At the end of long workdays, I want to eat, have a beer, and park it on the couch the rest of the night. I don't want to go to the gym and be around more people, so I played a Zumba! dance video. If you are a shy, cranky person like me, the Zumba! dancers are like hopped up dancing asshole gnomes you want to set on fire and drop-kick off a cliff. 10 minutes in I was sweating and near tears because their enthusiasm and ab muscles made me feel stupid, uncoordinated, and out of shape.
The first day was a big failure. But the the next day, I didn't even try to do what they were doing so much as I tried to move in the approximate direction they were moving. I'll just bounce around until I get in good enough shape to try harder. If anyone saw me I would die of embarrassment.
At first, my motivation was beer. I actually woke up Sunday morning wanting a beer. Like a real woman, yeah! But I told myself I couldn't have a beer until I worked up into a sweat. And I thought about what it would be like to feel good about myself and fit into my pants.
Then my motivation was muffin top. I took some photos of myself without pants and took an honest look. I was not as bad and much worse than I thought. Not as bad because I still have an hourglass shape. But my muffin top and belly roll are out of control. I probably need one of these -
Envision for a moment how wonderful it would feel to succeed. Do you know anyone in your life that has made such a dramatic physical change? You can amaze yourself.You might try an aerobics class, yoga, go for a walk, buy a weighted hula hoop, do jumping jacks, anything. I'm going to do 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of weights 3 times a week this next week.
In other areas: I took baby steps. This was kind of a dip-your-toes-in week. I put a boundary up between myself and a bad relationship to give some closure, and then cried each day. I wrote about my mom, and that was emotional for me. Your responses helped me see so many other people have gone through things like this - somehow it made it feel less like a secret burden I have to bear. Seriously, thank you guys.
Set some goals - Spring is on it's way! It also doesn't hurt that the days are getting longer and there is more sunshine. I look forward to thinks I can do like gardening, swimming, not wearing pants, you know. I'm not all sugary optimism, you know that. But I want to meet it with my strongest self. Set a 1 week goal for yourself.
GET FIT! GET STRONG! HAVE FUN!
- A link to some healthy recipes for getting in shape.
- A list of fun smoothies to drink while working on fitness goals.
- A link to my Fitness Pinterest page
- A link to the kickass shareit Fitness 12 week routine
- See the original post here - It's like Delilah without the cray cray..
66 comments:
"dancing asshole gnomes"...you, Pish, are awesome. That is the best Zumba description ever.
I had to skim your post because I need to get to the gym already. :-) I actually do alright on the exercise side of the equation, it's the not eating too much side that gets me. More to the point, I need to get writing this novella already. I'm not unemployed; I'm a writer!
Well get to it! - Set yourself a goal to have accomplished by next week - no excuses!
Thanks Vesta! :) I'm kind of moody emotional right now so thanks for saying that it made me smile :)
Any change in routine seems to help. Trying to go to two meals per day, and adding more veggies - which I've disliked all my life. Walking the dogs in different routes is another good changeup. Will be interested in seeing other posts.
I refuse to be part of this exercise craze! I've decided to just drink my calories and not have real food anymore. I'll let you know how skinny my elbows get. On a separate note... I think those belly bands might be useful. :D
You hate veggies? Ohhhh that gives me a great idea for a post on how to make vegetables delicious!!
I swear, when I read that first paragraph you were talking directly to me! I currently have a post up about taking on the P90X challenge. here is the link if you want to take a look...http://www.shamefulpromotions.com/2012/03/90-days-of-hell.html
Since I already have a post up, I will just grab the button and place it in my sidebar and leave it there until....well until I get tired of looking at it.
Lol, okay Lindsay Lohan, that's okay with me. You can still link up on a post about relationship stuff or parenting hassles! That's okay with me. I'm just trying to help other bloggers link up and share together.
I will get these damned elbows toned if it's the last thing I do!
Trust me, my exercise craze is more like "hey every once in awhile don't be sitting or laying down" :)
I never did share my system with you - you asked for no crazy diets but I'm afraid that's sort of what I'm doing... but with a reason.
