With the start of this diet, I also started the 2012 IsaBody Challenge - 24 weeks to a healthier me! The challenge only stipulates a few requirements. Among them, participants must submit before and after photos. I have seen many before and after shots, and always found the differences laughable. Of course the "after" shots looked better. Every "before" photo was full of scowling, unhappy people who didn't seem to even try to look good. It was like looking at a caricature, extra frown lines and fat rolls drawn in to accentuate prominent features.
Then I took my very first "before" pictures I have ever staged, and I realized why those people always look like that. It's not that they're trying to look their worst so the after shots will look better. It's how they actually feel! I feel like a caricature with exaggerated size and emotions. I didn't smile because I don't feel like smiling when I look and feel this way. I didn't try to dress up and look my best because no fancy outfit or special hairdo is going to make me look like I want to or even how I picture myself. That girl underneath all these extra penciled-in fat rolls and frown lines is still in my head, and she's trying to find her way out.
I can already picture my "after" shot. I can see my smile. The smile that used to be a constant facial feature. The bright eyes that show a happy, confident woman who lives and loves. The difference between the before and after photos will be drastic not because it was staged that way, but because the difference between the before and after woman will be drastic.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
High
I have always heard about the "natural high" you get from running, working out, exercise, etc. I thought it sounded great, but I didn't believe it was true for everyone. I didn't get a high from running. I got pain and frustration and an inability to draw breath. I thought I just wasn't one of those people who got that exercise high.
Until now.
I finally get it! I was trying to do too much too soon, and it was too hard. Now that I'm working on my gradual conditioning, I am succeeding and feeling that amazing high that comes not only from being active but also the amazing high that comes from trying something hard and succeeding.
I am well aware that my level of difficulty wouldn't be very difficult for everyone, but it's still an accomplishment for me - one I am very proud of. So I will happily ride this high until tomorrow when it is time to drag myself onto the treadmill again. But this time it won't be such a chore because I will remember how good it feels to get high.
Until now.
I finally get it! I was trying to do too much too soon, and it was too hard. Now that I'm working on my gradual conditioning, I am succeeding and feeling that amazing high that comes not only from being active but also the amazing high that comes from trying something hard and succeeding.
I am well aware that my level of difficulty wouldn't be very difficult for everyone, but it's still an accomplishment for me - one I am very proud of. So I will happily ride this high until tomorrow when it is time to drag myself onto the treadmill again. But this time it won't be such a chore because I will remember how good it feels to get high.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Accomplishment
I DID IT!!!
Earlier this year I was introduced to Couch to 5K. I had grand intentions of getting out every day and becoming a runner. I have always wanted to love running, but I just don't. I loved the idea of gradually conditioning myself to be able to run 30 minutes straight. Right now I get winded just walking up the stairs in my house. And if I have to carry something up the stairs, it takes me awhile to recover. It's a little bit ridiculous really.
The idea of the program is 30 minutes 3 days a week. Every day you alternate walking and running, increasing the running time each week until you're up to 30 straight minutes of running. Simple.
But not easy.
When I first started, I went gung ho and thought I didn't need to take a day off between runs. Boy was I ever wrong. By the fourth day my calves were so incredibly shot I couldn't even move. I could barely walk and definitely couldn't run. So I took a little break and started over.
Every other day I drag myself onto my treadmill and try to run 60 seconds at a time... and FAIL. Only 60 seconds. And I couldn't do it.
Until today.
I DID IT!!!
I did the whole workout without having to stop early or slow to a walk before it was time. I'm only on the first week - my second week of trying to do the first week schedule - but I am so incredibly happy that I am really doing it! I am conditioning myself to be a runner. I am doing something hard and succeeding. I can do this.
Earlier this year I was introduced to Couch to 5K. I had grand intentions of getting out every day and becoming a runner. I have always wanted to love running, but I just don't. I loved the idea of gradually conditioning myself to be able to run 30 minutes straight. Right now I get winded just walking up the stairs in my house. And if I have to carry something up the stairs, it takes me awhile to recover. It's a little bit ridiculous really.
The idea of the program is 30 minutes 3 days a week. Every day you alternate walking and running, increasing the running time each week until you're up to 30 straight minutes of running. Simple.
But not easy.
When I first started, I went gung ho and thought I didn't need to take a day off between runs. Boy was I ever wrong. By the fourth day my calves were so incredibly shot I couldn't even move. I could barely walk and definitely couldn't run. So I took a little break and started over.
Every other day I drag myself onto my treadmill and try to run 60 seconds at a time... and FAIL. Only 60 seconds. And I couldn't do it.
Until today.
I DID IT!!!
