Let me preface this blog post with this bit: I am a terrible
salesman. I am not trying to sell anyone anything. This is just me blabbing and
yammering away about what inspires, motivates, and works for me. I am in no way
a fitness guru. Beauty and books and writing? Yes. Full blown guru. Fitness and
health? Mmmmm…not so much. So with that little disclaimer out of the way, let’s
get on with me throwing words at your face.
For anyone who follows me on Facebook, I’ve been dropping
little bits of info about working out and trying to be a better me. Why am I doing
that? Well, it’s to keep me accountable. If I’m telling the whole world “Hey!
Look at me! I’m working out!” and then I stop one day, people are going to
question me about it.
But why the sudden need to work out and get healthy? Let me tell you what it’s
NOT about. It’s not about confidence. Because, honestly, I got that in spades.
Yes, I have points of not feeling confident, but that’s human nature. I love
me. I love all my imperfections: my foul mouth and dark side that comes out
when I write, my stretch marks and saggy boobs, my short torso and long legs…you
see where this is going.
The one thing though that I didn’t feel was strong. I didn’t
feel like I could keep up with my two sweet hellions who seem to have
superhuman levels of energy. I want to be able to keep up with their craziness.
But most of all, I want to be there for THEM. For a long time.
My mom and one of sisters starting their own weight loss
journey was what set me on the path intially. My sister has lost like 20 lbs and my mom 30 lbs
(at the time). They are doing Weight Watchers. And that’s cool. But…that didn’t
work for me. It was too broad for me. Meetings and such things? Not for me.
Shortly after learning of their weight loss success, that’s
when things click. One of the most wonderfully badass ladies
I know, Jenn, pushed and tugged for me along into being her Accountabi-li-buddy.
It’s better when you’re working out and dieting with someone who shares the same
sense of humor and mind set. Honestly, everything kind of happened at once.
Weight loss challenger? Check. Boot Camp on the weekends? Check. Treadmill? Check.
With my hand across my heart, I can say that a majority of
my weight loss success is owed to the wonderful support of not only my husband
and family, but Jenn and our coach/co-worker/buddy, Cody. Cody is someone who
is encouraging, not a Judgey McJudgerson. “Can’t do a burpie? That’s cool, try
it this way. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to do them soon.” A smile, a laugh,
and kind words go far in my book. And, it’s not about getting buff. It’s about
being HEALTHY. Having a HEATHLY lifestyle. You don’t HAVE to run every night. You
don’t HAVE to do a boot camp. You can just simply walk. You can dance. You can
do whatever you want, as a long as you start someone where and move forward.
My starting weight with this whole weight loss challenge
thing was 229lb. Now, I’m 5’5” (on a good day). And though the weight was
pretty even distributed, that’s still quite a bit on my husky frame. But, I don’t
want to be rail thin because if I was, I would probably look like a Death. I
want to be curvy because the best pins up and sexy pirates were buxom…and
strong. Don’t forget that. I want to be healthy.
So how in the hell am I doing that? By doing a bit of a life
style change.
I try to walk every day.
I try to jog/run three days a week.
I go to Boot Camp once a week
I do dance off's with my daughter (she's got made skills)
I make healthier food choices, which includes meal replacement shakes.
I stopped drinking soda. I haven’t had a Coke in almost two months!
(But I do still drink coffee…that I cannot give up…EVER)
See? Simple things. Little things every days adding up to big piles of awesomeness.
I try to walk every day.
I try to jog/run three days a week.
I go to Boot Camp once a week
I do dance off's with my daughter (she's got made skills)
I make healthier food choices, which includes meal replacement shakes.
I stopped drinking soda. I haven’t had a Coke in almost two months!
(But I do still drink coffee…that I cannot give up…EVER)
See? Simple things. Little things every days adding up to big piles of awesomeness.
With all these changes, you might wondering, “how much
weight have you actually lost then? Huh?!” Well, I have lost around 20lbs. As you can
see, I’ve already started to tackle the next 20lbs. Go me!
I have been pretty fortunate with meeting some incredible
people through this journey and have the absolutely best friends/family support
on this amazing adventure to becoming an upgraded version of myself. Like the
Bionic Woman! Or a Cyberman! No. Not Cyberman. Those guys are bad news…
Like I said at the beginning, I’m a terrible salesman.
Because, well, I don’t want to sell anyone anything. I want to inspire. As a
writer, I create universes and worlds and people that I hope one day will be
read inspire. Inspire what? Who knows. Depends on the story. But for this blog
review, right now, I suppose what I’m trying to inspire is that you have one
life, and you can do with it what you want. But the question is…do you want to
feel helpless? Or do you want to feel strong and in charge?
For me? I’d prefer to feel strong and in charge…if only to
flex my biceps and tell random folks that it’s ‘this way to the gun show.”
Thank you for taking time and reading the ramblings of the
30 something Nerd. Next blog post will come soon (hopefully…maybe next week…don’t
know…depends on Life). I say this on my other blog, but I just want to remind
you to always be yourself…unless you can be a pirate…then always be a PIRATE!!
