Zumba!

More JOY

Less GUILT

That is my new mantra.

I was reading my newest Women's Health while on the treadmill the other day, and actually read the letter from the editor in the beginning of the magazine - which I usually just flip past. In the letter, the editor was encouraging the readers to fill their lives with activities that give them joy, and stop letting ourselves feel so insanely guilty for every little mistake or slip up.

After reading that, I realized that this is what my biggest problem has been. After a few days of eating well, we would go out to eat or I'd forget my lunch at home and go through the Runza drive-thru... and an intense wave of guilt would pass over me. I would feel so guilty that I would just jump off of the fitness band wagon and continue to eat like crap. I always had the mentality that if I had already "messed up" that day, eating well for the rest of the day would be pointless, so why not just continue to eat like crap. And not go to the gym.

This cycle would repeat itself for days or sometimes weeks, which would turn into months. Recently, I was flipping through a weight watchers magazine and read a "success story" about a woman who lost a ton of weight when she realized how big she had gotten in the fall of 2009. That really put into perspective for me how much time I've wasted. November of 2009 was when I had Olivia, and while I know it is unrealistic to think that I could have started losing weight immediately after she was born, I definitely could have gotten moving by January. No one wants to be bigger than they were right after having a baby... for most women, that's when they're at their heaviest... and that's where I've ended up.

Just more affirmation that it's time to get the ball rolling. I've never felt more "ready" to get in shape than I do right now. I've always heard that you won't be successful at anything until you're fully ready to be... so maybe I just had to wait for that time to come.

I'm actually pretty proud of myself... I've been to the gym more in the past couple of weeks than I have in a LONG time. One of the things that's really been surprising me is that lately, it's been me asking Kurt when he's going to be ready to leave for the gym, and not the other way around. Before, I felt like he was dragging me there with him when all I wanted to do was lay on the couch.

What's been making me feel so motivated? ZUMBA! Seriously - you have to try it. It is so amazing. We are lucky enough to belong to a HUGE gym, which is awesome for me because we have Zumba 5 times a week. I have been trying to go every time it's offered. The only day I've skipped so far was Valentine's day, because class is always right at dinner time on weeknights. I really despise doing traditional cardio workouts like running - I get so bored and the time always goes by soooo slowly, which tricked me into thinking it was hard, or that I couldn't do it. Zumba has taught me that's not the case at all. It's very intense (for me anyway) and by the end of the class I'm sweating SOO much more than I ever would after an hour on the treadmill.It's fun, and the hour flies by so fast that before I know it we're cooling down already.

I have already begun to notice a change in my attitude and my general mood throughout each day. It's really nice to actually look forward to going to the gym instead of thinking up ways to get around it.