Get In Shape Girl!!
You know the moment – you go to the doctor’s for a routine physical, they tell you to step on the scale, and you are still overweight like you were last year? Yeah, me too! I don’t recall when I allowed myself to be the heaviest weight I have ever been, but I have been here for some years now, and I am over it!!
Now… I am gonna preface this post by saying up until I was in my 20’s, I played competitive sports. Literally, from Kindergarten to my 2nd year in college, I played some type of sport. Soccer, softball, basketball, track & field, volleyball and even dance and piano in there at some point. So, I guess you could say my 30’s brought on a lot of extra me! I can go on and on about all the stress that I faced and choices I made in the last 8 years that “caused” me to gain weight, but the truth is I didn’t watch what I ate, and I didn’t exercise so here I am!
I have never really been a “skinny mini” as we used to call them back in the day. Even at my lowest weight, I was considered thick – bigger breasts and hips mostly, thank you, ancestors!! But I was in shape and healthy. Enter stress, crazy relationships, and uncontrolled habits and I put on weight in what seemed like overnight. I have done numerous things to try and lose weight including baby stepping my eating habits to a more “whole” approach, meal prepping my food to ensure I knew what I was taking into my body, and occasionally working out! I know, I know! Bad me, horrible fat me! But with all I had to juggle these last years of life, I was happy just to make it through both jobs, head back home to my bed and still be able to do it all again the next day! So, enter the last 2 years…
After I was diagnosed it was all about staying alive so losing weight wasn’t on my radar. My oncologist told me not to lose weight and if I gained during or after chemo it would be a good thing! I was all in! To fight this disease, I needed to maintain what I already had and try not to lose much. It wasn’t hard, to be honest, since my mom is a caterer with her own business – she was cooking for me and MAKING SURE I ATE EVERYDAY!!! (Thanks, mom!!) Needless to say, I didn’t lose a drop of weight by the end of chemo. I did shrink a half inch, but I will take it!
Life after active treatment is something they don’t prepare you for – your body changes, mentally you’re in a whole different place trying to find this “new normal” and you are more concentrated on the quality vs quantity of life. I knew I wanted to get this weight off and I tried several methods, none of which I stuck with for more than a month! I have a cousin that is a Beachbody gal – you know the work out videos with Autumn Calabrese and fine as wine Shaun T! She lent me some of her DVDs and I did them a little, but never really committed wholly to the programs. I even got a job at a gym y’all! Thinking if I get a free membership it will make me more prone to work out! Yeah… No… As much as I appreciate my Planet Fitness family, working out isn’t usually on my mind once I work my part time evening 5-hour shift. In the last few months I have gone and done cardio in the gym once or twice and even hit the strength machines a few times. But once again nothing I have been consistent in.
I don’t know…a part of me is scared to try anything in fear of pulling or hurting something. With this “new body” I feel like I have after active treatment, I’m not sure what my limits are or should be. I know that everyone’s journey and walk with cancer is different. Even in life without sickness, what works for someone else may not work for you, I get it. But I feel since surgery to remove my tumor and a few lymph nodes, my left arm muscles aren’t as strong. I feel like my joints and even bones are more “fragile” since chemo and being on Tamoxifen and let’s not even bring up the neuropathy! I had arthritis in my knees before cancer from playing sports but this is on another level! I’m not listing these as excuses, they are my mental reality when I try to walk this fitness thing out…but I am the type of person that doesn’t like to quit or give up easily. I know that getting this body in shape is necessary, so…
This week I am going to commit myself to at least 3 times in the gym, I have to! I know I need to get this together for me, my life longevity and benefit of those I love. I know I owe it to myself after all I have been through and faced… I know I can’t be the only one! So, let’s commit to being better for ourselves! On the menu this week is breaking a sweat in the gym! Who is with me?! I’m going to press for it, continually reminding myself I am doing this for me and my well-being…wish me blessings! Let’s giggidy get it!!!
