Tags
BeachBody, beachbody coach, ChaLEAN Extreme, exercise, fighting to be fit, lose weight, mental side of fitness, motivation, PiYo, shakeology, train your brain, TurboFire, weight loss efforts, weight loss journey, work out
Do you workout? If you do, what do you do? Do you lift? Do you run? Do you do videos at home? Do you take classes at a gym/fitness center? Do you make up your own thing with late night dance parties or walking around your neighborhood?
What are your favorite exercises/activities? Do you like getting your heart rate up? Do you enjoy a good sweat? Do you go into beast mode? Are your workouts more on the zen side?
OR
Do you think working out is a waste of time? Are you anti-exercise? Do you believe that eating healthy is the important part? Are you happy with your body so you don’t think exercise is necessary? Are you so unhappy with yourself that you don’t think exercise will work?
OR
Are you like me? Do you work out because you know it is what your body needs? Exercise is vital to the health of your organs, of course, but the vain reason to work out is that it gives your body shape. It doesn’t matter what body type you prefer, super lean, curvy, or somewhere in between. By exercising, your body takes on a more defined shape, which in turn can make you feel better about yourself.
But what if you don’t get the results that you want? What if no matter how hard you try you can’t do something? What if you fail?
I’ve said in previous posts, and I’ll say again that I DON’T like working out. I sweat enough for 5 people; my heart pounds; I get TIRED. BUT I still work out.
I’ve gotten some amazing results from exercise that include improved blood pressure, a lower resting heart rate, better sleep habits, looking and feeling better in all of my clothes, and a better outlook on life.
I’ve also fallen off the exercise bandwagon and have gotten some scary results. I gained weight, had increased blood pressure, had a lot of negative thoughts, struggled with poor sleep patterns, and suffered from mild depression.
Just so you know, while I wasn’t working out, I was also eating fast food multiple times a week and drinking regularly. I wasn’t happy with myself, and I was in denial about the negative impact I was having on my body. I almost convinced myself that I would never get back to where I had been in the past so even trying to get back into shape and to lose weight was a pointless use of my time.
I needed to retrain the toughest “muscle” in my body: my brain. I knew that all of the negative thinking and self doubt were fear talking. I knew that if my body could do something once before I could do it again. I wasn’t being unrealistic in my expectations. I didn’t think I needed to become an Olympian. I just needed to get back to where I was when I was healthy physically and mentally. I needed to train my brain!
I faced personal issues at the beginning of 2014 that I allowed to get me off track. I have an amazing friend who wanted to work out with me so she propelled me through the month of February, but then she started coaching track. I allowed the fact that she wasn’t working out with me any more to be an excuse to not work out at all. I took March through May off from exercise completely.
I gave up until the beginning of June when I was getting ready for the same friend’s wedding and my dress was SNUG to say the least. I was using a minor injury of a broken toe as a previous excuse not to workout, but I did Turbo Fire religiously for 3 weeks leading up to her wedding. I was NOT going to look like a stuffed sausage in my dress at her wedding.
She was a stunning bride, and I was thrilled to be a part of her day.
I look at the pictures of me from that day, and I know that Turbo Fire really helped me to fit into my dress comfortably. However, I knew that it was a larger size than what I was wearing when I was at my lowest weight and smallest size.
Playing a nurse in the South Pacific during WWII
After the wedding, I gave up on exercise and “enjoyed” the rest of my summer. I put enjoyed in quotation marks because I knew my clothes were getting tighter, the scale was creeping up, and I was feeling overall mild depression.
At the beginning of August, I knew I needed to get back on track so I bought the workout program PiYo. This program was advertised as no/low impact and a combination of Pilates and yoga. I then payed the piper and took starter photos.
January 2013, October 2013, August 2014
I broke down and cried, but I could no longer be in denial. I was on the wrong way trend, and it HAD to stop.
I struggled with staying motivated in working out and eating right, but I refused to give up.
I did the PiYo regular calendar religiously for 6 weeks before quitting all healthy habits for 4 weeks. Then I hopped back on the wagon and did the whole 8 week PiYo Strength calendar over a 10 week stretch. My results can be seen above. Slowly over 5 months, I lost 12 pounds and 33.75 inches over all.
Right now, I’m on an amazing path! I have lost more weight since the After pictures were taken, and I am on a roll with my workouts. On Monday, January 5, I started doing both Turbo Fire and ChaLEAN Extreme. It is my goal to complete both programs in their entirety this time. I started and quit each program a couple of times in 2014, but 2015 is going to be my year!
Finally, I’m working on training my brain to want to eat healthy foods! Anyone that knows me knows that this is my GREATEST STRUGGLE!!! I love processed foods, fast foods, fatty foods, fried foods, etc. I don’t naturally gravitate towards whole, natural foods.
To start off the end of the year right, I did a 3-Day Shakeology cleanse when I got home from Christmas. I wanted a fresh start at eating healthily, and I knew that I would be able to smoothly transition into the 21 Day Fix eating plan after completing my cleanse.
This is the first time that I can ever remember sticking to eating whole, unprocessed foods this long in my entire life. Now to be honest it has only been 10 days, BUT the longest stretch before this was 2 1/2 days.
I credit Shakeology with helping rid my system of some of the items that cause me to crave the unhealthy options. In testament of that, I was able to walk by a display of my favorite chips in the store without even being tempted to buy them. That is HUGE for me.
So to bring everything full circle, I’m working on training my mind to believe in what my body is capable of. I’m capable of working out daily and maintaining a healthy weight and shape. I’m capable of eating healthy foods and sticking to a reasonable meal plan. I need to remember that it is my mind that is doubting my body’s abilities and not the other way around.
I will train my brain so that I can achieve my goals!
Fighting To Be Fit 