Well, I've fallen into that old trap where you work really hard at a work out, have great results, and then you get tired and decide to take a break. However, instead of the break being a few days or maybe a few weeks, it ends up being months.
My fitness journey started way back when I had my son in 2001. I went from 155 pounds to 220 (of course this was after pregnancy weight--so I give myself some excuse). After trying to lose weight, I decided to give running a try. I joined Team in Training and completed a full marathon in October of 2005. It was a great feeling, and I was so proud. I was around 150 at the time, and a size 10. I was pretty happy with myself as this was back to my old shape in college (I played softball in college, so we were always training).
Then we decided to go for baby #2. And lucky us, we were pregnant in January of 2006. Elizabeth was born in September 2006, but with her birth came another shocker. Again I had gotten up to 220 pounds. At my frustration, the weight gain was due mostly to high blood pressure during the pregnancies. The doctors did not allow me to exercise, and although I tried to eat healty, the weight came back on.
But I was determined to lose the weight, since I had done it once before. This time, along with my good friend Joy, we dicided to really get into the marathon running. From 2007 to 2009 we ran so many marathons and half marathons I've almost lost count. My estimation is somewhere between 9-11 marathons and 12-13 half marathons. I know, that's a lot of running and training, right? The running was very satisfying, and I was able to get down to a size 10-12, but I was stuck. I was eating right (although not starving myself) and had an occasional sweet treat (ok, I'll be honest here, it probably wasnt occasionally, but it wasnt anything out of control).
Unfortunately my running partner had different medical issues that prevented her from running, so from mid 2009 to 2010 I went it alone out on the courses. I ran one more marathon, but running over 4 1/2 hours by yourself is pretty boring, so I decided to just do the halves. However, running just wasnt the same. My motivation to get out there by myself was getting harder and harder with each race.
I was also frustrated with my results. I would run for hours at a time and wouldnt lose a pound. I was ready to get off my size 12-10 and was looking for any type of work out routine to help. I went on line to find exercises that I could do by myself, but it all looked so complicated to put together myself. Then my friend Liz told me about P90X. I borrowed it for a while and loved it, so I bought the dvds for myself.
After going back and forth with their "lean" program (this is basically cardio stuff), I decided it was time to do some weights. My husband Matt got into the program and we became disciplined fitness machines. After 30 days, we could already see the results, and the 60 day transformation was awesome. Our friends would tell us everytime they saw us how great we looked. After completing the 90 day program, I had gone from a size 12 to a 4-6 (depending on the designer). Matt has always been thin, but he lost a few inches on his waist and the "love handles" came off. It was also neat to see his ripped abs.
After the first round, I decided to try a bit of Insanity with the P90X. Matt got tired and decided to take a break, although he would occasionally join me with Insanity. I quit doing my long runs and focused on the short interval work outs. The funny thing was, was that when I ran in the America's Finest half marathon that August, I had my best time ever!! 1 hr 57min.
Now you would think that some one with that kind of success would stick with it, and be motivated. Well, I stuck with the program until Thanksgiving, but that's when the wheels came off. I used the holidays as an excuse as to why I didnt have the "time" to re-commit to P90X or Insanity fully. I would still occasionally do Insanity through January, but then my friend Liz needed her dvds back. So I used the excuse that I didnt "have" the videos any more, so I would have to wait until I got to the point where I wanted to buy them. Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought the Insanity pack in late February. Now, I still had the P90X dvds, but I just didnt have the motivation to get back into it.
So now it's March and I've opened up Insanity and done it once. And after the first day, I am sooooo sore. I could kick myself for letting myself get out of shape. So instead of pushing through, I let life get in the way and put Insanity on hold. Every once in a while I would pop in P90X and do a routine, but then I'd be sore the day after. I know I need to just push through, but the motivation is not there, and with having to take my son the baseball and daughter to choir, again life gets in the way. But this time, I am making every excuse not to work out. On top of that, I really dont care what I eat. Chips, cup cakes, soda, all the bad junk. I really dont care because I keep to that picture in my head of what I looked like before Thanksgiving.
But then I had an eye opener. Well, I wont call it an eye opener, I'll call it a pants opener. I had went to put my size 6 suit on, and the pants wouldnt fit. They were so tight that it would be embarrasing to wear them. I was so proud when I was able to buy these size 6 suits, and now I could even squeeze into them. So I went to my size 8 pant suits, but to my disgust, those pants were tight too!!! Now, I could get into them without it looking completely terrible, but I knew that I would have to pull my size 10 pants from the top of the closet shelf if I wanted to wear something that fit.
That was only a few weeks ago, and after that clothing encounter, I went back into my work outs.....sort of. Again I'd do P90X on Monday, break tuesday, do Wednesday and then for some reason I couldnt get to the rest of the week. I also would do Insanity a few times, but again it was not consistent.
So I've decided to start a blog to show my progress and to keep me motivated. Also, in order to clean out my system, I'm doing the cabbage soup diet (although to tell you the truth, the soup is really good, and you can eat fruits and vegis so that's fine with me). I'll still work out during this time, I'm just hoping this will help to clean me out and start fresh.
Matt has said he will join me too, so hopefully he will keep with the motivation.
So yesterday, May 9, 2011 was our first day back with Tony Horton and the crew at P90X. Chest and Back. It was good, although I wish I could do an unassisted pull up. I still got 10 sets of 10 assisted pull ups and I dont know how many push ups. I'm not sore today, but I always get sore by the end of the day, so I know it will come on. I've decided that I'll get serious about Insanity starting next week after the cabbage clean out, and then we'll see where that goes.
So here's to my good health, and hoping I can get back into those size 6 pants soon.
Oh, by the way. When I weighed myself before the workout I was 166 (yea, I know fat pig!); but this morning after the work out and a lot of water I'm at 163 (again, I know it's water weight, but I'll take it). I'll blog every day on what I eat and what I do, and hopefully I can inspire anyone else who reads this.