When I first started working out I used one of Leslie Sansone's walking videos. I liked it pretty well - nothing complicated - in fact, my only issue with it was that she was just a little too happy lol... but nothing unbearable. Then one day I was doing a few back exercises and ended up tearing a muscle in my abdomen. That was in May I think - and ever since then I've pretty much just been flat on my back waiting for it to heal. There's nothing you can do for it apparently... and I've showed it to a lot of doctors.
Anyway, it's almost gone now so hopefully I'll be able to move again soon! (I of course walk around and all that sort of thing - I just mean that I haven't been able to exercise.)So... the only thing I've been able to do is be aware of what I eat. I've cut back on my intake in a big way and have cut out sugar completely. And you know, it works out quite well. I'll let you know each time I lose a kg lol... that will be fun :-)
How do
Click on the "Add your link" button at the very bottom of my page - I had to fix it :)
Okay! To draw attention to your blog why don't you also post the link to your blogpost in the "add your link" button at the end of mine. That way it will be easier for people to find your post! :)
I love Zumba! I'm by in no way a good dancer, but I think as long as you're moving, you're burning calories, and it is sort of fun. My good friend and I used to go to a class and she is an equally awful dancer. They seperated the class into groups and made us face each other and "dance battle." We had to thrust and hump wildly at the other group. I couldn't even thrust because I was laughing too hard watching Heidi.
My other good friend and I just started a 21 day boot camp. I feel like that will be the push to get me started in the right direction. I've also cut out my crap eating habits, because while they haven't really caught up to me yet, I know they will someday and it would probably be best to fix that before it is a big problem. I'm doing the weight watchers online program and it is sort of fun.
Yay for going to the gym!
yay! got it
Yes let us know how you are doing! God that sounds painful!
Sugar is a hard thing to cut out. I never had a problem with that myself but in the past few months I've cut out soda pop and cigarettes and that was hard!!
I'll post some healthy sandwiches for you on Saturdays :)
Look at those nails!!! lol you can do this!
Omg dance battle sounds hilarious!! I would totally be like Heidi.
Good luck with boot camp! That may be something for me to try down the road when 10 minutes of movement don't make me feel like I'm going to die.
What are your crap eating habits?
yup I even posted before photos! so now I feel obligated
I was super in shape a few months back and the last few months I have gotten lazy, gained weight and lost muscle. I really need to focus. I was doing so great, too! I like your enthusiasm!
My enthusiasm needs a little enthusiasm. Actually it's a little like "sonofabitch I have to do this now?" so I do need people to do this with me and help motivate me :)
I was only teasing! I'll be working out tonight as usual. Good luck with your goal, girl!
Well, I eat whatever I want, whenever I want basically, and I eat a lot of it. Like you, I love cheese. We were taught not to waste food and my dad would get really annoyed with us when we didn't clean our plates. As a result, I always finish EVERYTHING that is in front of me, including Manfriend's food, even if I probably should be full. When I was a child, my family used to order two large pizzas. One for my brother and parents and one for me, and I could eat the whole damn thing. Surprisingly, I am rather slim, but so was my mom until one day she wasn't, so I am taking preventative measures so I don't have to work my ass off like she did to lose the weight.
Oh well I have considered the liquid diet myself so uh, yeah, it could happen.... ;)
How do you motivate yourself to go work out when you're tired and just want to veg?
Oh I could totally eat a whole pizza right now. It's crazy. My manfriend actually got suspicious because I got a pizza one night and he couldn't come over and it was mostly gone by the morning. He was like "did you have someone over?" I was like "no, thank you, I'm just a piggy and eat whole pizzas by myself thanks for pointing that out"... ;)
I'm still rather slimmish myself I suppose but things are hanging and sagging where they should not.
DAMN CHEESE!
Cheese and beer cheese and beer.... you should write about your bootcamp experiences and link up with my linky thing so people will visit your site and go HOORAY!!
Oh, I already have some tales. I'm just afraid that my trainers are reading this blog b/c my friend put in a kind plug for me. I don't want to be physically punished for my creative writing. : )
Dear Pish Posh, I messed up my linkie thing. It didn't work the first time so I tried again and now I have 2. But the first one doesn't work. I can't remove it...does it matter? Sorry about that.
