Begin from the Beginning

In the summer before 4th grade, I sat in a doctor’s office for my annual checkup. The doc told my mom that if I gained any more weight, I would need to go on a diet. To a 9 year old, that is terrifying. What does this mean? No sweet snacks? Ice cream? How about chips? What is “diet food” and will I be able to eat what other kids eat? A few months later, I vividly remember bawling after a weigh in at the nurse’s office at school. To my abject horror, I had gained 5 pounds! (I had also grown inches, so I didn’t *actually* have to diet, but I was afraid of it nonetheless). Y’all, I was 9 years old and 85 pounds. **Not at all unhealthy** But from then on, the scale terrified me. Some things just stick with you.

By the time I turned 11, dieting was a regular part of my life. Not my idea, but a regular part of my life nonetheless.

Turning Point

Sometimes I think growing up in the 80s and 90s ‘diet culture’ really messed up the relationship I have with my body today. You name a diet, I have tried it. Mayo clinic, Grapefruit Diet, Atkins, Susan Powter’s Stop the Insanity!…I could go on!

You name an exercise fad, I have done it. I wore out my Cindy Crawford VHS tapes (I liked the second one better). Sweatin’ to the Oldies, Get in Shape, Girl, Flashdance (not a real workout per se…I just tried to emulate the Maniac workout she did in her leg warmers…anyone else try this?).

When I look back at everything I have tried in the name of …what, exactly?…(not health, certainly)… no wonder I turned 38 and topped off at close to 200 lbs. I spent my entire young adult life chasing an aesthetic which is unattainable for me. I do not have a small bone structure, and I have curves, and I’m not 5’10” like Cindy Crawford (but think of all the shelves I could reach if I was!). Understandably, I gave up once I started having kids. Sure I would diet (everything except Whole 30) and then stop restricting my eating and gain all the weight back plus more. Then I took my 5th grader to camp. We had a blast, but I had no clue what I actually looked like until a fellow chaperone posted this photo to Facebook:

I took one glance at that photo and knew something had to change.

Getting Started

What did I do? I waited until after Christmas to begin. Hello, fresh new year! (Goodbye, excess Christmas goodies!) January 1, I joined Weight Watchers (third time’s the charm?) and I also refused to exercise. I claimed an allergy, barely walked the dog, continued to modify my eating only. I did lose weight. Around 40 pounds in a year and a half! Then–BAM!–quarantine 2020 hit. That was the catalyst for me to begin working out, mostly due to boredom…and not gonna lie, working from home with my kids and husband at home was a LOT of togetherness. I love my people fiercely but I also needed some “me time.” I started with walking my dog daily (it got me out of the house) and gradually added in other things I heard about. Nike began allowing people to use their premium services on the app at no charge. So I did the program written by Kirsty Godso (fair warning, she loves burpees). I heard about Camp Gladiator from a friend and did my first CG workout on July 4, 2020. #wutwut

Finding my Tribe…and my metrics #BetterTogether

Am I where I want to be? No way! Not even close. However, I found a tribe of like-minded, improvement-focused people who are amazing and make every workout worth it. Even the running. And I still don’t like running AT ALL. When you commiserate with a group of people who are suffering just like you, yet still persevere, it is truly a motivating experience.

I have also readjusted my goals from merely a weight or size to other metrics…like, how many burpees can I complete in 5 minutes? How long does it take me to complete the prelims course for CG Games? Can I complete all the obstacles in a Spartan race? How heavy am I lifting? Is it an improvement from where I was last month?

Do I need more specific metrics? Sure. I’m working on that. Welcome to my new, fitness-focused life!

Where to go from here?

Look out world! My fall consists of …a kid moving to college (SOS!!), 75 Hard, maybe CG Games Finals (we’ll know results soon!), a Spartan Beast in October, Hyrox Dallas in November, and technically this isn’t ‘fall’ but I am running the Hot Chocolate run in February! #WillRunForChocolate

Stay tuned for my metrics, my 75 Hard progress…and all of my training mishaps! There are sure to be plenty of those.