Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." - Carl Rogers

I refuse to be excited about this.  Repeat.  I REFUSE to be excited by this.

Okay, it doesn't matter, I'm excited and no matter how much I want to refute the excitement, I am excited. 

Since all of you are just dying to know what I am excited about, I am going to share it with you....I have lost seven pounds. Yes, you heard me, 7!

Now for all of you mathletes out there, you need to have all of the story to truly understand why this is significant.  Approximately 10 days I go, I sent a note to Jo - of Jo Dumont Fitness Training (jodumontfitnesstraining.com) telling her that if I gained two more pounds I would be sticking my finger down my throat.  I had just stepped on the scaled and discovered that I had gained more weight, bringing my total weight to 16 pounds.  (That made me 154 pounds).

Pretty discouraged about the whole thing, I turned to Jo.  Now why this is significant, is that normally and probably long before now, I would have quit on Jo.  Determined that I could do this on my own, I would strike out, go back to my bad eating habits and lose the weight.  Sure, I would lose the weight, but I wouldn't have achieved all of the successes that I have now:

• I have muscle tone in areas of my body that haven't had tone since the early 90's.  (do you notice how the 90's looks older when you type is 1990?)
• I have more energy than I have had in years.
• I can lift 195 pounds off the ground.
• I can run 6.5k in intervals in less than an hour. (the bigger story might be that I actually choose to run).
• I may even like me!

To be clear, I still can't fit into my pants, but I can see the very noticeable and real changes that my body is going through and I feel like we are finally headed in the right direction.

Jo was incredibly responsive to my desperation.  She took time out of her busy Sunday night to talk me off the ledge and come up with a plan for me.  A plan that I can buy into and have been working really hard at in the past 10 days and the results are beginning to speak for themselves. 

Going to JDFT has probably been one of the best decisions that I have ever made for myself.  Amanda and I had an amazing run last Thursday where we ran 6.5k in intervals.  I was running faster than I have ever run before and it was AMAZING!  On Saturday, I joined up with Jo, Amanda, Shannon and Brandi for a Thanksgiving Weekend Last Chance Workout, I didn't pig out on Thanksgiving (I could hardly move, but that's another blog) and went back to the gym for Hardcore last night.  Dare I say, I am "committed?"  GASP

No blog would be complete without a shoutout that I feel is long overdue.  Shannon is another one of the trainers at JDFT.  She has never taught me in a class, but I have had the pleasure of working out with her.  She is full of energy and contains a great deal of motivation just by showing up and doing a class with you.  Not only is she willing to listen to the concerns you have about your fitness/program/weight, she has a built in empathy that makes it really easy to talk to her and tells you "hey, I've been where you are".  Thank you, Shannon.