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Posts Tagged ‘healthy-living

Jan

It Is Supposed Be Hard

As I got about halfway through an hour of rowing this morning, I started that little mantra in my head “Yes, it IS supposed to be hard and yes, you WILL finish this”… Funny thing about this cardio thing, I’d rather lift weights all day than to do a cardio workout for an hour. That being said, personal growth is found in discomfort.

Really, I’ve learned over the years that there is very little in the scheme of being fit that is truly easy. I have realized though that I get stronger as time goes by.

In the old days of battling for big losses, doing an hour of any type of cardio was mentally not possible. I was lucky to get through 20 minutes.

Who knew that 12 years later the battle for tiny losses would surpass the previous battles. I love it. Getting stronger and more fit is my end goal. Both mentally and physically.

As I pulled that rower handle over and over all sorts of things went through my mind. I started out facing my garage door, then I jumped off the rower and turned it so I could face my Vision Wall (a wall in GG107 filled with memorabilia). I realized that it has been quite sometime since I’ve updated it. It’s time for new motivating pictures and quotes.

Motivation isn’t always available in our endeavors. Discipline must come in to play at some point. It’s not always what I want to do and self-discipline is what pushes me to do what must be done.

Looking back over my journey, progress has never come when things are “fun”. Progress comes after the most challenging discomfort. Whether it was a personal struggle, work struggle or a fitness struggle there has always been growth during the greatest of challenges.

Hat Tip For Photo: Good Movies List.

Famous words of YODA:

Dec

That Space in Between

By garagegym107 8 Comments

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!

Dec

Don’t Tell Me It Can’t Be Done

By garagegym107 4 Comments

Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment
Tags: Body-for-Life, BodyBuilding, Clean Eating, exercise, Fitness Competition;, gaining self confidence, Goal Setting, healthy-living, Inspiration, Motivation, Weight Lifting, Well-Being, Workout

And don’t tell my friend Sharon that either. Sharon and I have walked this journey together for quite some time. Back in 2009 we spent the whole year encouraging each other via internet. In October of 2009 we got to meet face to face. We got to share our excitement and enthusiasm for fitness together with many other friends.

Over the course of the years since, we’ve gotten together a couple more times. Since our last get together Sharon decided to set the goal of becoming a Fitness Competitor. She has since taken the stage twice.

Was her journey easy? Well of course not! Was she disciplined? Absolutely.

I’ve spoken with Sharon countless times and the one word that she has repeatedly used is perseverance.

There have been times along her journey when those who claimed to be her friends attempted to bring her down by making negative comments. She persevered. There was a time during a storm when she lost power, she ate her food cold, but she stayed her course. To some that may seem silly, to her it was following her dream. Just because something isn’t YOUR dream doesn’t mean it isn’t right for someone else.

Please share this with your friends who need support and encouragement. Photos are very powerful.

I’m very proud of this woman to say the least. Congratulations Beautiful Sharon on a job very well done!

Nov

No One Walks In Your Shoes

By garagegym107 21 Comments

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.

Nov

Getting Lost To Find Yourself

By garagegym107 4 Comments

Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, Community, CrossFit, exercise, goals, healthy-living, Inspiration, Weight Lifting, Working out, Workout

Funny how folks allow an event to alter their daily lives even when it is totally out of their own control. I’ve seen more morose faces today than I care to. But this is life and I’m going to live it.

There are several highlights already happening in my day.

I watched a beautiful sunrise this morning after successfully hang squat cleaning 100# for 5 sets of 5 reps.

I worked out with a group of ladies at lunch that are all showing improvement. They are happy about it.

I closed my office door and buried myself in my work while listening to music. Thankfully I have a boss that understands on occasion I need to tune out interruption and focus. Getting lost in music today was a blessing.

This song reminds me of when I was a young mother of three rambunctious little boys. In fact this reminded me of the day the youngest got a Nerd candy stuck up his nose.

There are greater things in our lives happening everyday. Choose to see the greatness.

