Each time I take one of these, I feel better. Anyone who struggles with weight understands the up and down of the journey. I haven't been losing a ton of weight recently, I tried a lot of the summer (because I wasn't working) to focus directly on my gym time and my food. I was pulling three-a-days at the gym and cutting back a lot on my calories. It didn't feel like it was working. Once I got a job, I felt like everything stopped. Maybe it was the stress of a new job, maybe it's because I'm super hard on myself, who knows. I don't know how much I've lost because I don't have a scale, but looking at this and measuring myself this morning, I feel like some changes are happening.
The weight loss journey, I believe, occurs in three parts. One being exercise. I know I have written a lot about being active, I don't know how to be more obvious about it. Find something you can stick to, find something you love and start doing it all the time. I get a lot of "you're crazy" when I tell them how often I exercise; I'm not crazy. I love kickboxing, I'm actually pretty good at it. When I plan out my week, I plan a lot of my life around gym time. No, I'm not cutting off friends to get gym time in, however most of my friends know what I do and accept that most of my time goes to kickboxing. I also feel so much better. I feel stronger, everyday.
The second, and really equal with the first part, is food. Food is my biggest struggle. Not that I overeat, or eat junk food...I tend to under-eat. I have been struggling for a while to learn what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. It's a daily/weekly process. Luckily, trainers at the gym have been checking my food log, and checking in to make sure that I'm eating enough and the right things. I try to make as much of my food as I can. Like the food gummies above, I made those myself. All fresh ingredients, all things I could pronounce. I'm learning to eat to live and not live to eat. It's a process and a really frustrating one at that. I'll let you know if I come up with any tricks, but all I've found that works right now if someone to keep me accountable and Pinterest for recipes.
(Best breakfast!! Steel cut oats, blueberries, bananas and some applesauce and protein powder)
Last but not least, having a community to keep you going.
I enjoy going to the gym (I don't have photos of anyone..sorry, just use your imagination) because I love the community I have there. Even with the people I don't see all the time, or don't know very well, we are best friends for a hour of class. When you can look at the person at the next bag or holding the pads and they know exactly how out of breath you are and how tired you are, but they make you keep going...nothing is better than that.
(John Wayne Parr from a seminar at Real Fighters Gym. A legend and amazing teacher. We don't train together on a regular basis...I just wanted to post this. I mean, it's JWP.)
(My favorite coach of all time, Eric Haycraft. Eric was the first coach I ever had that treated me like everyone else. I was expected to work, and work just as hard, as any other fighter in the gym. There are some training sessions that I am amazed that I survived, but I always did. I know he believes in me, even though I'm in another city and at another gym.)
There's going to be some bumps along the way, but that helps make all the high points worth it. This journey feels like it's been incredibly long and tiring. I know when I look back on this, it will seem like a blink.
Good luck to yall.
