Posts Tagged ‘change



27
Mar
13

More Evolving

The month of March has been absolutely crazy in terms of how many balls can be juggled.  New boss for the day job,  medical age related test (clean results), full on family vacation, and the CrossFit Open sectional with two weeks remaining.  All of these things combined haven’t left much time for writing.

Finally today I have a bit of a breather.

The title of this blog is most fitting for my thoughts this week.

When I stop long enough to think back to the early months of my journey I recognize the pattern of losses as more linear.  Here lately and over the past couple of years progress looks more like the lines on an EKG.  Progress for me isn’t in terms of weight losses as much as it is about gains, strength gains, confidence gains, and awareness gains.

There are months that I see no gains at all in strength, but a conversation with someone else will result in confidence gains, that person may have seen something I accomplished that I took for granted and the reminder is priceless.  Gains come in every form and fashion.  Often times I will fail on a strength lift.  What I forget to acknowledge was that I overcame a certain level of fear to attempt the action in the first place.

Awareness gains usually come when I’ve been in a social setting of some kind or when I’ve made some poor nutritional choices that impact an outcome.  Awareness gains are not necessarily good or bad, they just are what they are.  That always means I’m more in tune with an action or reaction.

Sounds like a bunch of babble when I go back and read it but the bottom line message is that progress comes through consistent action.  Both positive and negative.  Keep and open mind, keep moving your body, keep nourishing your body with good clean food, and allow your soul some time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished and what you fear.

black white gray

 

 

21
Feb
13

Have I Been A Slacker?

I realized when I sat down to write this blog I’ve begun to allow too much time to pass between blogs.  I’ve got way too much to talk about to not sit down and make it happen.

Anyway, one might wonder if I’ve been slacking.  Fat chance on that.  I work a full-time professional day job and then I step out with my favorite evening job, personal training.

I long to find a way to support myself with my first love.  Eventually I’ll get there, just not while I have a kid in college.

So, enough of my ramblings.  Have I mentioned lately how much I adore working out?  I really do.  Most people cringe at getting up at 4:30am to be at the gym around 5.  Not me.  I started my days off like that long before I ever allowed the fat chick to rule my world.

Back in those days I wasn’t over weight, really not even pleasantly plump.  After the birth of my 3rd son, I decided that working out at 5:00am allowed me to work out guilt free.  Everyone was still sleeping and I didn’t feel like I was taking away from the older boys baseball, etc.

Fast forward through the trauma of divorce and massive unhealthy weight gain, through the amazing and a times heartbreaking journey of weight loss and the release of  emotional baggage I find myself now older, wiser and still loving the 5:00am workouts.

The key in all of that chatter is find what works for you and your family.  It may not be the ideal time, but if this is really important to you, you’ll do it whenever you can make it happen.

I’ve discovered lately that having a fit mind is just as important, perhaps even more important than a fit body.

Someone in your life causing drama?  That doesn’t make it your drama.   Someone having a bad day?  That doesn’t make it your bad day.  Your friend decided to make an excuse not to go to the gym this morning?  That’s not your excuse.

My message and one of my own personal favorite lessons has always been “Just because someone else is having an issue, that doesn’t make it my issue”.  I’ve learned over the last 20 years that if you take it, someone will keep giving it to you to carry for them.

Put on mental rubber suit and let the excuses of others roll off like rain on a freshly waxed car.  Take care of yourself and six months from now your drama filled, excuse making friend will be asking YOU how you did it!

You’ve got enough to handle keeping yourself fit and fabulous.

Change or Not

 

 

 

 

 

05
Feb
13

Be Beautiful

For ALL of the beautiful ladies in my life, I write this blog.  You know who you are, you are near and far.  The ones who, at the drop of a hat send a kind word or do a kind deed.  You are the ones that simply place a heart on my FB page.  You are the ones who send a card for no other reason than you want to make someone smile.

With all of the noise surrounding the perfection of  women, be it in the fitness industry, the beauty industry, the clothing industry, remember that we are each in our own way simply beautiful.

Imagine a world with no commercials or billboards bombarding you with thoughts of what you should be, how you should look, or telling you what material thing you should have before you consider yourself beautiful.

Get up tomorrow and let it all fade to black.  Find the beauty you were born with, IT IS IN YOU, I know, I’ve seen it with my own eyes and felt it with my own heart.   Be the beautiful women that you are!