Oct

Progress Report 1 of 18

By garagegym107 1 Comment

Categories: Precision Nutrition Certification
Tags: BodyBuilding, Book Review, change, Clean Eating, CrossFit, exercise, gaining self confidence, Goal Setting, healthy-living, Long term weight loss, Motivation, Precision Nutrition, Training, Weight Lifting, Well-Being, Working out, Workout

I started the process of obtaining my Precision Nutrition Certification about a month ago. I received all of my study material and slowly dove in.

After completing the required tasks of the introduction and chapter one, I settled down to complete the questions in the work book.

At my age, things tend to stand out more than they used to, perhaps because I’m a bit more open-minded about myself. I’m definitely one who retains more information if I write it down. And I’m much more eager to learn at this point in my life than ever before.

I realized that I had been sitting at the table for almost two hours answering the introduction and chapter 1 questions when it hit me. TWO hours will be the time limit cutoff for taking the full exam which covers 18 chapters.

When I voiced my concern to my spousal unit his response was simply “It’s not supposed to be easy”.

He’s right. The more difficult this process is for me, the more I will learn.

Oct

Issues, We All Have Them

By garagegym107 6 Comments

I was chatting with a friend who is struggling this morning. As we chatted, I was thrown back in time to that exact point in my journey.

I don’t know where these things come from, they just seem to come from deep inside somewhere teaching me again, that I have learned some lessons over this journey of mine.

“We all have issues. My issues are not smaller than yours. I’ve learned not to use them as an excuse to crap on my goals” ~Garagegym107

There is so much meat in that statement, I immediately had to type it out and claim it.

For years I allowed my issues to be my excuse for chronically sabotaging my fitness efforts with poor quality food. It took me quite some time to figure out that when I ate poorly, I in turn felt even more poorly and my issues seemed ginormous (yes, I know that’s not really a word).

It happens in the lives of most women who struggle with dealing with emotional eating. You are not alone.

Sooner or later, you must confront your fears in order to move past these issues. It’s not about willpower so much as it is about willingness to change and will to let go.

Our issues can stay buried deep inside and something silly can pull one of them back to the limelight.

In example, I’ve written about the online trainer that literally told me I needed to rethink my goals regarding physique training. In that moment that little liar in my head came screaming forward saying “see I told you so”.

I could have let both the negative self-talking voice and the online trainer derail me completely. The old me would have allowed just that.

The stronger, wiser and much more at peace, and confident me simply said “watch this”. My goals are set, my countdown app on my phone is set and I’ve been busy doing.

Sure, I have issues, we all do. Step back and think things through. If you are reaching for food, you are still allowing those issues to rule your roost.

Oct

Never Going To Steal My Joy

By garagegym107 22 Comments

Over the past month I have seen numerous postings of one of my best friends before and after photos. Ironically, these photos are being taken by people attempting to claim her success as being a part of whatever fitness and training quick fix they are pushing.

What’s been interesting about the whole thing to both of us is reading all of the comments associated with her transformation. Especially the nay-sayers. One woman claimed to be “a trainer with 30 years experience” she didn’t believe the photos were real.

In my humble opinion, I’d run from that trainer. If she doesn’t believe this type of transformation is possible then you sure don’t want to pay her to convince you that it is not possible.

That’s why I love my friend and I love my life. We live our transformations every single day of our lives. We don’t have to go around using other people’s pictures to build ourselves up. Instead we use our own photos to build others up.

You see, no-one can ever steal our joy, we built it, we earned it, it’s ours to share.

We can walk the walk not just talk the talk. Let me just say this, it hasn’t been a cake walk. It’s much easier now than it has ever been before for both of us. But were it not for the road we’ve traveled, I would not be writing this blog.

People want change but people want change for nothing.

For all the ladies in the house…grab a tissue because this is a good one!

Let me introduce you to my friend Michelle T. . She is real, she is authentic and she is my mentor.

