If you missed the last blog, I
talked about losing weight in 2014 and how my diet changed and I learned how to
eat healthier. But that’s not all it
took to lose 45lbs. I also found a love
of exercise.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a
love-at-first-workout kind of love. No,
like many loves, it was slow and awkward and painful along the way. And even now, I still have bad days. But I stuck it out long enough to learn to
love it.
People always used to tell me that
exercise gets easier. And I believed
them, but I myself had never gotten to that place before. I had issues early on with exercise. My astigmatism and hand/foot-eye coordination
made me bad at sports from the start. In
my hometown, everyone played soccer. I
mean everyone. There were soccer started programs for
preschoolers and on. And if you didn’t
play soccer, you were automatically a weird kid. I played off and on through elementary
school, but I sucked! And everyone knew it.
My best memories relating to soccer were the times the coach brought
garlic breadstix for everyone and the time my soccer coach taught me how to
make pasta while my dad took piano classes with the coach’s landlady in another
room. Even my early sports memories are
about FOOD! As you can see, I was doomed from an early age.
When I got to middle school, I was
done with sports. I had tried basketball
and tennis and swimming in the summer, and I had given up hope. I turned to chorus and theatre and got my
minimal exercise from the dance numbers throughout middle and high school. Of course I had the mandatory P.E courses,
but I went to an awesome liberal school where we could choose gym courses like
badminton, yoga, and fencing. And you
can bet I chose as many low intensity classes as I could get away with.
It wasn’t until my junior year of
college that I realized I needed to start exercising. A few friends and I decided we might want to
take advantage of the free gym before we graduate into the “real world” where
you have to pay for everything. And we were pretty good about it for a
while. We went to classes and swam laps
and ran on the elliptical almost every night (but I was still eating like a…
college kid). That summer I dieted like
crazy and I was on my parents elliptical all the time. I lost about 20 lbs. But it didn’t last long. By my senior year of college I had gone back
to my old habits of eating and exercise (or lack there of). I tried running with my roommates a couple
times but that didn’t work out.
The first thing I did when I
decided to really get healthy was to research gyms. I tried running but it hurt my shins too much
and I always turned around after half an hour or so. If you’re not in love with running right
away, it’s really easy to give up or make excuses—the weather doesn’t
help. But with a gym, I knew I would be
able to make myself go, even if it was just walking on the treadmill for 15
minutes, it was something. I found an “Anytime
Fitness” right across the street from my new job. Not only was it the perfect location, the
brightly lit sign beckoning me every night after work, but it also had
classes—and a coworker who was already a member! I got my 7-day free trial and started working
out right away. The dance class Mondays
and Wednesdays were just my style: indulging my musical side with lighter
intensity—and the instructor is a crazy free spirited hippie who reminded me of
my mom. Soon I learned that she taught
the yoga classes on Friday nights, a great way to end the week. For a while I went to just those classes and
did the elliptical on the off days.
Of course, there were days that
seemed like just too much. Working at a
bank, there were days I was on my feet for a full 7 or 8 hours and all I wanted
to do was go home and put my feet up. Some
days, I got off work and sat in my car in the parking lot just trying to
convince myself to go. I would text Jim
saying “To gym, or to Jim, that is the question”… because I’m a nerd. But really that was the question: do I want
to go to the gym, or do I want to go home to my Jim. With this, he was very supportive. He would always tell me to go to the gym,
even though it meant I wouldn’t get to see him at all that night—he worked the
graveyard shift back then (11pm to 7am) and most nights he would be asleep when
I got home and would go to work when I went to sleep, then got home as I was
leaving for work. Eventually, I started
forcing myself to drive from the bank parking lot to the gym parking lot, and
then I would sit there for a few minutes convincing myself to go in.
I started talking to people in the
dance class, and bonded with the instructor a little. A few months in, I wrote her a thank you
note, telling her I had lost weight and that I owe a lot of that to her and her
classes and her positive energy. To my
surprise, she told the whole class that I had lost weight. And even thought it was embarrassing, it was
also encouraging. The whole class turned
around and looked at me, smiling, some clapping and congratulating me. And as I continued to go, people continued to
notice. One of the best feelings in the
world is having someone you barely know say that they’ve noticed you’ve lost
weight. It’s like they’re saying “I
don’t know you, and I don’t know your name, but I see you once or twice a week
and I have definitely noticed a change.”
It may seem strange, but it’s empowering. Your friends and family and coworkers know
that you’re trying and they see you all the time, so they’re kind of almost
expected to say something. But a total
stranger doesn’t owe you anything, so for them to compliment me was an amazing
motivation.
Having a friend and coworker at the
gym also really helped the process. I
owe a lot to my friend Brenna for not only convincing me to go to the gym, but
also getting me to try new things. On
Tuesdays and Thursdays, the manager held a boot-camp style intervals
class. The first time I went, I
absolutely despised it. We did 5-minute sets, 1 minute of cardio,
then legs, arms, abs, then cardio again.
After one set it felt like my heart was punching both of my lungs in the
face. And Brenna wanted me to do that
for a whole hour! After the first class,
I didn’t go back for more than a month.
Most of the time I wasn’t out of work on time or I had gotten out early
and didn’t want to spend another hour there.
But I just really didn’t want to go back. After a while I felt more physically fit and
a little more confident. I tried the
class again and found that I could actually do it—without thinking I was gonna
pass out. Don’t get me wrong, it was—and
to this day still is—a challenge, but it’s a challenge I am willing to accept.
I think that was a turning point
for me. I think that’s when I started to
think of exercise in a different way.
For me, its not about being skinny—it’s about being healthy, being
strong. It’s about being able to go on a
hike and actually enjoy the scenery instead of huffing and puffing. It’s about realizing that your body can accomplish
incredible things if you give it the time and patience that it gives you.
A few days ago, a woman at work
asked me “do you have to go to the gym tonight?” And, although I knew what she meant, her
choice of words surprised me.
“I don’t have to,” I replied, chuckling a little. I wanted to go to gym. I have finally gotten to the point that
exercise is not only easy (some days), but sometimes it’s even enjoyable. I still go to the dance and yoga classes, and
the manager’s class, along with another strength training class.
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