I am so proud of you for the things you did this wee. I saw that shirt, tube, muffin top girdle thingie on TV and actually considered buying it, but decided to try losing the muffin top first.
No problemo, I took down the double for you :) It should work now. Thanks for saying that too. I had a weepy emotional day and was just about to not go to the gym until I read your comment. Now I will :) At least for a little while, right?! How great would it be to not have muffin top and not need to muffin girdle!!
I finally took my bike to get fixed last weekend, and my kids and I started biking to school again. That was a nice thing to do. I hate driving when it's so close.
Oh yes - I've always wanted to bike from SR to Sebastopol. They have a bike lane along Hwy 12 right? Well enjoy! I am envious - family bike rides are the best!
You asked if you could tweet my post about forgiveness. Absofrickinglutely! Isn't what this is all about? I got the strength from your challenge and if I can help someone else release their pain, yes, yes, yes! Sometime we will talk about what my post was referring to, but I think you know. I am here if you wish to talk okay? Blessings
Week one and you are doing such a great job! You are motivated and visualizing succeeding. I need to do some more of those visualizing. Not sure about giving up pants, but I will consider it. I have to go back and read the post about your mom as I must have missed that. Baby steps...like the movie What About Bob. Baby steps will get us to our goals.
zomg you just referenced What About Bob. Me likey.
Thanks for the encouragement. Giving up pants is for the living room only. I want to make that clear. Right now.
Likewise! And thank you and way to go!! :)
You know it took me like 97 years to learn how to do the button so I am not much help. An easier way you can do it is just copy the url and make a normal link back to this page. That's fine too :) Or you can right click the picture and copy it.
I think I figured it out. just need to finish my post now.
Can't wait!!!
YAe for you! On all counts!!!! I know you can do this, and know what- the first week is the toughest. it gets easier!
also- nice work figuring the badge thingy out!
21 days missy 21 days!
Woohoo!! :)
Thanks for the enthusiasm!! I'm a little concerned about my heartache and also trip to New Orleans right in the middle of this. So I'm going to say my 21 days of wild woman intensity begin March 18th. THEN I will be all 21 days. Right now I'm like "I did 20 minutes on the tread mill and 1 sit up woo!"
Your westcoast fitness cheerleader approves of this plan. I wish I had advice on the heartache, but I'm no good with that. My solution would be throw yourself into work, then workout 2-3 hours a night, and coax yourself to sleep with a nice bottle of Napa Cab and a couple tylenol sinus. New Orleans sounds much healthier!
Good start :)
How is the cat going with the four pounds it has to lose?I exercise a fair bit, I run, I'm a fencer, I go to the gym, I have no life, etc so welcome to our little community. RULE #1: Don't let anybody sell you stuff - The human body is amazing by itself, everything else is gimmicks
"You think he's gone? He's not gone. That's the whole point! He's never gone!"
(Opens door. Bob is still there.) "Is this some radical new therapy?"
"YOU SEE?!!"
He finally learned to use the steps up to my bed - only took him 2 months, so that's cool. As the weather is nicer I can chase him around the yard more. As for his diet yeah, that's not getting better at all. My fault really. But he is hungry 24/7!! Anyway I think some of the time he whines he is just bored so come summer I am going to play with him more and feed him less. Fat bastard.
I just hope my other cat makes it through summer.
I don't really care about the whatnot. It's an academic conference with old friends who are totally completely awesome and into the food and the drink and the dance and the exploration of architecture and poetry but not at all interested in the whatnot (booknerds) so we will leave the whatnot to all the hordes of Irishmen attending the conference. But yeah, those few days are not going to be about the Get Fit! Challenge. They are going to be about the Get Fucked Up! Challenge. I mean, about presenting my paper. Yeah.
Haha :) Oh Dave.
Watching Richard Dreyfuss get anal retentive explosive anger rage machine is awfully funny :)
Nobody does that like Dreyfuss.
Great idea! I need to get my ass in gear exercise and food wise too. I went running tonight, so as long as I do a run Sat or Sun, I will have run 3 times in a week for the first time in...uh...many weeks.
