You Know You're on a Journey When...

You know you're on a weight loss journey when:

• You take off everything decently possible before getting on the scale and wear your lightest clothes for weigh-in day.  I myself remove my glasses, accessories, and ID badge.  I once even saw an old lady shimmy down to her slip in the middle of a Weight Watchers meeting before getting on the scale.
• Have ever audibly said to the scale, "Seriously?!"
• You can recite the caloric content of each of Jared's favorite subs at Subway.
• You've given the treadmills in your gym Seven Dwarf-esque names based on their attributes: Squeaky, Creaky, etc.
• You realize that you have started talking in short words: quads, rep, carb, Step, squat.
• Waiters at restaurants you frequent hate to see you coming with all of your meal customizations and calorie inquisitions.
• You've become such a protein hound that you seriously start to wonder if maybe you've been bitten by a werewolf. Must. Have. Meeeeeat.
• You can tell 30 second increments without looking at a watch.
• You can pick something up and easily guess how much it weighs.
• You don't realize how strong you've gotten until you accidentally sling your groceries across the yard when unloading them from the trunk. (True story)
• You're not satisfied unless something hurts.
• You find a website online that tells you how far you have to walk to burn off different increments of Halloween candy. Yes, two miles for an average sized candy bar..trick or treat?
• You end each day with a George Jefferson limp, but realize its all worth it.

Out of the Cube and Into the Light

The beautiful day and mild temps lured us out of the gym today and into the sunshine. Cube rats that we are, we emerged blinking from the building into the wonderful weather outside.  Immediately Millie, Charles, and Flo took off running towards the River Walk, but with my pulled quad, I had to make do with a careful power-walk.  The old me would have felt frustrated and bummed out to be left behind, but the new me knew that I would catch up with them at our usual workout spot soon enough.

Sometimes I think people get deterred from working out due to lack of access to a gym, but there is so much you can do just using the space around you.   Outside areas are not just for running or walking, you just have to get creative.  On the River Walk we did several squats/plants/step-up/sprint (power-walking for the injured)/bench dips (100 of 'em) circuits, guaranteed to make you feel the burn.  And then we had to walk back to the building.

Squinting in the sun, but workout done: Millie, Flo, Me, and Charles.

It's fun to get creative with workout locations. You can pretty much find something to burn calories anywhere outside.  Need to add some strength training to your cardio routine but don't have any weights?  Using your own body weight with exercises like planks and bench dips is all you need. Keeping workouts varied and interesting is what keeps me motivated.  And the beautiful weather is just icing on the cake (pardon the cake reference).

Who am I? I am a champion!

My much needed new shoes were so ready to go today that they practically jumped out of the gym bag. Boy they felt good!  Eagerly I jumped onto the treadmill, cranked up my Ipod, and started to run.   The new shoes felt so good that I started running faster, and then faster, and then the fastest I've ever run.  Then, fifteen minutes in I felt something bad in my right quad and had to stop.  I hobbled off the treadmill and over to where my brother was working out to stretch my leg out.

Seeing me limping, Jeff came over to inquire, "Does it hurt?"

"Only when I move it." I responded then realized how dumb that sounded.

I looked around the gym, not ready to throw in the towel but acknowledging that the bike and the elliptical machines, and pretty much anything involving legs was out.   Then my eyes fell on my old pal the punching bag.  Cranking the music up again, I proceeded to pound the heck out of that bag until I felt like my arms were going to fall off.  Where there's a will, there is a way.

One of the best things I've heard in a long time is a speech by a high school football coach, pumping up his team.  If you want to get rallied, take about three minutes and check this out: I am a champion!  Some of the quotes that resonate in my head are, "I have trained my mind and now my body will follow" and "my heart and my mind will carry me when my limbs are too weak."   I've listened to that speech at least five times today, and its rally cry, "Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!" carried me through my workout today.

Give it a listen, I promise you won't be disappointed.

I Have No Words

What do you say to the people who have saved your life? How do you begin to say "thank you" for such an amazing gift like the one I was given? Not an easy task.

Today was our wrap-up meeting for our Transformation program and Jeff and Marisa had created a movie presentation of our pictures and videos set to music.   As we watched it, there were a lot of laughs, some tears, and a lot of awe as we saw ourselves in action and remembered the amazing times we've had.

Then it was our turn to get up and speak about the experience.  Now, I am a trained Toastmaster and never at a loss for words, but my emotions felt very raw about this and I was nervous. As each one of my team mates got up and spoke, I found myself in their words.  I smiled and laughed and cried along with them.  It was impossible not to.

When it was my turn, I reluctantly stepped forward and found that I literally couldn't speak. Tears began to flow and I couldn't look anyone in the eye. But, these people are my family.  They've fought at my side, held me up, shared my triumphs and my challenges, dried my tears, cheered me on, and encouraged me every step of the way. I knew I could trust them.  Slowly the words came out in halting, breathy phrases and I hope that I was able to convey my gratitude to extent that this amazing experience deserves. 

To my team and my trainers: for every inside joke, every locker room therapy session, every friendly competition, every cheer, every high-five and fist bump, every drop of sweat shed together, every encouragement, and every victory dance beside the scale,  I am grateful.   I love y'all and I'm ready to take this journey to the next level with you!

My two heroes and the best trainers anyone could have, Marisa and Jeff.

