Day 14 - The End and The Beginning

What made me decide to think I could lost 10 pounds in 14 days DURING the most wonderful foodie time of the year? Well, I'll tell you, as a writer who deplores weather that is not conducive to flip flops, I found it very easy to remain sitting at my desk, my little heater puffing out warm air, while bitter wind lashed at the windows. I became cranky. Sluggish. My writing was starting to suffer. I didn't even feel like walking Diablo who would lay on the floor staring at me WAITING for me to get my walking shoes on. I'd noticed I was eating more than ever, thinking, hey, it's the HOLIDAYS. As the scale creeped up, my normally sunny disposition started to sink and I knew I had to take action NOW.
I gave myself 14 days (ending the day before my birthday) - I worked out at Snap Fitness Lansdale  and seriously cut back on the sweets/fried food/and even - dare I say it - alcohol.
I worked out a total of 12 days. I lost 7 pounds the first week (mostly water weight probably). I HATED going the first few times. Dreaded it. But somewhere around day 5/6 - something clicked and I looked forward to going. It was one of the coldest weeks on record, and yet I had no problem racing out to a freezing car to drive almost 15 minutes to Lansdale.
I loved the gym. You know how when you're out of shape and you think "God, I don't want other people staring at me!" Well - it won't happen here. A) The cardio faces TV's on the wall (not looking out onto the weights). And it's a quiet place. I don't think there was ever a time when there was more than 3 people at the same time I was there, and more often than not, I had the whole place to myself. It's relatively a new gym and I almost hate telling people how much I love it because I don't want it to be crowded, but I want this gym to stick around, so I'm spreading the word.
Mike, the manager, had warned me that losing 10 pounds in 14 days was probably not going to happen and I was setting myself up for disappointment.
Did I lose 10 pounds? Nope. After the water weight leveled out and the hangover derailment (see day 12)  I only lost 5, which is still pretty damn good. But it's what I GAINED that matters. I learned that (for me) it motivated me to have a big hairy audacious goal. My discipline held out for the most part, turning down Five Guys, Daddy Pops, and even lunch at Wegmans. My energy increased after about day 5. My sunny disposition is back and bigger than ever. My creative think tank is back to full speed. My legs are tightening up and my jeans are loose. I have no problems falling asleep (I was having problems before starting the fitness blitz).
During the blitz, I read several "Fitness" books - most contradicted each other "It's all about diet" "It's all about exercise" "Don't eat fruit" "Eat fruit" "Don't eat fat" "Our bodies need fat" -
I think what it comes down to is this: It's good to have a plan. It's good to have a goal and chart your progress. There's nothing wrong with picking a fitness/diet program as long as you realize there's not ONE PERFECT plan out there. I think the smart choice is to choose something and try it for a month. See how you feel. If you feel energetic and happy, stick with it. Switch it out for something else if you've followed it but you're not seeing any results. Switch it out if you get bored. If we weren't meant to have variety in our life, there would only be one season, one fruit, one vegetable, one spice. Don't get locked into finding perfection - instead focus on getting healthy.
Keys to my success: A fitness journal - tracking my workouts/food intake/energy levels.
Blogging about it - I don't care if one person reads it or no one reads it - knowing that SOMEONE might be reading though, kept me going back to the gym and trying to stay focused because I knew I'd have to blog about it.
Going to a gym - it got me out of the house (even on days I really didn't want to leave), the change of scenery and a wide variety of equipment helped keep me on track. Not to mention, it's not so much about the calories I burned, it's about the endorphins I released while working out. Driving home from the gym, I felt GOOD. Like I could take on the world and win!
I'm taking the next four days off - my birthday - thru Christmas - as there are many food feasts planned - but I'm not going to go wild - and already I can't wait to get back to the gym!
If you're thinking about joining a gym in the New Year, consider Snap Fitness Lansdale. I've met one of the 2 owners and of course, the manager Mike, and they are down to earth, no "hidden" motivation or designs to sell you "training" or "diet plans" or anything. Snap is a franchise, and they do not own the Snap in Hatfield, but if you sign up with the Lansdale Snap, you can use ANY Snap Fitness facilities.Here's my review on Yelp which cuts through all the bullshit I blah blah blah about on my blog and gets right down to the details of the gym:
http://bit.ly/eIlhnCIt is totally possible to be a foodie and be fit, but like anything in life, it's all about cause and effect/input/output.
You know the saying "Nothing tastes as good as being fit feels." And, with the exception of bacon mac n cheese, that's totally true.