Please take 3 minutes and 20 seconds and watch this video.   A huge shout out to Karen Walrond for posting this on You Tube.  And a huge thanks to my Precision Nutrition coach Jennifer Koslo for sharing this.

Please, please, share this with every beautiful woman that you know!

Beautiful

09
Jan
13

The Power of Food

This post is dedicated to those who struggle with emotional/stress/OMG it is just so good food issues.

I was born and raised in what is now known as “the deep south”.  I’m not sure when we went from being the south to the deep south, but whatever.

In the south everything is celebrated with food.  Birthday’s, weddings, deaths and everything in between.  It’s just courtesy.  We want folks to feel the love and feeding them has always been the best way to do that.

I used to live by that same thought process.  Food fixed or healed everything.  That is so not true so banish that thought from your excuse list.

For some people there is an illusion that food has power.  BIG power.  They can’t have a small portion, piece or serving.  They end up plowing through multiple servings before they realize what they’ve done.

This is a perfect example of giving food power.  Notice I said giving the food power.

Food is simply food.  It is there for the nourishment of our bodies.  It is not there to defeat us, we do that on our own.

Some how we decide we are not worthy of greatness so we in turn, give over the power of our greatness to food instead.

There is absolutely no food that we can put in our mouth that will fix a broken heart, a broken relationship or broken self-esteem.

How do you break the cycle of giving your greatness over to food?

First there must be the acknowledgement that the fork doesn’t fly in to your mouth without your own assistance.

Secondly, when you start randomly grabbing this or that to eat mindlessly, it is usually because you want to become numb.  You give the food the power to make you forget, even if but for a very brief moment.

Phhhfffttt…that never works.  Food won’t fix anything, in fact it will likely make it worse.  That vicious cycle of eat bad, feel bad so I’ll eat more bad is a very tedious cycle to break.  That being said GET TEDIOUS right back with it.

You will find things that hold you back are often so much greater when you leave them stuck in your head.  Get them out of there.  Write them down and burn them if you don’t want anyone else to know.  Better yet, hold on to that notebook because one day you’ll have the ability to reach another person who may be struggling with what you have already overcome.

Each time you stop yourself from reaching for food to solve your problems, the more empowered you will become.

YES, you may have a set-back or twenty set-backs; just keep asking yourself the hard, painful questions and the result will start showing.

The only power food has is the power that you give it.

backwards

08
Jan
13

Motivation & Momentum

I have had several conversations of late regarding “I’ve lost motivation”.  This isn’t coming from new folks beginning a New Year’s Resolution diet.  This is coming from long-term fitness friends that are simply a little burned out.

It happens.  This thing called burn out.  It usually shows up a few days after you know you should be back to your fitness routine but for some reason only you know, you just can’t muster your mojo.  You know, that old feeling that creeps in and settles after holidays or some other stressful happening in your life.

This is a list of a few things that have helped me push past that burn out phase each time it happens.

-1  Remember why you started all of this in the first place.  For you and only you.  That place deep inside that drives you to be better than you were yesterday.

-2  Change things up a bit.  It could be as simple as downloading new music for your workouts.  It could be a hard as switching from lifting to CrossFit or group fitness classes. 

-3  Get to the gym and spend 15 minutes working out.  Odds are you’ll stay for a whole lot longer.

-4  Get together with your fitness friends.  Have everyone bring a healthy dish and let them help you remember what you want to accomplish.

-5  Get off your butt and quit making excuses.  You know you want it, just get busy.

believe

03
Jan
13

Shedding

Shedding:  a. To lose by natural process:   b. To rid oneself of (something not wanted or needed):

First impressions would lead a reader to believe that this blog might be about dieting.  Ummm…Not so much.

After sitting here today realizing that I somehow had missed the new in this New Year, I realized that I’ve had some burdens that I’ve been allowing to weigh me down over the past couple of weeks.

Today I decided it was time to acknowledge those burdens and let them go.  Shedding the negative and focusing solely on the positive. 

Our lives are too short to dwell on carrying baggage, whether it’s a situation, a relationship, loss of material things, loss of motivation, and most importantly, the loss of self-esteem.

Everyone is not always going to do things the way you do them.  That doesn’t make your way wrong, it makes your way different. 

Be objective enough to step back and determine if perhaps your way has backed you into a corner or if it has truly brought you to a successful outcome.  If it hasn’t, be open-minded enough to say so.

Shedding old habits, old stuff you have no need or use for, old hurt feelings, and old baggage is quite the positive way to start a new year, perhaps even a new way of life.

