I am proud of myself. I had a cold, a right hip that is just not up to running, and a left hamstring that is tight as a drum. A year ago I would have easily pushed through the pain of the hip, maybe throw a stretch or two in for the hamstring, and forget about the cold. Taking days off are out of the questions for an old fatty, there is no way I can miss a day because I’ll never start back up. I literally felt this way and pushed myself ridiculously hard.
This year is a different story. I can truly say I am proud of myself for finally accepting the fact that I have developed a “lifestyle” of health and fitness, not just constantly struggling to stuff that fat girl in a closet. The first half of the week I made a committment to myself that I was hanging up my running shoes for the rest of this year. The only run I am allowing myself is short sprint intervals during walking workouts to drive heart rate. No running 3, 4, 5, and 6 miles. It just hurts the hip too bad. I also stretched that silly hamstring every day this week at least twice. It still feels like crap, but at least I’m doing something about it. I also came down with a cold and adjusted my schedule to take care of me rather than pushing through sub-standard workouts that leave me ill for a couple of weeks. Today I feel almost 100%. I even walked for an hour this morning at a moderate pace (very leisurely) and enjoyed watching some early morning news. Afterwhile, I’ll head to the gym to do my shoulder workout but I’ll drop the cardio intervals to keep it lower intensity.
It was nice this morning to look forward to easing back into my schedule rather than slug through another day. For those of you who read my blog and fight the same battles, just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Somewhere over the last few months I have embraced who I am today rather than feel like the person I was. The one thing that has helped me most is a very simple tool…toot your own horn. Losing weight and committing to daily exercise is NOT EASY. If it were more people would do it. YOU need to be proud of your accomplishments and take zero shame in telling others about it and how you did it. You never know when your story or your confidence will inspire the next person to do the same. Lately, I have been criticized by some loved ones for my websites. How dare I go out and tell the world that I am fit, active, successful, and beautiful? Say WHAT? They ask why do you do that? Don’t you feel like you are bragging? I say why would I NOT do that? Women need hope. They need to see that it can be done and I am DAMN proud of the fact that I did it and live it every day. No shame here! :)
So, to those of you in the beginning of your journey my best advice is to start living, breathing, talking, and acting the lifestyle you want to lead. Take pride in your appearance as if you are at your goal weight. Flaunt what you have. Workout like you have been doing it for years…leave NOTHING on the table when you finish that workout. Make up your mind that you are already that fit girl you see in your mind. Let her out early so that when you look how you think you will think how you look. It took years of programming to convince yourself that aren’t worth it or that you will always be fat. It will take time to erase those thoughts so start now. Get excited! Get happy! Get Phit-N-Phat!