I've been waiting/debating about making this post for awhile. I hint at it sometimes and allude to it others, but I think it's time to lay it all out there and show/tell you just what it's like to be missing part of your abdominal muscle.
I have a different take on fitness. I think it should be fun. But in order for this to happen, I have to really modify a lot of things. I have been injured--a lot. I have to take that into account for exercises. I also have a lot of extra skin that gets in the way. Finally, I'm not a fitness model; everything I do has an extra 100+ pounds pushing against me.
A little background on my injuries/problems that I accommodate:
With New Years on the horizon, I know many of you are thinking about making exercise and healthy eating a habit for the new year. Some of you might have already started down that path. Either way, I'm proud of you for considering it and really find myself humbled by you choosing to look here for advice. I figure now is a good time to share my experiences--both good and bad--with exercising and healthy eating.
This list is nowhere near complete, just a few things that have popped into my mind. In no particular order, let's just jump into it. Note: some of these things are aimed at those with a lot of weight to lose or extra skin. It's not as fun as my Instagram makes it out to be Seriously. I post pictures of me smiling afterwards and inspirational quotes. Why? Not to motivate you, but to remind myself why I keep doing it. Exercise is work--hard work. Embrace the suck. You're elevating your heart rate, breathing hard, sweating everywhere, smelling bad, grunting, and leaving yourself sore all over. It's often exhausting and you walk away wondering why you tortured that specific body part. If it's easy you're doing it wrong. I would go further to say if you're working out quietly, you might not be going hard enough. Despite what Planet Fitness may tell you, if you're not grunting or forcing a little strain, you might not be lifting heavy enough or pushing yourself enough. You need that little push you get from expelling air--ask any boxer or martial arts practitioner. You need to expel that air, contract those core muscles, and dig a little deeper. It's okay. Everyone does it. Even more so, if you need to do a loud sigh and let out your frustration, do it and do it proud--as long as you finish. Do what you have to do to get it done! Each workout you should be challenging yourself to be better than you were last time. If you're not challenging yourself, you will not be changing yourself. But remember, you have to push yourself--no one else is going to. And you have to continue to push yourself, even when you are not seeing results. No one else can keep you motivated the way you can. Remind yourself that it's worth it--you're worth it. The hard work, the sweat, the stink, the soreness--all worth it. Not everything you do is exercise People have a hard time wrapping their head around this. I used to be a FitBit junkie. I would have to get my 10,000 steps in every day. At the end of the day I would celebrate. But where does that leave me? No where if those steps were just marching up and down the square. Don't get me wrong, that's the first step to a healthy lifestyle, but it's not exercise. You can't count every little movement you make as exercise. There's a difference between walking to the bathroom until you've walked a mile and being outside walking a mile. To me, it's a mindset. When I was doing the steps, I was stepping just for a number and basically a check mark by my name. Now when I workout, I workout for much more than a check mark. Make sure your heart rate is elevated, your mood is set, you're at it for more than 10 minutes, and you're doing it for the right reasons. Basically, don't shortchange yourself. Saying you hit your steps and stopping there is like saying you ate healthy by ordering a diet coke with McDonalds--it's a step in the right direction, but you stopped too soon. You can't workout a bad diet Oh I want this one to not be true. Oh please someone send me some Halloween candy. Please. But it's just undeniable. You cannot exercise away a bad diet. No exercise you do can fix a consistently bad diet. Now, this doesn't have to be a huge diet overhaul (it can, though). You don't have to cut all carbs, all sugar, all red meat, all X, Y, or Z. You do have to make healthy choices. You can cheat. In fact, do cheat. But you have to be cognizant of what goes into your body. You have to eat to fuel you, not to pass the time. Health starts in the kitchen. Say it with me: sitting in front of a TV all day, consuming unhealthy food, then running for 5 hours does not a healthy lifestyle make. At the start of things, I had to make small changes--getting those 10,000 steps, going for walks, trying out new recipes. Each little tweak changed everything. Even better, the better I eat, the better I feel when I workout. I even sleep better. I cannot stress the importance of diet enough. You need healthy food to fuel you or else it's like trying to Flinstone a Corvette with deflated bicycle tires. Exercising with extra body weight sucks Seriously. It sucks. And unless your gym buddy/trainer has been there, they will never understand. They will try to relate, they will sympathize, but they will never understand what it's like for you to mentally know how to do something but not physically be able to make your body do it properly. Once you start, you will develop your own little tricks. Compression gear will become your friend. (Oh, ladies, it's likely you'll get to wear some ugly compression gear until you've lost some size.) Taking extra time to situate yourself or having to re-adjust throughout the routine will become normal. It's okay. It's worth it. I have to wear specific outfits on specific body part days. Here are some examples:
I constantly have to examine my form, manipulate where everything is, and be okay moving a little skin around. You have to just accept it as a reality and move on. Remind yourself that it's worth it. Concentrate on getting as close to the right form as possible. Form is important. It will keep you from getting injured. Sometimes I have to just tell my boyfriend that I need to stop because I'm frustrated. It's okay. Stop. Find an exercise that does work. I still can't do some rows. I still can't get a good jog on the treadmill. But someday I will. That's what matters. Again, I will probably be expanding on this list, but here's a start. Sometimes the truth can be a bit liberating. I'm sitting here with Ibuprofen in my system and a heating pad on my back. My chest is still sore from Monday and my legs are starting to get angry. Embrace the suck. It's worth it. I AM WORTH IT. |