New Year - Extreme Resolutions

Each new year, I join the masses of society and make resolutions for personal betterment. Sometimes they take longer than a year to achieve.

In 2013 I realized I had to get back in shape. It had a "now or or never" urgency. I wasn't happy with my body and it spilled over to other areas of my life. I had to be serious about this. So serious, I even took "before" pictures.

It wasn't until the end of 2014 that I was finally pleased with the shape I was in. It took a major change in my eating, working out really hard, even it was only twice a week, and learning to love my body again.

Just before Christmas, my trainer - the amazing Women's Health Next Fitness Star, Emily Schromm - overheard me encouraging another new athlete by saying how much I loved the change I saw in myself - and surprised me by asking, "So am I hearing you say that you finally like your body?"
I balked. I replied that I always loved my body. Emily stood firm. "No, you didn't. You were always very hard on yourself for how you looked."

Oh my gosh. She was right! For most of my life, I have loved my body, but ever since Emily met me, she has only heard me say that I looked gross. To this day, I can't show you a before picture because I think I look really gross in it. Which is a horrible thing to say! Worse still, because I was still wearing sizes 0-2-4 when I was "gross" and "fat".  Truth is, I didn't even lose much weight, I just changed the shape of it!

In my opinion, my "before" was not woman-shaped. And yes, Meghan Trainor would argue it is still, not.

But Meghan Trainor can worry about her own booty booty.

I've never been a shapely girl. I'm a treble, not a bass, and I've always been okay with that.
What I didn't like, was looking like a sausage!

I feel so much better these days. I like feeling firm and lean. Box jumps and wall crawls are soooo satisfying!

An "after" from mid-2014

And I'll tell you something. I just took two weeks off for Christmas. I thought I'd work out. At least do some strength moves like planks, push-ups maybe even Burpees. (I hate Burpees!) Instead, I was a total slug! By the time I came home I felt soft, and I hate that.
So I busted out three workouts in a row with Emily, and now I'm sore. Not terribly sore, just sore enough to know I'm moving. I love being sore. I want to be just a little sore for the rest of my life.

Two years to get your body back. That's okay.
If I'm honest, I had it back last spring, but my self-image wasn't ready to accept it.
I guess that takes time too.

Stay sore my friends.

More on my resolutions in my next post!