Moments where something just clicks.
It can be something small, like figuring out that you don't have to eat kale if you don't like it.
It can be something big, like trusting in the process and keeping at it, even when there is little to no change on the scale.
Or, simply, it can be realizing that you're capable of more than you thought.
When I go to the gym and see that the workout is cardio heavy, I'm kind of excited.
I have a ton of endurance. Endurance that I've built over months and months of marathon training.
TONS.
When I see that the workout is strength based, I tend to be reluctant and load my bar a little lighter than I think I should.
Yesterday? I had a PR, and then power cleaned (google it! It's badass, yo!) another 7.5lbs on top of my PR!
It was an ugly lift, but I did it. And I learned a lesson.
Keep my arms straight as long as possible. Thanks, Kim.
The fear when one is preparing to run further than ever before, is, "Can I do this? Will I have to stop? Turn around before it's time? Do I have the endurance?"
The fear when one is lifting a weight they've never done before is, "Am I going to drop this friggin' bar and look like a total doofus?"
Veeeeeery different fears.
I always carry cab money when I have a long run to do.
I've yet to use it.
There is no cab money when you're lifting.
It's a different beast altogether from running, and I'm really falling in love.
I have some very achievable goals to get at this year, and what I mean by that is, they're things I've done in the past, and I'd just like to be better.
I've also got some goals that will take me to a brand new place.
I'd like to start seeing some muscle definition, which is something I've truly never had. My body has always had a comfortable, familiar softness, and these ridges, edges, juts are all new and I'm really starting to love my body! That is something else!
If you decide to venture out on a weight loss journey, know that you are going to totally fall in love with yourself and what your body can do, not just how it can look!
I frequently call my husband after a gym workout and let him know how awesome I am, how well I did and how much I lifted.
He always replies, "I know, I tell you all the time how awesome you are."
That guy.
I'm going to post a before and after pic.
A splendid gal recently told me that our bodies are nothing more than "meat suits" that we wear, and strangely enough the following events occurred just days following these words.
Think about that for a second.
It's just a meat suit.
My grandpa passed away in 2005. He was easily one of the most influential people in my life and I miss him dearly still.
The year following was the most difficult of my entire life and I gained some weight.
A lot of weight.
When I saw friends and family the following summer, I remember many of them not recognizing me and giving me sympathetic head tilts.
There aren't a whole lot of pictures of me during that time, because I did NOT like being photographed, but my good friend Nikki came to visit me in B.C and took a photo of me while we had a visit on the patio, and I've forever thought of this as my "stereotypical" before picture.
She happened to find it and send it to me.
I sent it to my husband and family because to me, it was such a shocking picture.
 |
| Picture on the right is from today. The potty sticker chart is not mine. I swear. |
I sent the photo on the left to my family, and this is what I got back from my hubby almost immediately.
"I'd have married you then, too."
That guy.
My Aunt Cindy wrote back, "You've worked really hard Heather - loved you then, love you now."
We are always our own worst critics, and of course when I, personally saw the photo, I saw my enormous body.
My family? They just saw me.
Maybe a little bit bigger, but still me.
What I'm trying to get at, is, your body can change, in many different ways - ask any Mom - but fundamentally, you are still the same person.
You might just live in a bigger or smaller meat suit.
(**Stay tuned because the bicep pump is 'gon be REAL this year!)
