Getting Back on Track with my Health

Let's face it, staying motivated to exercise isn't easy.  With work, school, kids, nagging bosses, meetings, and the plethora of other things we all have going on with cell phones and tablets attached to our hands, government shutdowns and the imminent end of the world as we know it, it's amazing we get much of anything done.  With all of the talk about health insurance, it is sure to make some contemplate the idea of preventive care (eating healthier and exercising) even more now, myself included.

Three weeks ago, I went to the local flea market.  I went initially to get out of the house away from the  hubby and kids.  That's necessary sometimes.  I decided to go by and see some old friends while I was there.  I used to sell at the flea market regularly and considered a lot of the vendors some of my favorite people.  Any who, I ran into Annette, a really nice woman from Trinidad and Tobago who was always my vending buddy.  After we chatted for a bit, she kind of cocked her head to the side and said, "You're looking a little chunky there around the middle.  Be careful, you're getting older and it will creep up on you."  Now I don't generally take too kindly to folks reminding me of my age, especially as I intend to stay 29 for several more years, but I was caught more off-guard by the "chunky" remark.  I was chunky?  Yes, I am getting older, and yes, I was aware my metabolism had slowed.  It had not slowed enough for me to not eat boxes of Twinkies (the Sweetest Comeback EVER!), a half-dozen chocolate cake donuts (every day after work for $2, can't beat it), and chug down Mountain Dew like it was the elixir of life and still have people say, "I wish I had your figure."  That happens quite a bit so no wonder I never realized I was "chunky"!

So, I went home and stepped on the scale, which I immediately regretted.  165 pounds.  I hadn't been that heavy since my second pregnancy in which I went up to a whopping 171 pounds (immediately dropping to 140 post pregnancy).  In August 2012, I weighed 146 pounds, right at the start of a master's program.  I graduated in August 2013.  Here it was the end of September, and I weighed 165 pounds.  How did that happen?  Where did that come from?  Then I started looking at myself.  My arms were much rounder.  Why hadn't I noticed that?  I generally ignored my abs because after three kids and a stint with diastasis recti, there hadn't been any reason to pay them much attention.  My pre-baby abs were long gone.   They were seriously out to lunch now.  I had love handles!  I never had love handles in my life.  I love my butt...it took me nearly ten years to grow it, but it was the only asset, so to speak, I even liked about my body now.  My face was rounder and I noticed that my knees ached a lot.  Constantly, in fact.  This just wasn't going to work.

It didn't take me long to realize that I was holding my health as a ransom to my own self-esteem issues and love for chocolate everything (except ice cream).  Quite frankly I didn't want to have to weave through either one of those particular issues so I just opted to just take my health back with a vengeance.

My husband, a personal trainer, really got it that night for letting me get out of control.  Poor guy, he was damned either way.  He insisted I looked fine and just needed to tone.  "Stop being so hard on yourself, you can get that off easy.  Think about the people who are much bigger than you."  That's what I like about him.  Every time I start complaining, he always manages to bring up someone who is much worse than I am.  I must thank him for channeling my self-deprecating tendencies into feelings of regret and self-disdain at my own selfishness.  So I challenged him to help me get toned.

He began PMA Fitness Training a little over a year ago.  He slows down around this time of year with clients so he has time to devote to me (yay!).  We have four months left on our joint Gold's Gym membership, a membership we had neglected to use for nearly six months with him opting for Planet Fitness and me opting for Zaxby's.  So back to the gym for us...well first it was at home (for me) with an Arabic belly dancing video set on Youtube.  That was fun.  Then I hit the gym the following Saturday to present for a total of almost two weeks so far. My husband won't let me complain and I can appreciate that.  I want to sweat and I want to hurt.  Makes me feel productive.  I'm amazed how much wind I have retained over the months.  It took my knees a week to stop screaming at me and they actually feel lighter now.  I had Baker's cysts behind them for awhile so I already knew my propensity to gain water on the knees.

I work out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday supplemented with an elliptical at home and walks through the neighborhood.

I've lost 2.5 pounds and I feel awesome.  Let me backtrack a bit.  I changed my diet as well.  I eliminated all processed foods and sweets from my diet and I increased my water intake.  I've done this so many times before that I don't even go through the "sweets" withdrawal symptoms.  My body's probably like, here we go again.  I only eat lean chicken (all natural from 14 Carrot) and fish.  I had a love affair with kale eating it every day until I realized it was making me exhausted (did you know Kale could do that?).  I increased my protein intake tremendously.  I want to lose weight but I want to maintain muscle, preferably those in the gluteous maximus area.  I've never been much of a cook, not because I couldn't do it.  I had no desire to do it.  There's a difference.  We bought a steamer last year, and I think we made the most use out of it in these past two weeks than in the entire time we owned it.  I have a wok also...I'll have to work my way up to that.  Everything else is baked.  I also made homemade pizza, which the kids loved sans the red and green peppers I would throw on them.  Generally they don't mind eating right which makes this journey super easy for me.  In another month, I am going to throw in a fasting day as well.

There was some definite water weight loss.  My arms slimmed down and such.  This past weekend, I went back to the flea market and saw Annette again.  I thanked her for pointing out my "chunkiness" for without her observation, who knows how far I would have gone.  She conceded that she needed to work out as well and I gave her encouragement.  It's hard to get started but you don't want to stop once you get going.  She said to me, "Yeah, you don't look as bloated now, a little trimmer.  Keep it up."  And I will.