It’s hard to believe that it’s almost the end of January! 30 full days into the new year.
How many of you set new goals and resolutions this year? Are you still working on setting them? Have you already fallen off the proverbial ‘band-wagon?’
Well I thought I would finally share with you my health and fitness goals for 2017. I’ll be honest, there is a part of me that hesitates to share this so publicly because what happens if I fail? What happens if I don’t follow through? (Note: even sharing some of these images with you is hard for me as most of them reveal a lot more of my body than I ever do. So be kind!)
This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about my weight loss goals. I’ve shared my struggles both here on the blog as well as on YouTube. People have suggested that I don’t share until AFTER I’ve lost the weight and am back on track, in case I don’t follow through. But I want to be honest and share the journey…the struggle…the challenge. Because the fact is that I’m just like you: I have 1,000 excuses everyday, most of them valid, and it’s just so darn hard to get motivated and moving.
BUT this IS the year it happens. There is absolutely nothing standing in my way except for me. I’m not pregnant, I’m not nursing. I don’t have postpartum depression. I’m no longer struggling with severe sleep apnea (because of using the cPap machine).
Not only am out of valid excuses, but I’m also armed to be successful. I have a year long membership to OrangeTheory Fitness, will be working with a health and fitness coach as well as working with a doctor to monitor and provide support for weight loss.
THIS IS IT!
NO MORE EXCUSES.
Also, I know that if I don’t tackle it this year, with all of this support behind me, I will never tackle it. Everyone knows that the older you get, the harder it is to get the weight off. I’m already feeling that as I’ve slowly started working out and that’s what I wanted to share with you today.
As I mentioned above, I’m working with OrangeTheory Fitness and I’ve been to a number of classes so far this year. I wrote about my first experience here, which you can read in case you missed it.
The thing that I absolutely love about OTF is how it’s one class, for everyone. Whether you are the fittest person ever or stepped onto the treadmill for the first time in years, you are all working out together. Because everything is monitored through your heart monitors, you self-regulate when to push harder and when to take it easy, all depending on what zones you are in (based on your heart rate).
I’m embarrassed to admit that at simply power walking on the treadmill for a few minutes, I’m already in the red zone, which isn’t good. I’m extremely out of shape. I knew this long before stepping foot inside OTF, but seeing those numbers is a real reality check for me and a reminder of why I MUST do this NOW.
The thing that I love so much about these classes is the comradery. Like I said, all shapes and sizes and fitness levels are welcomed at OTF. But with that said, I’m clearly one of the ‘bigger-more-out-of-shape-momma’s’ in the class. And I’m totally ok with that BECAUSE the people around have made me feel completely welcome.
When I had no clue how to even use a rowing machine, the girls working out beside stopped to showed me. When I felt like I was about to die, after 25 minutes of intense power walking (while everyone else was running), the people beside cheer me on and remind me that I got this. When I have no clue how to do a proper resistance technique and I’m studying the other members moves, they will gladly show me the proper way or even a way to adapt it for my less-than-bendable body.
This is what makes OrangeTheory Fitness so uniquely different than any other gym I’ve ever gone to before. There’s a real sense in the room that both the instructors and the members are in this together and when YOU win, we ALL win.
But that’s not to say it isn’t easy. In fact, it’s the HARDEST workout of my life. There have been moments where I thought, “I might just die today.” But that’s why the heart rate monitors are SO KEY to wear and keep track of because when you start to feel yourself going to that ‘dark place’ you simply pull back and keep yourself in check.
I used to be a competitive synchronized swimming when I was a teenager. On top of our 12+ hours swimming in a pool, we had to go to gym classes where we would be stretched…mainly our lower backs and our legs. Greater flexibility on land, meant greater flexibility in the water.
But over the years, as I’ve aged, had kids and gained a crazy amount of weight, my body isn’t so nimble as it once was. I know that I’m carrying much more weight than my 5 foot, 4 inch frame should and I feel it every single time I step foot into the gym.
Almost every time at OTF, I have to ask the trainer how I can modify the workout because my body simply won’t bend that way. The trainers are so great at OrangeTheory and they are always full of great alternative ways to keep my body moving, while not pushing myself too far outside of my limitations.
But I had this moment last time I was at the gym…laying on the floor, trying to do a sit up. It was a particularly hard workout that day and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t enjoying it much. I was sweating like crazy and kept feeling like I was ‘falling behind.’ I was trying to do a sit-up and that was a complete write-off. So we altered it to be a ‘crunch’ but even that proved to be challenging. And in that moment, I became ANGRY.
Angry at myself.
Angry at what I had done to my body.
Angry at every single Big Mac I’d eaten over the last seven years.
And then I started crying. Yup, bawling my face off, right there on the gym floor. It was this crazy experience that I had never had before when working out: the moment I came face-to-face with every bad food choice I’d ever made, every excuse I’d ever uttered, every time I turned down a power walk because I was just too tired.
And I was MAD.
It was in that moment that I knew the only way I was going to get past it, was to push through it. Push through the pain. Push through the tears. Push through the guilt. Just keeping pushing.
And so that’s what my challenge is for this coming year. I’m not setting a certain number goal that I’d like to see on the scale. I’m not banning a bunch of foods off the table. I’m not setting up unrealistic parameters that I know I will just falter under.
But what I am committing to is to just keep pushing. To dig deeper than I ever have and kick this health and weight loss journey in the @$$. To end the year better, healthier, leaner, thinner and with a more sound mind than when I started it.
Love & Blessings,
Note: I am working with OrangeTheory Fitness and YummyMummy Club in partnership for this post where I have received gifts and/or monetary compensation for my honest reviews. As always, my thoughts and experiences that I share are always 100% my own.
