frustrated with yourself. Your trainers look at you and ask what happened and you don't know what to say.  You start thinking that you're never going to lose weight again.  What was once joyous and uplifting now flips around on you and forces you to look at your most base of flaws. I called this The Trial because this is where most people get off the ride.

If you can make it through the previous phase, you come upon where I'm at now, The Resurface.  I can't describe how it happens, but if you make it through your trial, you eventually resurface into your confidence.  You look back on what made you successful in the beginning and you get back on your game.  The muscles that you've been conditioning all of this time begin to take you to a whole new level.  You push yourself harder, taking yourself out of the comfort zone so that the workouts are just as hard as they were in the beginning and you're a sweaty, quivering mess every day.  A sweating quivering mess with a smile on your face and that same old joy back.  You know now in your heart that without a doubt, you're going to reach your goals and the scale starts to be your friend again.

These are my stages of Transformation.  My physical transformation is not complete yet, but I know now that it's just a matter of time and persistence.