Pasadena, CA
This health journey has been a bit long & very difficult, but extremely rewarding. Sometimes it's hard to see my own progress when I look in the mirror because I am my own worst critic. We all are, right? Sure - my body has changed but you know what's changed the most? My self-worth.
In December of 2008. I was 185 pounds and my son was a little over a year old. It was
This health journey has been a bit long & very difficult, but extremely rewarding. Sometimes it's hard to see my own progress when I look in the mirror because I am my own worst critic. We all are, right? Sure - my body has changed but you know what's changed the most? My self-worth.
In December of 2008. I was 185 pounds and my son was a little over a year old. It was "baby weight", I would tell myself. "It will come off. My son is only 1." Now, there absolutely is something VERY REAL about baby weight. A lot of that has to do with self-sacrifice. When our babies are small, they demand a lot of us physically and emotionally. It takes a toll on our bodies and our spirits...and that's OK. It's natural. It's motherhood.
What's NOT ok is losing ourselves, and that is exactly what happened to me. I became the excuse girl. You know the her:
"But I'm SO tired."
"The baby is most important. I'll work on me later."
"The baby woke up twice last night and I couldn't get up early to workout."
"I had a rough day at work today. All I want is pizza and beer."
"Mmmm...Del Taco."
Yep, that was me. Exhausted, negative, chasing food trucks, stuffing my face, unhappy, unhealthy, LOST.
Of course through all this, my dear husband did not say a word about my weight gain or about my negativity. He loved me through and through. To this day, he is my biggest supporter and my best friend on the planet. In the Spring of 2009, he asked me to buy him P90X for Fathers Day. I had no clue what it was but I googled it and bought it off the Beachbody website.
We started P90X together and he was hard core, always the most disciplined of us two. I went back to being excuse girl:
"If I work out more than 3 times/week, I get too sore."
"I'll join you every other day."
"But the baby!!! We will wake the baby!"
I literally sat on the couch eating spaghetti (hey, it was whole wheat!) while my hubby did his workouts. On the days that I would actually join him, I would post about my workouts on Facebook and I started getting some replies from people who had done P90X before. One of those people ended up changing my life. My friend from high school youth group, Arlene, reached out and offered to coach me through my fitness journey.
Now, my willingness to accept the coaching wasn't immediate. In fact, it took much longer than it should have...about 6 months actually! But Arlene never left my side. EVER. She continued to support me and ask me how my workouts were going. Eventually, I was ready for the change. You see, I was SO scared of failure. Up to this day, I had failed at every single physical thing I tried (like the time I finally was passed the ball during a 5th grade basketball game and I scored for the other team....um, yeah.) Arlene continued to encourage me, despite my resistance.
I made the decision to stop P90X and I bought Slim in 6. I thought to myself "Baby steps. You gotta start somewhere." Well - Slim in 6 is more like a toddler step! It's easier than P90X but it's still an amazing workout. I ended up losing 14 inches on that program but more importantly than that, it gave me back my self-worth. I committed to waking up early every morning at 5am to workout. It was hard, guys. Really hard. During this time, my son was having a lot of health issues and he would wake up throwing up often. I would work out with the baby monitor next to me and when I'd hear him wake up crying or throwing up, I would hit pause, run upstairs, clean him up, drop him off with daddy and finish the workout. Now emotionally, guys, that was REALLY hard. But, I had to do it. I had to get healthy...I had to put me first.
So there I was. Done with Slim in 6, 14 inches smaller and ready for the next challenge. I dabbled a bit in P90X again and tried the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. Neither kept me motivated. I yo-yo'd a bit until I found TurboFire the summer of 2010. That program CHANGED MY FRIGGIN' LIFE!! The music, the choreography, Chalene. All of it kept me coming back for more every single day...for 90 days. 30 pounds lighter, I felt like I was on top of the world. At this point, my son was older and knew I was working out everyday. Sometimes, when I didn't get a chance to workout in the early mornings, I had to do it after work. My son would "spot me" when I did my sit ups, or he would jump around the room with me...or he would hang on me. LOL. It was not easy when he was awake, but I was determined. And let me tell you, kids are the best accountability partners! If my son hasn't seen me workout in a while, he will point it out. :) Gotta love that kid!
It was not the weight loss that kept me going. It was the way I felt after my workouts that kept me coming back for more. I learned that I needed that time for me in order to be a more patient mom, a more loving wife, a more focused employee, a better friend. That hour of working out changed my outlook on my day and made me a better person. All of a sudden, that hour was non-negotiable.
I sit here today 40 pounds lighter, a gazillion inches smaller and a MUCH more fulfilled human being. Physically, I'm now able to do all the P90X workouts, as well as Insanity & hours upon hours of Turbo. I've learned that my priority in my life isn't my son & my husband...as I had originally thought. My priority is more specific than that. It is to be a happy & fulfilled person so that I can be a happy mom for my son, a positive wife for my husband, an inspiration to my friends & family. It's so important to me to SHARE this way of life with people...because really, it is the only way to truly live this life to the fullest.
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