Exercise and eating well give me a natural high. Even in knowing this I still don't always find it easy to keep it up. There are good days/weeks and there are bad days/weeks...months. January was a very bad month.
Once late fall came and my schedule forced me to hang my commuter bike up, I lost all of my motivation. Last spring and summer were momentous for me. I started working with a Wellness Coach at my gym sometime in April 2011. Jason worked with me to create goals, both short-term and very long-term. I met with him weekly and through this process I reintroduced myself back into exercise. First I took some intro classes, then I started "running" again, I began biking to work almost daily and I participated in a nine week women's strength training class. By seeing my coach, I had accountability because every single week I set goals and when we met the following week, I needed to tell him which goals I met and which I didn't. I hate admitting failure, so I just did whatever I could to make sure that I met those goals each week. With his guidance I began to also change my eating habits for the better and I eventually rejoined Weight Watchers. Between April and September I had lost about 30 lbs and I was keeping up momentum very nicely. I did the Saint Paul Classic Bike Ride (26 miles) in September and then the Mankato River Ramble Bike Ride (42 miles) in October, but once October was into full swing, I stopped. I was having back pain from carrying my daughter and from weight lifting, so I saw a physical therapist who was no help at all. I was so afraid of the holiday season and what it could potentially do to all of the progress I had made so far. My coaching had ended in September, but when I told him how scared I was for winter to come, he said that maybe I should look at winter as a maintenance time. He said long as I wasn't gaining weight, I would still be meeting my goals. So, I took on this mindset. I made it through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years without gaining more than a pound. I was really happy with myself, but then somehow January began taking its toll. I was back to my old eating habits (not horrible, but not great) and I wasn't exercising AT ALL. Every time I stepped on the scale, the number was creeping up and up and up. In total, by the time I snapped myself out of my funk, I had gained 8 pounds. 8 pounds of stupidity, basically. Now I have to lose those 8 again. I have 4 left. It sucks.
I woke up this morning excited for both my swim lesson yesterday, which went very well and for the workout I have planned for today. I feel good. I am happy to be in this place, but I know that there could be a bad day just around the corner and that's hard.
Yesterday's swim lesson was so good for me. Amy gave me a few things to work on with my front crawl and suggested I work on flutter kicking and bilateral breathing. I'm excited to get some practice in on these two things tomorrow. Today's workout includes a 4 mile bike ride and 20 minutes of running. Last time I biked at the gym, I used an Expresso bike, which was pretty neat. There are treadmills right across from the bikes, so I plan to dismount the bike and immediately get onto the treadmill. Hello "brick" workout! Here I come, jelly legs!
No comments:
Post a Comment