Well Hello There, Beautiful

Wow, what a journey it's been.  I plan to go back and read all of our old posts, but it would be more fun to do with you.  Can we set a date? 

Hey Lisa!

Bet you haven't checked in on this in awhile, huh? Well you should. Your journey over the last 12 months has been incredible! What strikes me most as I read through your old posts is what an amazing job you have done overcoming the obstacle I call "concrete". For so long you felt stuck. No matter how hard you tried, or how well you planned, your were held down by invisible (but very real) glue that seemed unbreakable.

My question to you is, how did you overcome the bonds that held you so tightly? How does someone who faces the obstacle of life (and more) start the process of becoming physically strong?

Winter Updates

I'm still 5 pounds shy of the 200 mark, but I've been fairly consistent over the last couple months. Pushups once a day have been my mantra for awhile now and great things have come from it. Only the great things aren't necessarily gains, they are time spent with my new-found pushup partner, Kotah. He pushes me to try harder and holds me accountable. He is strong too. If I had half his mental strength, I would be buff and rich.

I've been fighting off another injury. This time it is the LCL in my right leg. I am dearly missing my time on the treadmill. Fortunately, I can still do upper body.

I have put a lot of thought into my physical goals for next year. I'm not ready to put them in writing yet, but when I do I'll post them here.

Another Step Back

Quick post as I don't have a lot of time. Workouts were going well. Strength was up, endurance was up, and perhaps most excitingly, weight was up. Up over 200 as to be exact. Then my back blew up. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but after 3 weeks of no activity, and 7 pounds lighter, it still hurts. When I started this thing I was determined to make my physical well being a lifestyle. My initial discouragement helped me realize it had become more of an obsession. One of the goals 2010 I set the beginning of the year was to win a submission fighting tournament. If I am going to do that, JiuJitsu needs to be my focus. So for now it's get healed, then get training. Hope the latter comes sooner.

Acheivement

Update time. I've been taking Cell-Tech for 47 days now, and I've worked out diligently since my last post. I also attended my first JiuJitsu class since March. Here's the jist of it all in bullet-points:

-7/14/10. Ran a new 3 mile personal best of 17:32. That puts me 33 seconds off my goal. However this weeks grappling class ended in a very long (20 minute-ish) sparring session with my instructor. It's amazing how much strength, determination and focus I lose when I am tired. To remedy this I am going to add a mile to my weekly runs. The goal is still sub 17 minutes for 3 miles, But I need to make sure I am pushing myself for 20 plus minutes.

-My weight is up... In a good way. I've gained about 10 pounds. If I gain 10 more over the next 50 day's I will be thrilled. I need 200 to be the lightest number I see on the scale, not a mid-day, post meal number.

-Pushups are hard. I can do more than when I last posted, and I might cheat my way into the 70's on a PT test. But I am nowhere near the 100 hard-core, good form, movements I would like.

-I can easily flat-bench 250. This was one of my goals that I am excited to reach. Now I need to get 350 on squat and 450 on dead lift. Squats are next. After I reach the 250-350-450 mark, each goal will go up 100 pounds.

-I am now in the best shape of my life. I can lift more, run farther, and grapple better, than ever before. I'm not where I want to be, but I am excited about the future. I feel blessed to have a healthy body and hope that God allows me to always be physically capable.

I want to end with a reminder to myself. Physical fitness for life is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be ups and there will be downs. But if I am consistent and approach each workout with intensity, the results I want will come.

Plan Z

Okay, I just looked back through some of my posts here and see MANY dancing thoughts but ZERO action. How pathetic is that?! But enough looking back...onto a new thought process and idea I had last night:

I was dwelling on some of my mental obstacles that I listed in my last post. A good chunk of them could be eliminated with my NEW idea...

K.I.S.S. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

I need to live this life. I love event planning and that incorporates food...lots of it. That is part of who I am so it stays. I want to be normal and live a manageable life. So I want to simply incorporate DAILY HEALTHY CHOICES into my life.

I realize this is completely opposite of going all out as I've talked about doing before! When I talk about going all out, I know I'm not being reasonable but it's the only way that usually excites me to action because I'm a huge "go big or go home" style of person. HOWEVER, I am at a point right now where I need to keep it simple, real, and doable.


I MUST, I NEED to be fit before I'm 30. I am terrified of turning 30 in the condition I'm in. I can't even mentally go there right now! I have 21 months to get healthy and fit. That's reasonable for sure BUT I have to do it not just THINK it! If I don't ACT then those 21 months will pass and I will be the same...and more miserable than anyone can imagine on my 30th birthday.

So, my new project is 21 months to be fit. That is MUCH slower pace than anything I've ever WANTED to do! But it is the real way to do it and maintain a real lifestyle.

The PLAN:

- don't eliminate parties with good and fun food. NO deprivation. This is critical to my health issue that I deal with as well...depriving myself is a HUGE trigger in my dangerous disease.

-Do moderate the bad food to appropriate times, not indulging in it in everyday life.

- Make DAILY choices to eat smart.

- Exercise 3 times a week, with hopes of increasing it gradually

- Make active choices in leisure time.


That's my KISS plan. This is not plan A...or even plan B....it is plan Z.....and it better work!

Overcoming the Concrete

I feel like my entire body has been stuck in CEMENT. I cannot move forward even though I want to. I can think of A MILLION reasons why I would love to be physically fit and beautiful but I'm stuck. Aside from deeply rooted emotions, what are the reasons why I'm stuck?

BRAINSTORM:

-Fear of losing motivation
-Fear of losing any ground I cover
-Fear of being worse than I was before I started
-Not wanting to feel angry for the "unfairness" of the sacrifices I have to personally do regarding food and exercise to look even half way decent compared to what other women have to do
-Not having the discipline to follow an exercise plan
-Feeling upset that I have to cut any fun food from my lifestyle of party planning and celebrations.
-Feeling deprived of being normal.
-Feeling like no matter how hard I try that I'll never be good enough so why try?
-Feeling like my body isn't designed to look good so I'm wasting time.
-Getting mad that it takes so much focus to look "normal"

Ok, so those are a handful of things that hold me back...now onto the OVERCOMING part...??