What happened when I gave myself 10 weeks...

10 weeks ago I signed up for a challenge. The Fit Club Challenge at my gym, Ohio Fit Club.

We were awarded 1 point for:

Completing a workout (WOD)

Eating a Paleo, zone meal or a combo of both at each meal

Sleeping 8 hrs/night

Drinking 2L H2O,

Drinking a recovery shake within an hour after work out

Getting 2 hrs. of sunshine/week

Negative points included:

Cheating meals that were not Paleo or Zone

Smoking (-5)

Drinking >2 drinks/week

Chewing tobacco

My personal results:

I changed the way I eat. The way I shop for food. The way I cook for my kids.  Yes I cooked!

I feel stronger, better, healthier, and more coherent with life.  I learned what I needed to do for my own health.  It matters.  I matter.  My choices matter.

My Body composition went down 4% in fat, I dropped 15 lbs.,  Fat free mass went up by 5%.

Week 1: Dead-lifted 207 lbs. Week 10 Dead-lifted 218 lbs.

Mile time decreased by 1:10; I can jump higher, but not high enough; I set personal records with two Olympic movements, the snatch (75 lbs.) and the dead lift (218 lbs.).

I raised the roof at the Arnold Classic in the Convention Center snatching like I never knew I could with my strong and beautiful friends!  I hung out at an athlete after party as an athlete! Yeah!  You heard that right! Insanity!

My Family results:

My kids are asking to eat less junk and more protein and green things.   My kids noticed my physical changes and told me! :) They began to ask me not IF but when I was working out every day! We are much more focused on the good stuff instead of everything else.  They have been drawn into the fit mindset instead of coerced!  The way everything should be. Caught!

What I have learned from this gift of 10 weeks of hard work, discipline and results?

I am so very worth it all.  I am worth even more.  My kids and their future are worth beyond it all.

My reflections: (A good teacher always reflects!)

I could have done better and become stronger, even though this is the first time in my life -I can remember anyway ;) staying on track with diet and exercise with the goal of changing my lifestyle not just losing weight.

Regrets: Why did I wait so long?? Who knows the answer to that except me...I know what my excuses have been in the past and what wasn't there before.....

Determination and Community.

I can't say it enough, without community we are not going very far...we can't do it alone.  We can only get so far and then we need a hand, a leg up, a push, a smile, a hug and a word. Or in my case one more band on the pull up bar! Innovative ideas for things to jump on! Someone to run alongside me to keep my mind off the bricks I am carrying or the sled I am pulling or the mile I am about to run...in order to get me out of my head, "it’s a bad neighborhood in there" :)

And the END is nowhere in sight:

This challenged me; the mom, the daughter, the teacher and the friend...the switch flipped and I realized what it feels like to fight for me, my health and my families’ health.  Similar to the Israelites when they crossed the Jordan into their new land; God did not do all the work for them; they had to fight for their new beginning.  Yes, there were many days when I thought diet coke and carbs were the answer, I wanted to head back to Egypt where it was easier to just accept mediocrity; seems to work for many in our world today, why not me, this hard work is taxing, and time consuming! And it takes so much personal energy and commitment, is it really going to be worth it?

And like the Israelites, this is my pile of rocks, my results.  After they crossed the Jordan they made a pile of rocks to remember how far they had come.  This challenge is a pile of rocks for me to remember what I have accomplished, what I can do, and how God helped me to stay committed without giving up, not perfectly, but not quitting. He gave me an amazing community, coaches and friends on the sidelines!  He doesn’t expect perfection, He just wants me to fight for what He has led me to and He fights with me, while I step into it, afraid, but doing it anyway.  Every time I hear 3-2-1- GO I am afraid! Afraid of leaving what I know works and moving into something I am not sure of, but need deeply in my life.  What good is it if I can’t be a part of the fight for my new beginning of sorts? What good is it if we simply get handed our successes and never meet failure? Strength, growth and results come from these things, we know this, but when it comes time, OUR time, we balk at the open door, the breakthrough and back off for numerous reasons.  “Life is working pretty well right now, why change it?” “People may see me fail and I don’t want them to see my weaknesses”, or “I just don’t think I have the time to put into it the way I need to and if I do this I am going to go all the way”!  

So I have crossed my “Jordan” of physical fitness, so to speak, I am building my pile of “rocks” results and I don’t want to go back.  Even as I type this I think oh man....did you just put that in writing!?!?!  Yeah! I did....I am committed and part of commitment to me involves community.  If my friends don't know what I am trying for then they can't share in my struggles or my triumphs!  And they can’t help me!

Recommendations:

That nagging feeling inside you that just won't go away that says, “It's time!” Listen to it...and make the time.....

No matter what the “IT” is -that it’s time for….if it’s challenging you to make change  - letting go of things that are comfortable but not helping you become a better stronger version of you- do it!

You are worth the fight, the struggles and the triumphs. 

Get with community; make your commitments and start to cross into your new “land” knowing this:

You aren’t expected to be better than everyone else, just to be a better version of you!  

Leave mediocrity behind.  Change your address. Cross your “Jordan”.   I am already here and the view is amazing! We are in this together and I need you with me….

No.  Matter.  What.