Endurance

At the beginning of step class, Marisa announced that the goal today was endurance. We all looked around at each other as if to say, "Oh snap." And true to her nature, it was epic and just what I needed.  In my time working out, the word "endurance" has come up quite a bit and, when used in the gym, always means you're in for it. 

Endurance also is:

• Making it through a tough class, or a new class, whether you hit all the steps or not.
• Facing the scale on a regular basis, even you'd rather gouge your eyeballs out with a spoon.
• Getting back on track after a bad meal.
• Feeling defeated but fighting back anyway.
• Showing up every day, no matter whether your workout is perfect or not.
• Modifying what you can't do and making your workout fit your situation.
• Facing your fear, whether it be the gym, fit people, or foreign equipment, and sticking in there until eventually the gym is your happy place and those fit people are your friends and you know what to do with that equipment. 
• Shutting up that inner voice that tells you that you're tired, or you're fat, or you won't be successful. 

Even after these many months, these are all things that challenge me still.  Just today in step class, I felt tired and like I hadn't eaten enough prior to coming to class.  My inner voice listed all the reasons that I wouldn't be able to make it through class half-way in. It told me that I was too tired, too hungry, too sore, etc, winding me up until I almost gave up....then I recognized it for what it was and told it to SHUT UP!

I'm not super woman, but I've learned that even a former couch potato like me can endure. The secret is to simply quit thinking about all the reasons not to, or who's looking at you, or any of the other various things that our minds can craft to hold us back.  Miracles can happen when you tell that inner nay-sayer to SHUT UP.

 

 

Landmarks

Before the days of mapquest did you ever give or receive directions to a location based on landmarks? Like, "drive one mile and then you'll see a convenient store, turn there then go up three blocks until you see a used car lot.  Turn left at the car lot then go down to the second driveway on the left, the one with the mailbox that looks like a cow"?  I personally think this is much more effective that mapquest any day.

Back before we knew the proper names for equipment in the gym, we used to remember workouts this way.  Once, on one of our days without our trainer, Millie and I were getting ready to do a workout that we'd written down based on one we'd done with Marisa.  Examining the paper in her hand, Millie had told me, "Okay so we're going to do squat presses, then burpees, then rows, then we're going over to that machine where I cried that day and then we're going to do more squats and curl presses, then we're going over to do that exercise where you cried that day, then we're gonna..."  It was hilarious because without a beat, I nodded along and knew exactly what she was saying.

Today we broke out that old workout, only this time we knew the proper name of everything we were getting ready to do.  We still laughed about our old terms for everything because, after over a year of working out, we've definitely made "landmarks" all over our gym.  Instead of their proper names, certain spots in there could very well be called, "the place where I almost threw up that time," "the place where you called out for Jesus that time," or "the place where I refused to do it and then walked away and cried and then came back that time" among others. They could also be called "the place where I ran the first time," "the place where I realized I was getting stronger," or "the place where you pushed me forward that time" among many other wonderful "firsts."

Today Millie and I did a workout that we've done before, but this time we were able to push ourselves harder, step up our weights, and knew the proper terms for the equipment we were using.  We've been taught a lot and have gone past the novice phase of our transformations.  We can look back on times that we felt unsure of ourselves to the point where we cried and now find humor in it.  To me that just drives home the point that this process is truly a journey, something you have experience as it happens, not all in one fanatic burst. And learning that "that place where I cried that time" is really a smith machine is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Greatest Gift

Whew.  I think I survived Thanksgiving mostly unscathed. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't awful...and as my wise friend Katie says, "it's persistence, not perfection" that counts.  Maybe we ate bad on Turkey Day and maybe the leftovers called our name the day afterward, but as one of my favorite characters from literature and movies, Scarlett O'Hara was famous for saying, "tomorrow is another day."  Maybe a holiday weekend of treating ourselves can motivate us towards a stricter plan for the upcoming weeks that will ultimately spur, not hinder, our weight loss. 

This is easily the most trying of times for dieters.  We're rushing around trying to get the right gift for everyone on our list, get preparations made for all of those holiday parties and family get-togethers, and trying to balance the usual family and work obligations.  It's a wonderful but stressful time of the year, two things that combine to make healthy eating and getting in regular workouts a challenge.  Like last year, this Christmas season I am going to try to keep at the forefront of my mind the fact that the greatest gift I can give myself and those who love me is health.

The Great Feast

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  It was a great day in our family spent the day in Sanford, NC. My aunt, AKA the Southern Martha Stewart, had the house decorated beautifully with flowers and greenery, pumpkins, and turkey centerpieces made by the younger generation of our family.  And you should have seen the spread!  Aunt Kathy always manages to make sure to have everyone's favorite Southern dishes like dressing and gravy, collards, turkey, cranberry salad, creamed corn, pumpkin pie, peas, roasted veggies,spinach casserole, rice, pork roast and on and on.   As the littlest one of our family, two-year-old Maggie, said to me when we arrived today, "Welcome to the great feast!"

