I am definitely stronger, have more stamina and feel sexier than I have in awhile. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this good about my body.
Fit Mania and this challenge have brought me back to life. Life events like a “big” birthday or children coming and going, job changes etc. can set me back or can also help me be retrospective and come to conclusions about changes I need to make. I tend to do well for sometime after certain life events and I get my act together. However, this last life event brought me down. Another “big” birthday and my body was tired of the many years of being a runner. A job change at the same time changed when I could include exercise and I had to choose that over sleep. Aging and a few health concerns exasperated the issues. I knew I needed something to kick-start me again. Thankfully, Laura Wolstenholme invited me to Fit Mania. I knew, even through the painful first workout, that I needed this. I had to figure out how to make it work into my schedule. The online workout makes a world of difference when my schedule doesn’t allow me to attend or I’m traveling but I really NEED to be at the Orchard location as much as I can. The trainers help me push beyond what I think I can do and the support from all the staff and from each other is really a special part of this process.
I do live differently. I make this workout happen no matter where in the world I am. It’s part of me now. I am definitely stronger, have more stamina and feel sexier than I have in awhile. My husband keeps telling me how great I look and how tiny I am. He has always been supportive and loving no matter my size but it’s nice to hear and get that attention. I didn’t really believe it until I saw the “before” and “after” pictures. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this good about my body.
Food deprivation, the scale and so many other ways of trying to “control” weight have been ingrained in me since my teens. We skipped meals and thought that was the answer. The scale was also the only measurement I knew and most of the time I hated it. I’m not worried about that anymore. My clothes and how I feel are how I judge how I’m doing. Also, I don’t seem to “jiggle” as much. I like that the most!
I have plenty of excuses for not working out; age, old injuries (both knees have had ACL’s fixed), bunions that cause my toes to go numb during workouts, weak bladder, I work long hours, etc. For a while I let those things stop me but I now feel empowered again to just keep moving and have realized that everyone has excuses. I just don’t have to listen to mine.
One of the best lessons I’ve learned and will keep working on is confidence, as this is not natural for me. I think my friends would think that sounds silly because they don’t see me that way. But like a lot of women I tend to downplay my accomplishments or what I’m capable of. Toby reminded me of this when I said I had done a few more reps of an exercise and then said I must have been doing something wrong before. He said why couldn’t I just believe that I accomplished something and to take that negative talk out of my vocabulary. He was right. I also don’t take compliments very well. I am learning to say “thank you” when I get a compliment and not make an excuse for whatever they are complimenting me on. This challenge has reminded me to relish my accomplishments and not downplay them.
Before:
After:
