Reflecting on the wonderful people and things in my life.

"The life we waste everyday because we want a better one or because we are never satisfied with it, is the life that many wish and yearn to have and would give everything to have it." I read those words in an article on CNN about living on the trash dumps in Mozambique. The author Jose Ferreira was photographing life at the trash dumps (you can read the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/27/Mozambique.trash.city/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2).

Those words really moved me and made me think about how fortunate I am. Actually, I've been thinking a lot about that topic lately and how blessed I am in many aspects of my life. I can't tell you how often I've bitched about certain things in my life on Facebook and complained when things don't go my way. FML has often appeared at the end of such posts. Why do we complain? Why do we constantly bitch about not getting what we want. Why can't I look at all the wonderful things in my life when I feel the urge to complain?

Truth is, I am truly blessed. I have an amazing and supportive family that loves me no matter what and parents who would do anything for me. I have a wonderful sister that looks to me for guidance and is my first best friend. I have an adorable nephew that is incredibly bright and the cutest and sweetest little boy in the world. I have the greatest husband in the world who supports me in every decision I make and who is truly my soulmate. I am blessed to have my bestest friend in the world and although she is thousands of miles away, I can always text her when I'm feeling down and she always cheers me up. She, along with my husband and family, always remind me of my talents and accomplishments. I have a wonderful group of friends that are always there for me. I am blessed with intelligence and determination that have enabled me to obtain my bachelors and masters degrees and am now able to work toward my PhD. I have 3 jobs...and I am so grateful in this economy to have multiple jobs. I am respected at school and I have faculty and colleagues who truly want to see me succeed. I am so excited that I can work out at the gym on a nearly daily basis and have been able to accomplish many of my fitness goals...the remainder I will accomplish shortly :)

Most importantly, I have many clothes, a fully stocked fridge, and a roof over my head. I don't have to sleep on the street or in my car and I don't have to search for food in the trash. I mention all of the things that I am thankful for in my life as a reminder to myself that I am truly blessed and fortunate. So, the next time I feel like posting FML or bitching about stupid things I am going to remember that quote above and the many wonderful things and people in my life.

Winning and beating those exercises that previously beat me!!!

We all have that one exercise or one machine that taunts us, that laughs at us, that tells us that we can't do it. For me it's the Roman Chair. Last summer, I tried to do even one and I had to literally jump to get my knees to remotely approach my abs. I used every ounce of strength in my arms and chest in order to accomplish that one rep. I have not attempted it since that day.

Since last summer I have progressively become stronger in every area of my body. Running and spinning have made my lower body stronger. Push ups and planks have made me focus more on my core. I can now do regular push ups and every type of plank. TRX has increased my strength in places and in exercises I never thought I could do. For instance, there was one TRX exercise that was torturous for me at the beginning. It involves placing your toes in the TRX handles and lifting your body into a plank position. From there, you crunch your knees in while keeping your upper body in the plank. For the first 3 weeks of TRX training, I couldn't do these. My trainer had me do regular crunches on the floor. This pissed me off because I knew that with a little hard work and determination I could do this exercise. So every other day I worked on my planks and got better and better at them. At week four I shocked my trainer and other TRX members when I cranked out 16 of these TRX plank crunches!!! She was so proud of me and I was so happy with myself that I didn't let this exercise beat me.

That's exactly how I felt about the Roman Chair. When I couldn't do it last summer I was pissed that at that moment the chair beat me. I vowed to not let that happen again. Today was my vindication day over the Roman Chair!!!! Yahoo!!! Me: 1; Chair: 0!!!

Learning to love rest days

I never thought that I would loathe the days that I can't exercise. I absolutely despise them now. Prior to the start of my journey, much of my day was spent on the couch or in a chair...sitting, always sitting. Exercise was the furthest thing from my mind. I guess that's what happens when you lead a sedentary life for so long. In the summer (and winter) I would profusely sweat whenever I would walk short distances and the elevator was my best friend...stairs were my enemy. In all fairness, I was recovering from a knee injury resulting from a car accident so mobility was an issue.

Exercise days and rest days have a completely different feel to me now. I LOVE exercise days regardless of what I am doing. Some days I find myself spending hours at the gym only to come home and go out for a run with my husband. Yes, I sweat, but now I embrace sweating because I know that I worked hard. I no longer sweat walking short distances or taking the four flights of stairs to get to my office. I rarely take the elevator unless my hands are full or I'm in heels. Even activities with my husband have changed. We used to spend our evenings on the couch or out eating fatty and unhealthy meals at restaurants. Now, we spend our evenings and weekends at the gym, running, or doing some other outdoor activity.

Rest days are very difficult for me now. I HATE them with a passion. I need to be active at some point in the day and I have to force myself to take a day off. I know that my body needs rest days and recovery is important for future activity days. But I find that I am more tired on rest days and sometimes bored. Today is a rest day. Yesterday, I did some strength training and taught my Zumba class. I have been having massages every two weeks for the last month and a half to help with my running. My runs have been inconsistent for the last two months due to back pain when running on pavement. I read that massages really help runners, so I've combined massages with some focuses strength training back exercises recommended by my trainer and working on improving my posture in order to get me back on track with my training. So far, the massages seem to be helping and I have been able to run on the treadmill and completed a 5K run on the treadmill. The real test is if I am able to do a 5K on the pavement. I had another massage last night so today became a rest day.

Part of my problem with rest days is that I feel guilty and lazy...wow, never thought I would say that. I feel like I'm not being productive if I am not working out. I am slowly realizing that I am being productive and I'm not being lazy because my body needs the break in order perform the next time out. While I am resting, my body is busy repairing itself from all the "torture" I did to it the previous day. So while my brain thinks I'm being lazy, my body is doing lots of work...maybe I need to tell my brain to "shut up"! So I guess while I may not love rest days, I think I am learning to appreciate them.

My Weight Loss Progress So far...

This picture was taken a year prior to the beginning of my journey. At this point I was about 230 pounds...my heaviest weight ever.

This picture was taken in April 2011, notice how much smaller my face looks. I am about 198 in this photo.

Taken yesterday, 8/21/11, at 175 pounds. Since I joined the gym in May 2010, I have lost 52 pounds, numerous inches over every inch of my body, and have completed 2 5K's!!!

I LOVE my Zumba Family!!!

Since I became a Zumba instructor at the Eastern Hills BAC, an entire new world of opportunities and friends have opened up for me. I love going to other instructors classes. I love watching them and seeing how they inspire their classes. This activity truly is life changing. It was for me too. When I joined the BAC 14 months ago, the first thing I wanted to do was try out a Zumba class. I had heard so many great things about it and I always loved dancing. With my dancing and cheerleading background I knew it was for me. That first class was overwhelming at first, but I kept going. I slowly started getting the hang of the routines and noticed the patterns. As my confidence in my abilities and myself overall increased, I noticed that over time I moved from the last row, hiding in the back, to the front row in every class. Being an instructor allows me to share my story with many people and some need to hear that I was in their shoes just months before. Also, I now have a new group of friends, fellow instructors with the same mission that I share. We work hard to keep our classes motivated and upbeat but we also support each other. Being the newest instructor, I love the support that my fellow instructors provide whether its bringing me up to the front in their class to do a song with them or coming to my classes to root me on!! They are truly a wonderful group of women and I am so honored to call them my friends and to be a part of this Zumba family!!

The Purpose of this Blog

I have decided to start a blog as a way to tell others about my journey. I am intending to write a book for all to read, but with work and school there are just so many hours in the day. My backstory is posted in the "About Me" section and subsequent entries will capture my daily experiences both positive and negative. I will share my great days, achievements, and moments and the days when I'm not feeling so good about myself. I want people to see that I have good days, bad days, and horrible days. They are all part of the journey and each are important. The lessons learned from each of these days benefit future days and steps along the journey. My goal is to share my daily experiences, exercises, nutrition, and thoughts. I hope you find this blog helpful and motivational. I wish you good luck on your journey as well!!