Progress

Not my mom, just a stock pic off Google

Let me preface this by saying that I'm really out of shape. REALLY out of shape. My mom is out of shape and at her height and half her age I'm 50ish pounds heavier.

REALLY out of shape.

However, my company came out with an amazing weight loss system designed around your genetic code. You've heard me talk about it before. You get the kit, send in your cheek swab, and they test it to find your genetically programmed needs.

I'm a carb reducer and a high intensity exerciser. Go figure, right? My favorite foods in the world are carbs and my least favorite activities are high intensity cardio. But my body needs me to cut down on carbs and ramp up my heart rate on a regular basis, so that's what I'm doing.

Sort of. I am still working on self discipline, so I haven't been nearly as good about consistently doing what I need to do in this area. Getting better though!

Sean Foy

My company also has a nutrition/fitness expert on staff, Sean Foy, designer of the 10-minute total body breakthrough and the 4-3-2-1 workout program.

I've been using these series of tools in conjunction. I use the diet and supplementation tools from the BodyKey weight loss system and the 4-3-2-1 workout program and - when I'm using it consistently - I've seen amazing results!

A radio host on the local Christian Alternative station was talking about weight loss yesterday and he pointed out that it's important to have big things to mark your progress because otherwise you might not see it. He was saying that he's lost 110 pounds, and there are pictures to prove the difference, but he looks himself in the mirror every morning and so he doesn't always see it. He needs those pictures to remind him that, yes, progress has been made.

I'm not at the point of literally seeing the progress yet. Because I'm so out of shape, there's a lot of internal progress that needs to be made before I can really start shedding the sizes. I have seen a small amount of difference there, but not much.

Honestly, I was starting to get discouraged. Here I am trying to find the balance between never eating pizza or pasta again and always being a fatso, and it's looking like there is none. Yesterday I posted a quote from Muhammad Ali that really gave me some morale boost:

"I hated every moment of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now, and live your life as a champion.' "

With this motivation, I decided to keep at it. Suffer now, and live my life thin!

(Disclaimer: if you don't want to be thin, that's ok. I'm not judging you. I want to be thin.)

In this spirit, I graduated my workout a little bit. On the 4-3-2-1 workout DVD I have there are 6 workouts. So far I've been sticking to workout one, for two reasons: First, the last time I tried workout 2, I felt like I was dying. My cardio could not handle it and I think I had an asthma attack. Second, my arms are way stronger than my legs. Workout one is arm- and core-focused, workout 2 is definitely leg focused. So I tried it once and had been shying away from it ever since.

Today, girded with the motivation from Muhammad Ali (I was so glad to find out that guy didn't just super love his training regimen), I gave workout 2 another shot.

And guess what? I didn't die!

I'm still out of shape, and way too out of shape to try workout 2 every day just yet. But my breathing and heart rate got to the high intensity level without going into asthma attack mode. THAT'S PROGRESS! Nevermind that my calves hate me right now and made it evident with crippling spasms throughout the workout. I can work on that and they'll be more cooperative later. I made it through. I finished the workout that last time I had to quit because I couldn't breathe.

I'm taking baby steps, fighting and uphill battle. And that's very frustrating sometimes. It's frustrating to look in the mirror and still see the out-of-shape-ness of my body, to still be kinda winded at the top of a flight of stairs, to still not be skinny enough to try on dresses at the mall. But I'm making progress, and I'm excited about that. It looks like there is a balance that can be achieved - and maybe that balance is on the side of less pizza and pasta than I'd like to get away with, but I don't have to give up my carbs completely just to make progress. Even with the small changes I've made, the small every day habits I've started to develop, there's progress.

So I'm going to start doing workout 2 every three days or so. It's exciting to add to my regular routine a workout that I couldn't even complete a month and a half ago! In no time, workout 2 will be my normal everyday workout and I'll be facing another challenge - workout 3. I'm excited to know that I'm getting healthier. And though it may be a slow, uphill, baby step climb for a while, I'm glad to be working on it because I know the glory at the top of the mountain is so worth the fight on the way up.

"Don't quit. Suffer now and live your life as a champion."