A friend emailed me yesterday inquiring about my son. He’d noticed a lot of updates regarding my fitness and health journey but very little about my son. Shame on me!
Sometimes I almost feel guilty for having an absolutely astoundingly great kid. He’s smart, behaves, does his homework without being prodded. He puts toilet paper on the roll when it runs out. He puts dishes away and cares for the cats. Even the litter box gets scooped without me hinting that it needs to be done.
If he didn’t look so much like his dad and I, I might swear we took the wrong baby home from the hospital. His grades are shocking in comparison to that of mine or his father’s. I did what I had to in order to graduate. Even then it was minimal effort. Mancub flies through Geometry and Biology as if it’s basket weaving 101. No offense to professional basket weavers. You get the point. On top of great grades he is ridiculously organized. He could give me a few tips. That is not to claim he doesn’t periodically forget to hand in an assignment. While most teachers take off points for them being handed in late, he always has it done and scores high enough that a couple points lost doesn’t reflect his grade.
Am I in for a big wake up call or do truly wonderful children still exist? If there’s something to complain about it would be that he’s an under roll rather than an over roll as I prefer. I’m talking about toilet paper replacement. Teen rebellion Mancub style.
P90X Yoga X is not your mother’s yoga. Oh heck no! When you’re not accustomed to doing much more than the requisite stretching prior to and after a workout, this disc is a workout in itself. NINETY minutes of stretching, balancing — OK, most of my time was spent trying not to topple over. It’s tough if you’ve never done a lick of yoga before. Oh sure, I’ve done a couple downward dogs, mountain poses, sun salutations and warrior pose one and two. But not all at once and one right after the other.
I confess to stopping half way through because yoga requires a lot more than flexibility, stamina and balance. It requires a clear head. Hence, my biggest obstacle. Crawl inside my brain for a minute and you’ll know that it never shuts down. True relaxation is difficult for me. Next week I will get another chance to challenge myself with this workout. In the meantime, I’ll continue with each workout on P90X according to the classic program AND I’m going to practice switching off the remote control in my brain.
Yesterday I managed enough spare time to watch a recent episode of “The Biggest Loser.” If you’re following this season, then you’re aware that Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper aren’t the only trainers. The teams of weight loss students competed to get a spot to train with Jillian and Bob or choose two unknown trainers and, thusly, be granted four weeks of immunity. That is a huge opportunity to know that for a month they are safe from being sent packing. So far we’ve only seen the backsides of the unknown trainers — but Team Beachbody Coaches were let in on the secret early on that one of our own trainers, RevAbs creator and celebrity trainer Brett Hoebel, is whipping the ‘unknown’ team members into shape! The first week they kicked butt against Jillian and Bob’s couples. Woo! And ladies, I’d be remiss to fail to mention that Brett is smokin’ hot!!! Me-to-the-yow!!
Okay, I’m getting off track (and overheated) from where this post was intended to go.
Whilst viewing and getting revved up for the next phase of my own weight loss journey, something struck me at the heart of the matter. The producers were putting some focus on the ‘unknown’ team members. One guy in particular from the brown team who was training with he unknown female trainer. He’s shown boxing with her and the voice over is that of him talking about how she told him to stand in front of the mirror without a shirt on and truly look at himself. As a result, he had an epiphany. That’s when the show truly started to speak to me. I said, “Me, too! Me, too!!” Weight loss isn’t just about an aesthetic or health change. It is about digging deeply to discover why we’re prone to over consuming. What is it that makes over weight people loathe themselves? I’m only speaking from a personal stance and I do not assume all of you reading who are overweight hate yourself. Bob Harper told one of his contestants who was, at his top weight, over 600 pounds that he is slowly committing suicide.
BAM! It is like getting hit in the face with a shovel.
Being morbidly overweight is equivalent to committing suicide. Think about that. Is the overindulgence of food and lack of movement/exercise more important to you than the love you have for your children, family, friends … YOURSELF? I’ve had that conversation with myself. For a flash of gratification am I willing to lose another minute, hour, day, year of my life?
Chew on that for a little while. Then, go look in the mirror and say that out loud. I challenge you to say, “Is living to eat more important to me than being alive?“
This morning came knocking early. It was exactly 4:17 AM when my body told me to wake up. After doing what necessitated my way-before-sunrise wakening, sleep was attempted once more. Silly me. I should know me better than that. At precisely 4:59 AM, reluctantly throwing in the towel for more slumber, I felt around for my cozy sweater and fuzzy slipper socks. It’s astounding what super powers one possesses in the dark. Rather than sit with my coffee perusing the countless paid programming/infomercials available, I decided it was time to put fingers to keyboard and write something. I’d thought about just slapping up the video I made and posted on youtube yesterday. This post is really an expansion of what is touched on in the nearly 5 minute video. It’s available for viewing after the text.
It won’t be long and the new year will have been rung in. For some of you it’ll be a fond farewell to a year that didn’t deliver what you’d hoped it would. For others, like myself, you’ll look back fondly on the countless blessings. But not for long will you look back because it will hinder your ability to look ahead.
As 2010 was being sung in with Auld Lang Syne, my personal resolution was to get healthy — how often had that been my promise? While the rest of the world was diving in head first on their quests to stop smoking, eat healthier, exercise, etc, … and ultimately setting themselves up for failure or quitting within a month or so, yours truly was not budging. It took until March to begin that resolution. At that point can it still be thought of in those terms?
Here I am 45 pounds lighter and showing no signs of quitting. Sure, there have been hurdles, stumbling blocks and a full gainer off the wagon. What’s different is that there was never a sense of defeat or failure. Throwing up a white flag of surrender was never an option. So, with that being said and statistics about new year resolutions being considered, what has transpired is a change and not a resolution. What’s the difference? From my perspective a resolution is null and void if you don’t back it up with personal accountability. Just saying it out loud isn’t enough. Every single day you have to hold yourself accountable for the change you want to see. Write it down in several places. Set reminders of what your goals are in your fancy shmancy phone. Make a pop up reminder on your computer. It’s easy to let things go to the wayside if it isn’t in our face. Enlist a squadron of support. Don’t ask the person who enables your bad habits to be your buddy. It’s difficult when your enabler lives with you, but BESTRONG! I’ve found so much support online for my endeavors to be healthy. People who’ve never shared the air space I breathe have championed me. Don’t discount the value of social networking. Remember, while our families and close friends love us unconditionally, they are also comfortable with us ‘as is’ and shifting their personal perception of us is not always a pill they are ready to swallow. So, do not give up on yourself based on what people close to you feel or say. Ignore the naysayers and cut out your own thoughts of self-sabotaging ridicule.When you piss and moan about everything you don’t have or constantly toss negativity into the cosmos, it will eventually be flung right back at you. Misery does love company.
Change is not easy. The first quest on my agenda is to get organized. Between my promotion to lab manager and developing my Team Beachbody business, it’s an absolute necessity to keep order in my life. Rather than make some lame attempt to go it alone, I’m turning to a pro. The guru-ess of social media and organization: Chalene Johnson. Again, this is all about accountability. There’s that doggone word again. Dagnabit! But it works. If you’re interested in getting organized so you can achieve your goals in 2011, then I strongly urge you to take advantage of Chalene Johnson’s 30-Day Challenge. Hurry! Time is ticking away.