She has listened to me sob over realizing that a goal I set wasn’t going to happen. She never said I wouldn’t, just said maybe now isn’t the right time.

She has stood by me and patiently watched me impatiently struggle with being too strict with food and over training myself in to the ground all the while knowing that in my own time, I would come out on the other side.

You see, here is the thing about all of that weight-loss. Everyone is different. With personal patience, self-awareness and a personal belief that never waivers, long-term successful weight-loss can happen.

Each one reach one…Thank you Michelle for paying it forward!

YES this picture is real! Yes I have seen her in a two piece! YES IT CAN BE DONE!

Sep

I Don’t Have Time

By garagegym107 6 Comments

Categories: Living Fit Daily
Tags: Body-for-Life, BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, exercise, gaining self confidence, Goal Setting, goals, health, healthy-living, Inspiration, Motivation, nutrition, push ups, Training, Weight Lifting, Working out, Workout

I hear this comment often. “I don’t have time to train and eat right. I can’t imagine packing my meals and being at the gym at 5:30am. ” “I can’t imagine doing that with 3 kids”. In reality we all have the same number of hours in our day.

Some days I’d like to be a real hard nose about it, but the old fat chick in my head says “remember when that was you?” so I refrain.

What I would really like to say is this. You have a lot more time than you think you do so stop saying you don’t have time.

Swap half of your social media time for working out. Swap all of your TV time for food prep and you just might find a little extra wiggle room in there. I the beginning it seems like an undoable, impossible idea. It does for most people so you are not alone.

Give it two weeks. Set a timer and limit yourself to 10 minutes of social media at a time. For the next 10 minutes, try doing some air squats or some push-ups (even if your push-ups are on your knees or your leaning against a wall) or some good old-fashioned sit-ups, just do it for 10 minutes.

You will soon realize that you don’t have to move a bus to feel better, just move yourself. Care about yourself enough to do it.

I’ve learned that my commitment to consistency has been the greatest link to my success. Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year.

Things got so much easier when I quit chasing “the end” of each phase. When the end comes, it’s over but you are not finished. I never imagined when I was 38 and just getting started that I would be creeping up on 50 in the best shape of my life and still working out consistently 5-6 times per week.

Ironically, I’m not finished. Now I see 80 as a new challenge. Just how good of shape can I keep myself in over the next 30-ish years. And even better? What do I want to accomplish?

Getting and staying fit is the greatest gift I could have ever given to myself. Learning to live this lifestyle has taught me that anything is possible. Now go get your greatness!

Sep

Ignorance is Bliss

By garagegym107 1 Comment

Most people really truly don’t want to acknowledge the truth about fitness and weight loss. If they hide behind the veil of ignorance then they don’t have to hold themselves accountable. I did that, for a couple of years, in fact. I managed to pack on an additional 168# in two years. Yes, that’s correct, in only two years I went from a relatively healthy size 10 woman to a grossly unhealthy size 22. That’s an average weight gain of 1.61 pounds PER WEEK.

Talk about a sad sack. But ignorance was bliss. No one really ever said anything about the weight as it progressively increased.

I could have stopped it, I could have changed the course of my life. But instead I used every excuse I could dig up, meds were making me fat, job related stress was making me fat, my obnoxiously nasty divorce was making me fat. But you know what?

I was making me fat. I was the one stopping by the fast food joints picking up a bag full of whatever daily special was going on at whichever place was super-sizing everything.

The beautiful thing in my story is that I truly believe that people can change and those changes can stick, like glue.

I know personally many people who have successfully changed. Taking themselves from being slightly overweight, or emotional eaters, to those like me, who were obese.

They’ve taken responsibility for educating themselves. They’ve put their own ego’s and pride aside to make these changes. They’ve humbled themselves to the point of learning and humbled themselves to the point of DOING.

The most important thing that we’ve all learned is that in this life is: it’s not always about me.

Reach out and do something nice for another person. No need to tell anyone what you did, just do it.

Each one, reach one.

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