Just as snow melts and sheds the water away from the earth, do the same for things weighing you down, things holding you back from accomplishing your goals.

Hat Tip for the photo: TheOvenbird2337109017_ea2ca7e9e0

27
Dec
12

That Space in Between

Today I find myself sitting in that space between Christmas and New Year’s.  You know, that space where most people sit around nibbling on the goodness left over from Christmas while in wait for the celebration of New Year’s.

For some folks, that space in between is the black hole of every excuse under the sun for throwing months of hard work away with that “I might as well wait (weight) until the new year starts”. 

How about committing to yourself to not waste (waist) these next few days with that mindset.  You know who you are.  Especially those who are totally out of the normal routine.  Trust me, your routine is calling you just as loudly as those left-over treats.  In fact your routine is probably calling you just a tad bit louder.

You know you want to feel good.  So get up and moving.  Throw that crap out, in the trash can, down the disposal, whatever it takes. 

We are brought up not to waste food.  If someone gave it to you, throw it out.  If the person that gave it to you truly knows you and knows what your goals are, they won’t care if you throw it out.  If they get upset, then ask yourself what their true intentions are.   Because trust me, it is your goal at stake.  Not theirs.

This two-week sprint through the holidays is not about moderation.  If you ate treats in moderation for two solid weeks, then really, is moderation truly the ultimate goal?

Get your food cleaned up and get on with your goals.   Goals, you know, those things you set long before the treats of the season started showing up in every nook and cranny.

Get on with bringing your mojo back!  You know you want it!

go after it

 

20
Nov
12

Female Body Building

I have a crush on female body building.  I have since I was in my early twenties when Cory Everson and Rachel McLish were so popular.  I still admire both of these women greatly for pushing the level of fitness for women.

Is it right for me?  I believe doable for me.  I’ve put my body through an incredible trauma by increasing my body weight to 328# over a two-year period.  That left marks, both physically and emotionally.  I used to consider those marks a negative reminder of the things I’ve been through.  These days, I just consider them reminders of victorious battles fought.

Anyway I digress.  Here is a picture of one of today’s more popular female body builders.  Her name is Dana Linn Bailey and she is awesome.  What’s more awesome than Dana?  The fact that my friend Katie wore one of the garagegym107.com sweat shirts to Xtreme Nutrition’s latest grand opening and Dana posed with her.

My friend Katie put this little photo together for me.  I adore it.  The poster will now be hanging in GG107.  It makes me feel famous and we all know that I’m not.  Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. 

If you want it, get after getting it.

16
Nov
12

No One Walks In Your Shoes

Friday Fun!  Now dance like a Boss!

Yesterday I found myself rather overcome with emotion the minute I set foot in Garagegym107.  There is powerful MOJO associated with this place.  I don’t question things in life that bring me joy and helping others surely does that.

Highlights from this week:

Two people commented on the progress one of the ladies that works out with me on the parking deck at work.  Progress being noted by people not working out.  Love.

One of the ladies that works out said “I see definition in my legs and I like it”.  Small pleasures!

The old man in the gym who now waves at me every morning after I commented to him that I missed him this last few days.  Just being noticed that you’ve been missed motivates some.

My friend said to me “treat yourself as good as you do your best friends”.

I got to speak to a group of women about nutrition.  Now they realize we all struggle at some point.  Realize that your journey is only about you.  What’s right for you may not be right for another.  Do not criticize their way because it’s not your way.  Respect our differences.

 

 

 

 

12
Nov
12

The Fat Chick In My Head

Today I had a visit from my old friend, the fat chick in my head.  The old me.  As I stood in the gym during my lunch hour she decided to pay me a visit.  She doesn’t come around as often as she used to.    As I stood there looking in the mirror, she said to me “I know you can see me” and in all honesty she was right.  I could see images of the old me flash in my mind.  Times when I wasn’t so comfortable in the gym, times that I wept thinking I would never get the weight off.

The fat chick in my head will always be a part of me, but she will never again be all of me. 

The days she shows up in the gym are few and far between.  It’s doubt that I might not get where I want to be.  It’s a reminder that in order to achieve what I want there must be sacrifice willingly given.  It’s a status check above all else.

Perhaps it’s just the fat chick looking for the long-awaited gratitude for looking out for me and keeping me safe all of those years.   So thank you for that.

I’ve got it from here, I promise you can trust me now.