I love this team! Back row: Mary, me, Sylvia, Millie, Jeff and Jeff M. Front row: Marisa, Frank and Florence

The Journey of a Pair of Shoes

If you workout as much as my group does, you tend to burn through shoes about every four months.  At the beginning of this journey, Marisa imparted these statistics to me and I was skeptical.  Four months, that's all? But she was dead on. Every four months almost to the day, my shoes alert me that they are tired and about to give up the ghost.  My knees start hurting, my back aches, my heels feel on fire and I check the calendar to find that four months have indeed gone by.

Yesterday after Step class, I was stretching my aching hip flexer out on a mat in the gym and as I grasped my ankles and stretched forward, I contemplated my shoes. They are an ordinary pair of Brooks, still look pretty good with their silver and aqua coloring, but they are ready to be retired to the back of the closet. No doubt they are tired.  In their time they have:

• Stomped, stepped, climbed, and grapevined through many a Step class.
• Cha-cha'ed, salsa'ed, and rhumba'ed through many a Zumba class, including a two hour Zumba dance marathon.
• Slapped over and over again on the treadmill.
• Ran their first steps along the Cape Fear River river.
• Ran countless sprints up and down the gym.
• Supported me while I held hundreds of planks.
• Supported me while I lifted countless weights.
• Supported me as I flipped a 367 pound tire 18 times in 100 degree weather.
• Dug down deep to help me pull my trainer up and down a parking lot with straps around my waist.
• Kicked over and over in Kickboxing and Kenpo.
• Climbed and descended, climbed and descended over and over the stairs outside of my gym.
• Swung back and forth on the paddles of the elliptical and the bike countless rotations.
• Pushed and pulled me meters and meters on the rowing machine. 
• Jumped back and forth through every hateful burpee.
• Held me steady on the stability ball through every crunch.
• Traveled gratefully into the locker room five days of every week at the end of a workout.
• Bounced around every weekday in the gym bag that is a permanent accessory on my shoulder.

I'd say they've earned their retirement.

Goonies Never Say Die

One of my favorite movies is an eighties classic, "The Goonies," and one of my favorite lines from that movie is "Goonies never say die."  Over this past year I have really tried hard to develop that "never say die" attitude and I've worked out through injuries, wardrobe malfunctions, and time constraints. Yesterday, in typical Monday fashion,  I found myself facing all three.

It started out with the lovely "blue screen of death" on my laptop, and I spent the majority of my day contending with a loaner laptop and the terror that my hard drive couldn't be saved.  Needless to say, this produced time constraints. Challenge one.

I made it to the gym with my mind in tailspin of deadlines and IT nuisances, but the instant my feet crossed the threshold of the locker room, I calmed down. Ah, my happy place, my comfy nest. I felt the tension leave me...that is until I unzipped my gym bag and realized that in my blind groping through my closet that morning, I'd grabbed a T-shirt that was easily three sizes smaller than the one I had intended.  Wardrobe malfunction.  Challenge two.

"Oh man.  What am I going to do now?" I said to Julie, holding the small shirt out to her like a limp fish.

"Remember last week when you made me wear those tight pants?" She said with a satisfied grin.

It was true.  Julie had forgotten workout pants that day and was about to turn back and skip the gym.  I herded her into the gym telling her that she must go on, and Florence, who always has extra stuff, generously offered her a pair of leggings.  Now, we don't call Florence Mighty Mouse for nothing. She's a petite powerhouse and several inches shorter than Julie, but brave Julie put on the tight, high-water pants and carried on.  Now I was forced to do the same.  I shimmied into the shirt and was happy to find out that while it was form fitting, I could wear it without too much scandal.

Tight shirt and all, I jumped on the treadmill and started my 5K intervals, running a minute and walking a minute.  About halfway in,  my hip started hurting.  I powered through for a while, but finally I had stop and get on the bike which took some of the pressure off.  Challenge three.  Well, Goonies never say die and I was determined to finish my workout. 

Despite a hectic day, Monday ended well with a great evening spent with Vera, Amy, Will and our special guest, Debbie Daniels of the A & E show, "Heavy".  It was awesome to hear more of her inspiring story (she's lost over 250 pounds, holla!), as well as learn some of the behind the scenes secrets of the TV weight loss industry. Debbie has faced many adversities, but continues with inspiring determination down her path.

I thought about Debbie's determination today as I led our group through a strength training-cardio interval workout.  After each set of exercises, I had us running to the back of the gym, touching the wall and running back to begin the next set.   My hip flexor screamed the whole way, and at one point I had to quit running and power-walk for the rest of the workout, but I am stubborn and was going to finish no matter what.   Now I am confident after all this time to know when to pull the plug and not hurt myself,  but I was confident with this (not my first go-round with this lovely hip strain) I could modify and keep going.  Goonies never say die right?

Go Pink!

Every Friday is beautiful but today's weather was exceptional.  The sun was out, the temps were mild, and there was a festive air due a fair at work and Go Pink Day for breast cancer awareness.

I cruised briefly through the fair on my way to kickboxing class, hoping there would be something mildly low cal to eat since it had been a busy morning and I hadn't had a chance to grab lunch.  No such luck, nachos and grilled cheese were the offerings of the day (along with a bunch of candy and cupcakes and other such lovely treats).  That's when my emergency packet of peanut butter crackers that rides around in my gym bag came in handy.  Two crackers are around sixty calories and enough to cap off any low blood sugar that working out might produce.  It was very tempting to spend my lunch hour at the fair, but in the end I got out of the grilled cheese truck line and headed off to the gym.

And here's to going Pink for breast cancer awareness.  Losing weight lowers your risk for cancer!

Go Pink!