Out of Shape

I have been getting back into shape. Actually, I can't honestly say "getting back" into shape, since I was never in shape to begin with. I always envisioned getting fit to be hard, backbreaking work that leaves your muscles sore and takes a lot of your free time, and all you do is build muscle until you look like Popeye after he eats his spinach. It seemed like way too much work and I never liked the "ripped" look, with muscles on muscles. So instead, I sat at my laptop and chatted and redesigned my myspace and even had a neopet and an account on Gaia.

I could sit here all day and tell you excuse after excuse as to why I was never active in high school, or anytime before now, but that's all they would be. Excuses. The simple truth of it was that I was just plain lazy. But then I went to boot camp. Now, granted, it was only Navy boot camp. (Most of you just said "Oh come ON! That hardly counts as boot camp at all!") But even that was a major wake up call. I started out barely able to do 10 push ups and sit ups. I was pathetic. What 18 year old couldn't even do 10 push ups?

Besides being out of shape and mad at myself for it, I was also gaining weight. From the time I joined the Navy to the time I was discharged, I had gained 7 lbs. I started to work out about a year after getting out, but then I got pregnant. After having the baby, it was enough work just learning how to care for a newborn and balance my daily life that I didn't have the time to work out (and for the first time I had a reason, not an excuse). But having the baby made me gain an additional 15 lbs.

It took me a year, but I finallly decided to start getting into shape and being active and fit. And I want to lose all this extra baggage I started lugging around. But I'm starting off pretty simple. I don't want to jump into a hard complex routine; it's making it too hard and setting too many goals at once that caused me to continually fail at attempting to get fit in the past. I start by doing 20 minutes on my elliptical. I do the first 3 or 4 minutes at a nice walk pace, then I start to run. I run until I've gone a certain distance, then I slow down and I walk it out until I hit 20 minutes. Today I ran until I hit 0.85 of a mile. It might not seem a long way to go, but believe me, it takes a lot longer to go a mile on an elliptical than it does to just run a mile.

I also do 20-25 crunches (one crunch for me is one to the right and one to the left. So it's "right" crunch, "left" crunch... ONE.) Then I do sit ups. I can only do 20 of them right now, but it's such an improvement that I can't complain.

I find that I have a lot more energy now that I'm working out, and as long as I keep short term goals, and only one or two goals at a time, I can stick with it. Before, I used to be like "im going to weigh this much, and be able to do this much, and this, and this..." and it was just too overwhelming. This way, all I tell myself each day is:

You are going to weigh 120 one day, but right now, let's just get to 137. Then you'll be the same as you were in high school! That's awesome. And these sit ups and crunches will take inches off your waist! You will look good and feel great. You CAN do it. Good Job!

And you know what? I CAN do this. I WILL be 120 one day. And my waist? It's going to be smaller. And the best part? I will look good and feel great. I'm already feeling great!

I'm good, I'm great, I'm wonderful. :)