I did the whole workout without having to stop early or slow to a walk before it was time. I'm only on the first week - my second week of trying to do the first week schedule - but I am so incredibly happy that I am really doing it! I am conditioning myself to be a runner. I am doing something hard and succeeding. I can do this.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Motivation
Passing up desserts and favorite foods.
Getting on the treadmill when I would rather do just about anything else.
Counting calories and strictly watching everything I eat.
There's nothing like seeing the numbers on the scale getting smaller and smaller to make all the work feel completely worth it. I love the beginning of this diet where the pounds just melt off. I woke this morning, stepped on the scale, and it was already down 3 pounds! Later in the afternoon when I wanted a big snack, I thought of those dwindling numbers and had a hard-boiled egg and tall glass of water instead. Success is the greatest motivator. When you try to diet and see no results, it's hard to believe it's worth the effort. Today, however, I'm excited and ready to do what it takes to reach my goals!
Getting on the treadmill when I would rather do just about anything else.
Counting calories and strictly watching everything I eat.
There's nothing like seeing the numbers on the scale getting smaller and smaller to make all the work feel completely worth it. I love the beginning of this diet where the pounds just melt off. I woke this morning, stepped on the scale, and it was already down 3 pounds! Later in the afternoon when I wanted a big snack, I thought of those dwindling numbers and had a hard-boiled egg and tall glass of water instead. Success is the greatest motivator. When you try to diet and see no results, it's hard to believe it's worth the effort. Today, however, I'm excited and ready to do what it takes to reach my goals!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Day 1
Have you ever heard of Isagenix? A few years ago my parents told me about this new diet they were on. At first I thought it sounded insane! But then I saw how it worked, and I was amazed. So I decided to try it myself. That's when I learned how it felt, and I was even more amazed! I lost 30+ pounds in just a matter of months. I felt incredible and looked so much better, and I was loving it. Then the holidays started rolling around and "I'll just take the day off" turned into weeks, turned into months, which turned into falling back into my old habits and my old clothes - the much bigger ones. I tried other diets and failed and kept getting bigger and bigger. So much of my weight loss is in my head, and I just couldn't seem to get back into that good place where I'm happy to do what it takes to change. Then I had a moment.
You know that moment when you suddenly have clarity and you see something as it really is. I saw myself for the first time in a long time - the me everyone else saw, not the image I had of myself - and I couldn't believe it was really me. That's when I finally understood what I was doing to myself and what needed to happen to find ME again, the real me, the one hidden under all these extra pounds.
I talked to my husband, and he was excited for me to start Isagenix again. He agreed that I looked and felt better on that diet than any other I had tried, and it was worth the cost. So I placed my order and anxiously awaited the package I knew would soon arrive.
That box showed up on my doorstep yesterday, so in my typical style I spent the day eating plenty of extra calories and junk. In my saner moments I realize it's ridiculous to treat the day before a diet as my "last meal," but I always seem to follow through with the insanity anyway.
I woke up this morning and weighed myself. 237 pounds. Yikes! The first time I watched the numbers on my scale grow and grow until I panicked enough to do something about it, I weighed 200 pounds, and now here I was 37 pounds heavier than that and finally getting on track. Then an even scarier part - measuring myself. It was hard to see in black and white just how bad I have let it get. I have five children who need a mother. I should be taking care of myself so much better than this - if not for me, then at least for them!
But it is for me. I am doing this for me, and for them. I will find that woman beneath the extra pounds who loves life and lives it happily, healthy, here and now.
You know that moment when you suddenly have clarity and you see something as it really is. I saw myself for the first time in a long time - the me everyone else saw, not the image I had of myself - and I couldn't believe it was really me. That's when I finally understood what I was doing to myself and what needed to happen to find ME again, the real me, the one hidden under all these extra pounds.
I talked to my husband, and he was excited for me to start Isagenix again. He agreed that I looked and felt better on that diet than any other I had tried, and it was worth the cost. So I placed my order and anxiously awaited the package I knew would soon arrive.
That box showed up on my doorstep yesterday, so in my typical style I spent the day eating plenty of extra calories and junk. In my saner moments I realize it's ridiculous to treat the day before a diet as my "last meal," but I always seem to follow through with the insanity anyway.
I woke up this morning and weighed myself. 237 pounds. Yikes! The first time I watched the numbers on my scale grow and grow until I panicked enough to do something about it, I weighed 200 pounds, and now here I was 37 pounds heavier than that and finally getting on track. Then an even scarier part - measuring myself. It was hard to see in black and white just how bad I have let it get. I have five children who need a mother. I should be taking care of myself so much better than this - if not for me, then at least for them!
But it is for me. I am doing this for me, and for them. I will find that woman beneath the extra pounds who loves life and lives it happily, healthy, here and now.
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