I actually wrote a post for tomorrow that seems like a good fit for this link-up although it's not about physical fitness. All mental, baby. I'll come back tomorrow to link up.
Good luck with the hopped up dancing asshole gnomes and the gym rats.
well, i think it's in my post, but I would like it in my sidebar, but guess what???? i can't figure that one out either. I think this will be one of my goals.....to be better at computing/blogging etc etc
Okay what is the address to your post and also do you use blogger, wordpress, tumblr or other?
You probably have to add a gadget/widget and then select "html" and then post the code. If you use blogger I can walk you through it.
I post post posted...Good for you getting to the gym. I HATE GOING TO THE GYM. I hate touching things other people have put their sweat on. I hate breathing the air other people are exhaling in big sweaty puffs. I barely survived the one and only heated yoga class I took. All I could think about was all the sweat molecules I was breathing in from the other sweaty yogis. So I do my thing at home mostly. Or outside in the big wide open air where no one else's sweaty breath is in my face.
Blogger. I think I will dedicate my entire evening to figure this out
Heck! No kids til Sunday....woohoo..I am addicted to blogging and bloggers. I am at work. If I can't figure it out, I will let ya know. Thanks bunches
I tried to comment on your page and it won't let me again! :(
Aaaah I hate the gym too all that sweat and half-naked yuckiness and germs and blegh. I totally take a hot anti-bacterial shower right afterwards :)
Hey Robin - what is your email? Are you on twitter?
On blogger, go into "design". On that page click "add gadget." When a new window pops up to select the kind of gadget you want to add, select "html." Then post the code in that box and click save. Won't take you all night at all :)
Cool! Great to have you linking up! Mental fitness is just as awesome. And necessary :)
And good for you for running! A lady I work with has gotten in AMAZING shape just from running. I hate running so much. I wish I could make myself do it - keep on doing it though, 3x a week is a great start!
I just visited the blogs of all the other people who linked up. I feel like I need to step it up a bit for next week. They are tackling some major hurdles. I just wanted to stop looking at my stats page.
I am going to defeat communism. All of it worldwide...well, that may be too much. I don't want everyone else's attempts to seem trivial.
I will think of something.
hot damn...darn.... i got it!!!! thanks for your help. had to add a gadget, html. etc etc. Now i just need to finish my post and linky link.
Well a) I want it to be whatever anyone wants it to be and obsessing about blogging stats vs writing is totally relatable and I thought your post was awesome. Also? Relatable is not really a word. 2) well jeepers you could write about being a grad student, single dad, awesome writer who knows 3-c) obviously that is too much to expect to do in one week - start small. Just North Korea and fourDee) You just write whatever you want to write. Nothing is trivial if it occupies our minds.
Well, my mind is occupied. So occupied it is difficult to concentrate sometimes.
I do have something I have been meaning to do for a while. Maybe it is time to finally start. Maybe.
I may do the communism thing first.
Occupy Brett's Mind! I'm sending all the gortex-northface OWS protestors over to your mind to set up camp!
They would probably make it hard to fight communism though. Then again you never know, it may be just the thing they need to organize themselves.
Whatever you like is fine. Something you've been meaning to do for awhile sounds perfect. That's the idea :)
Unless that idea is murder. Then no. Just no. Put. The. Axe. Down.
There are no axes involved. I promise.
Where's my sandwich?.................................... lol.... I keep checking to see if you've posted ;-)..... oh well * sigh* I'll check in the morning lol
Oh Bozo!! Your sandwich has to comes at lunch time. Shoot. I guess my Saturday Sandwiches are going to be Sunday Sandwiches for you eh? I'll try to post a few hours earlier next week :)
I can't actually remember if there are bike lanes on Hwy 12 or not, but the creek path has a branch that goes out to Seb. My wife and I keep talking about doing that, but we never have a big enough chunk of time to actually make that trip.
Hey Pish..... thanks for the comment and encouragement over on my blog. I am still pretty new to blogging, so I'm not sure how to respond to my comments that I get...if I respond, by commenting to your comment on my page, you won't get it will you? Well, perhaps I will figure it out... thanks for following! .
You're welcome and yep you sure will. Just post a comment under other people's and they should it :)
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