Sorry for those of you that have already seen this on my personal blog, just felt that it was more at home here on this blog :-)
Restarting my fitness journey has seriously never given me so much
clarity! I know that sounds corny but to be honest, I'm almost really
happy about the fact that I had to start over with my
{One Year, 52lbs} goal because I have
such
a different mind set about everything involving health and weight loss
compared to the first time I started back in July 2011.
It all started when I saw this quote last month, that I shared in another recent blog post...
There was just
something
about this quote that "lit a fire" in me. It was almost of feeling of
anger, because I was SO disappointed in myself for having to start over
after working extremely hard to get where I had been. When I started my
original goal of losing 52lbs in one year, I was down 18lbs by Halloween
and once the force of holidays hit, I lost my focus, and discovered
that I gained all that weight back when I weighed myself again on May
21st of this year. But what has turned into anger, has turned into
drive, motivation, and commitment.
I wasn't sure HOW to start over...so I took a step by setting a goal to do the
{No Junk Food Challenge & From Couch to 5K}
Training Program on June 2nd. I've had absolutely NO cravings for any
of the junk foods listed (which is amazing in itself because I had a
nightly ritual of eating chocolate after dinner) and today I'm on Week 2
Day 5 of my C25K program.
When I started the C25K
program on June 2nd, the very first day of the program you have to do a 5
minute walk, 2 minute jog, 5 minute walk. If it wasn't for softball,
basketball or warming up for weight lifting back in high school, I never
ever ran a day in my life. Period. I honestly used the
word "hate" whenever people talked about having me go running with them.
I was one of those people that just never did it for exercise because I
disliked it so much. I hated the way I felt during running and how I
felt after I had ran. My lungs would hurt, my shins would hurt,
everything felt like it hurt. So, I started doing some research. My dear
friend Kat, that you all have heard me talk quite a bit about (because I
just love her that much!), pointed me in the direction of a looking at
videos about correct running form so your body doesn't end up hurting
like mine was. I quickly discovered that I had the WORST running form,
which caused my shins to constantly hurt. Here's one of the videos I
came across if you want to take a peek :-)
Here's the link to the video on YouTube, for some reason blogger is acting up and won't let me embed it :-(
Run Right with Newton Running
When
I headed out for my first run, I was crazy nervous but kept a positive
attitude. The 2 minute jog was tough but I got through it surprisingly
well, even if I was breathing like I was dying when it was over! HAHA!
But, I survived! WOO HOO!
On Monday (Week 2 day 3) for
my C25K run, I had to do a 5 minute walk, 4 minute jog, 5 minute walk. I
was a little nervous again because when I had to do a 3 minute jog just
a couple days before, it was tough, but I think the cold weather played
into why it was so tough too. Derek and Miss K went with me to help me
out/be my cheerleaders. When I started the jogging portion, before I
knew it, Derek was saying "you're over half way done with your jog". I
found myself smiling from ear to ear and kept smiling until I was done.
Not only was that the EASIEST two minutes of jogging I had EVER done,
the entire 4 minutes was cake! I was ELATED, to say the least. That was
my
small victory moment - realizing how far I'd
actually come in just two short weeks - a two minute jog that I
struggled with...was - - EASY! :-) What was even more fun was that the
next day, I came across this...
Great timing for this, huh?! :-)
I
just can't help but continue to celebrate because for someone like me
that never would have run for exercise, I'm absolutely loving the rush I
get from it. I know, who am I, right?!
So, after all this writing, what I'm trying to say to all of you is
CELEBRATE THE SMALL VICTORIES!
Please! You'll do yourself so much more good if you do. I've seen too
many people (me being one of them in the past) have unrealistic
expectations, set insane goals for themselves or expect immediate
results and when they don't see anything happening fast enough, they get
discouraged, quit or resort to crash diets, etc. If you want results,
it takes
TIME.
If you want to do it right,
DO THE RESEARCH. If you're not sure about something,
ASK! :-) If you traveled a mile, walking, jogging or running,
celebrate!
Don't be mad because it was easier for someone else or because some do
it faster or travel farther than you. If you lost one pound,
celebrate! Don't be made because it was "just one pound".
If you need
help,
ASK!
Asking for help was the hardest part for me. I felt that I had some
obligation to know more than I actually did before asking someone for
help. Thankfully, someone from my hometown has made fitness his career
and he has been so helpful...Tim with
Tim Arndt Fitness.
I
started out by signing up for his free newsletter where he gives free
tips and advice to anyone who will read. I've learned so much just from
those newsletters, but I wanted to get my hands on all the information I
could, so I finally got the nerve to contact him through his
Facebook page
and asked him some questions and asked for recommendations for a
nutritionist in our area. I felt bad about reaching out to him at first
because I couldn't afford to hire him as a trainer so I didn't want him
thinking that I was just trying to get what I could for free. I know
that sounds awful but that's how I felt and that's why I was scared to
ask for his help. With Tim, it was the exact OPPOSITE! He was SO willing
to help, that his willingness to share his knowledge of fitness, blew
me away. Shame on me for even thinking he would look at me as one of
"those people" who abuse a good thing ;-) haha! What started out as just
a recommendation from him has turned into something awesome. I
mentioned to Tim that once I'm at a comfortable place with running, I'd
love to get back into lifting weights again, but wasn't sure how to go
about this since I don't want to be "just a runner" or "just a lifter"
and he recommended this book to me..
I
haven't found a negative review on this book YET! Check out the reviews
for yourself but what I love about this book is that the author
addresses questions that people ask and he backs up the answers with
credible research. This book is amazing for people like me, that didn't
know where to start, didn't know much about running to do or how to
incorporate both cardio and weights in my life. It breaks down the
questions to where they're an easy read AND it's also a great book for
athletes who are more advanced with the exercise routines. The other big
thing I like about this book is that you don't have to read it from
cover to get the information you want. Find the question that you want
answered, skip to that page and get it! :-) I was finding the answers I
needed within 5 minutes of picking it up! I can only sit here and tell
you so much about how awesome this book is, but you need to get it and
see for yourself :-)
We all have to start somewhere, so
for those of you too scared to go to the gym because you don't look
like the rest of the fit people working out in there...they had to start
somewhere, now it's up to you to take that step and go for it! If you
feel like that by stepping in that public facility, that you'll be
judged...bottom line: who cares! haha! It only matters what you think
:-) Show those people that when you walk through the door, you're there
to do WORK! And let me be the one to tell you, most people will admire
you more for getting yourself in there to be a better version of
yourself. Do it for
YOU, not for everyone else :-) Just start somewhere.
If you were interested in subscribing to Tim's newsletter, go
HERE.
Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page and you'll see where to
enter in your email address and info :-) Let me know if you do
subscribe to his newsletter, would love to have new people to talk about
it with! :-)
*I
was in no way paid or compensated for sharing any sites or products in
this post. All of the above is my own opinion and shared on my own
terms*