I couldn't resist the dressing (my favorite) but I managed to enjoy myself without gorging so I will call Turkey Day a success.  Then, instead of crashing on the couch in a lunch-induced food coma, the majority of us headed outside with the kids to play games.  The old me would have had a few more rounds at the lunch buffet then crashed out for a nap, but the new me wanted to go outside and move. That assures me that I have truly made a lifestyle change.

Three generations enjoyed the sunshine and good temps outside by starting off with a game of duck-duck-goose, and for some reason the kids kept picking me to be goose. They did me a favor for sure because hopping up from the ground time after time and chasing the kids around the yard got my heart rate up and my blood pumping. Want some cardio?  Challenge a two, three, and five year old to a game of duck-duck-duck goose.  You'll be sweating in no time!

Next up, putting the kids on our backs and running around playing horsey, then some yoga moves on the lawn before taking a ride out in the country air as my uncle pulled us along in a trailer with his tractor.  On the ride home tonight, I told my husband that I don't take anything for granted since changing my lifestyle.  If you've ever been overweight and felt held back due to it, you can appreciate the simple acts of being able to jump up and down off of the ground and run after a child or being able to hop up into a trailer.  For years, the old me sat on the porch, watching everyone else play and wishing for all the world that she could participate.   Today as I sat on the ground in a ring with my family, sweaty from being the "goose" yet again, I looked over to the porch and smiled to myself, thinking of all the many small things that I have to be thankful for.

With Maggie and Andi, love these girls!

Turkey Day

Turkey Day is fast approaching.  Some of us will be sitting down to one of the biggest meals of the year in thirteen hours or so.  With the average Thanksgiving plate totaling up to around 2,400 calories (eek!) how do we dieters survive not being stuffed like the big bird?

This is my second Thanksgiving on my health journey and last year I must admit that I did really good. So here are some of the strategies that worked for me:

• Concentrate on the lean meat and veggies.
• Allow yourself a small serving of that irresistible casserole or delicious dressing and gravy.  If you don't have a taste of it, you'll feel resentful and will end up binging on it (or something worse) later.
• Drink lots of water.
• Distract yourself with conversations with family members. Usually someone's got something crazy to talk about or some sort of news.
• Get up and do something active after the meal; in most families there are some kids running around.  There's nothing like chasing kids for cardio.
• Think about all the things you are thankful that your new body can do that your old body couldn't, and the struggle it took to get it there.  Nothing tastes better than that.
• Realize that Thanksgiving is just one meal and good, bad, or ugly, tomorrow is another day. 

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for everyone who took the time to read this. 

You'll Be Able to Tell When You Lift Your Arms up!

Millie and I had a locker room debate today on what kind of workout we wanted to do. Seeing as it was Monday, I was leaning towards cardio, but she wanted to do weights so that we can keep up these "guns" Jeff and Marisa helped us create.  Millie and I are both alpha females of sort and as we don't have our trainers working us out anymore, sometimes we have a friendly butting of heads when planning our workouts.

After Millie assured me that we'd still work up just as much sweat and raised heart rate with the pyramid workout she had from our archives, I gave in and decided to trust my friend. And whew, was she right.

It's a good thing there are no video cameras in the gym because we were making some crazy faces at each other.  Our reaction to the strain and pain was seriously youtube worthy.  In no time I was covered in sweat and my arms felt like jello.  That pyramid workout with free weights might look tame on paper but it was a killer in practice.

Looking satisfied as we headed into the locker room, Millie said, "I told you so!" and I admitted quickly that she was right.

We both headed into separate shower stalls and I heard her yelp from behind her shower curtain, saying, "You'll be able to tell when you lift your arms up."

"Ohhhhh!" I yelped from behind my shower curtain as I took my shirt off, "I'll never doubt you again!"

The Eatin' Season Approaches

We are getting ready to be right smack down in the middle of the Eatin' Season. That wonderful time of the year when we celebrate with family our favorite way: eating and making merry.   As Turkey Day approaches, I can already see the Southern feast laid out at my family's Thanksgiving meal and can almost taste that dressing and gravy in my mouth.   How will I make it past that calorie-laden feast unscathed and goals intact?  I'm going to try my best to focus not on what's to eat, but on what I'm thankful for and the many wonderful things that have come from making this change in my life:

• I'm thankful for every pound I have lost and for the future pounds lost to come, because by God that scale will come down.
• I'm thankful for my wonderful family and friends who have supported me so overwhelmingly on this journey.
• I'm thankful for an over abundance of food because there are many out there who don't have enough. That being said, I don't have to over eat it just because it is so available. 
• I'm thankful that even though my right leg is still kind of gimpy, I have full mobility of my body and can modify my exercises and move forward.
• I'm thankful for my awesome trainers and class instructors and every person who has worked out at my side.
• And most importantly, I'm thankful to God who has put me on this journey and who continues to bless me along each step of it.

 How is the Eatin' Season to be survived successfully? Maybe by putting it into perspective.