Fitness

Back on my spaces blog...I went through the first round of P90X very publicly last March, April and May...well, with all of you who were my readers then (so the five of you who follow my blog probably started there and followed me here...hehe), and I charted progress or how I felt with the program.  It's been a while since I posted anything about that journey.  It became routine and habit...and that could make it look like I fell off the wagon, or got bored with it...that is so far from what actually happened (and if you're a facebook friend too...hehe...then you know otherwise).  I started blogging about my fitness journey over on my teambeachbody.com account...so as not to bore all of you with the process here, and slammed through a second round of P90X, a round of Insanity, and a month of TurboFire.  And this afternoon, as I wrote my entry there...I realized how big of a deal the last nine months have been to me...and why.  I decided to include this post here today as well.  Please understand my heart in this entry...it is not about me bragging about where I am.  It's not about me trying to sell product.  It is simply about...where I am on the journey.  I'm so happy with where I'm at, and that seems like a really big deal, considering where I've been in the past.  There have been times where my weight and my nutrition and my fitness...were literally all I could think about.  It consumed me in a way that was unhealthy and frustrating and made me miserable daily.  That is so different now.  In this process there has been discouragement and soreness and way too much thinking about food intake and exercise and how it fit into my life...but I've fallen into a rhythm with it.  It took probably the first six months to get there.  But like any habit...it takes time to develop and relax into.  It feels good, friends.  It's worth the effort.  This is why:

"Three weeks of Insanity/TurboFire Hybrid under my belt, and I'm 3 days into a recovery week.  About two weeks ago, I talked to my coach about being constantly tired, always hungry, cold all the time...and we discussed the possibility that I may have been overtraining.  I cut the doubles workouts last week (adding a short cardio (running, eliptical) to my resistance days), and added a 200 calorie snack to the day.  Energy back, able to make it through a day...but...the craziness of my schedule forced me to miss a couple of workouts...and now I'm feeling a bit like a lug. The interesting thing about this happening is that this year...it's different.  It happens every year...I get to a point where things are just so nuts...I let go of the routine for a few days, never to return to it.  

Enter Beachbody. 

Know what I love about what I'm doing with my workouts right now?  Hmm.  Everything.  

My body is not dramatically changing at the moment.  I'm not working to change it.  I'm kind of on a maintenance schedule where it comes to what I want my body to LOOK like.  What I'm finding, however, is that my endurance is through the roof compared to what it was.  My overall fitness level is so much different.  I am toned.  Fit.  Healthy.  I don't get winded running from my car to the front of a store, and I park far away on purpose.  It doesn't phase me to carry four loads of laundry in a tote from the basement to my bedroom without stopping.  No cottage cheese on the backs of my thighs or my bottom.  When I clap...my arms don't jiggle.  The thought of a bikini (other than my ghostly skin tone) does not terrify me whatsoever.  And the thing is...I'm not being anywhere near as careful about my nutrition as I was during my first couple of rounds...and I know that if I kicked back into gear in that arena...I would lose the last stubborn layer of skin/fat that remains around my abs.  It's Christmas, folks.  Within reason, I am eating what I want.  When the candies and cookies and cakes aren't around, I won't be eating them.  And right now...I plan them in.  I know they're not going to help me sculpt abs, but frankly...I'm choosing to be ok with that for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And for the first time in maybe my entire adult life...I have not gained one ounce between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm exactly the same weight I've been for about 2 months, give or take a few ounces depending on the day.  I haven't even really thought about it.  I knew...I am working hard enough that I don't have to.  And I'm loving every workout.  And there is never a question as to whether I'm going to do it....I am.  Or if this is just a phase...it's not.  Or if I'm going to fall off the wagon this week or next month...I won't.  I feel...like a million bucks.

With this Hybrid...there is one thing I have added...I'm working through a push-up challenge.  Six weeks till I can do 100 push-ups in a row...all at once.  A whole training regiment.  I'm at Week 3, Day 1 as of today (hundredpushups.com) and I'm maxing out at 39.  :)  This makes me happy. My chest and shoulders and back HURT...and my legs hurt from yesterday's Cardio Core and Balance...but it's so worth it.  And TurboFire's Core 20/Stretch 40 felt awesome this morning. I am enjoying my recovery week this week before Christmas...pretty excellent how that worked out. :)

I love this part of my life.  I love the way being healthy feels.  I love that...I never worry about this anymore.  For the first time in my life, I don't sit in too-tight pants feeling guilty about the meal on which i just gorged myself (because I didn't gorge.  And because my jeans actually fit all the time).  I don't lay in bed at night regretting my food choices from that day.  I don't worry that I won't be able to find anything in my closet that fits.  I thought  of my weight and my food and my exercise as being just one more stressful thing to think about when I wasn't healthy...but...now that it's under control, I suddenly realize how huge it was.  And to not worry about that leaves room for focus on so many other important things..."

Friends...if you need somewhere to start with health and nutrition and fitness...it's the perfect time to do that.  I used to resolve every New Year that I was going to get into better shape.  Lose weight.  Eat right.  Feel better.  But this year...could be your year.  I hope you feel like I do already.  If you do...or if you've never worried about your weight or health...I am so glad for you.  But I'd love to talk to you about it...if you're more like I was.  I wouldn't trade how I feel right now for just about anything. And I know that life isn't all about being in shape or how you feel about your body...believe me, I know this...but I also know how feeling great has changed how I look at every single day.  It's a pretty fantastic place to start the morning.