As I've mentioned a thousand times already, I lost weight in 1998 or so. I started to try again in 2000, but didn't get very far. Both times I used fitness videos to get in shape. Initially, both times I started with Richard Simmons' "Sweatin' to the Oldies". It's short, it's easy and at the end it has the dancers/performers dance across the stage saying how much they have lost. It is so inspiring, really. And, I don't find Richard Simmons annoying. He's perky, fun, and genuine. I also like that the dancers on the videos are real people struggling with weight, not trained athletes in super fit condition doing the routine to perfection. It always kills me in videos when they show a muscular, fit body doing the 'beginner' version of the exercise. Couldn't they find a true beginner showing it and leave the super fit person for the advanced version of the workout? Like in real life?
So, it started with Sweatin' to the Oldies, then I got the second one, and the third and then started to get bored, but didn't know what to get as there were and still are so many options. Then I found this exercise group online that did home fitness videos. This group was fantastic for me. Most of them were lifelong fitness buffs or, had been doing videos for so long that they were super fit - strictly from home videos. From them I got a lot of suggestions on what to try next and they motivated me to try harder and to do more. The also had a video exchange program. People actually traded with my measly Richard Simmons videos for harder things and I learned how I loved step aerobics, found some strength and toning workouts that were fun and so on. As I got stronger in the 8 months I was exercising, I was even beginning to dabble in some more advanced workouts and got to the point I could run for 3 miles, just from training off these videos I did in the comfort of my own home. It was great. And it was on that site that I came up with the Fitness Fledgling name for myself.
It was great until I found fitting in exercise very difficult. My job hours were long, Sven was in a super tough PhD program. I tried exercising at 9 pm or 10 pm (first time to myself all day long), but I was getting so tired come winter. I tried waking up at 5 am and man that was tough and I would wake up the 2 year old who then wanted to join me... within a couple months, I stopped everything.
A year or so later I tried to pick it up again. I found the fitness group, someone gave me a whole bunch of VHS tapes (she had switched over to DVDs) and now I had more fun stuff and good stuff too. And again, after a couple months, I gave up. We moved four times - I boxed them up and put them away - moving them in the same, unopened boxes each of those times.
When we moved to this house, I had every intention of getting back into fitness. I opened the boxes and put them out to use in the basement. Then those daily headaches and nothing happening. I tried to find the fitness group I had belonged to and couldn't find it. Did it still exist a decade later? Would it have the same format even?
Then, in January, as the headaches disappeared, I started out simply. I started using the Walk it Out game with the Wii Fit. First with the balance board, then walking in place on the floor and now with the Reebok step, upping the difficulty as I get more fit. Doing the same game for 2 months is getting boring though, but I don't like to quit, so I keep plugging away. In the meantime, I keep looking over at my fitness videos. I'm itching to get to them. I'm itching to feel powerful and strong again. Which led me to looking up that fitness forum again.
And yesterday, I found them. Same name, I had just forgotten, http://www.videofitness.com/. They have a lot of the same founding members (though, of course, they've grown), they still review exercise workouts (thousands of them) and they still swap/exchange dvds too. I went to sign up, all excited to be back a decade later and I'm just waiting for the moderator approval to rejoin.
But there's a feeling of shame/sadness too. These gals, a core group of them, never gave up, never stopped. Yet I quit for over a decade. A decade? That's hard to even wrap my head around that amount of time. How does someone let go for a decade, seriously? But, I guess the imprtant thing to remember is that I'm back - back for good! At least back to fitness for good. Who knows if I'll stick with videos or if I'll want to start taking classes at the gym, but I have to keep promising myself that fitness is for life.
But now I'm torn: Do I continue with the Walk it Out game until I'm finished - I hate to leave things undone and it is still working with the step with getting fitness level up there. Or do I quit because I'm finding it boring and dive into the fitness videos? Or I can try to find a way to fit them both in I suppose. Hmmm...
I'll talk more about the videos I have tomorrow. Some are great, some are meh and some are just plain bad. All but 5 are still on VHS and the player I have downstairs is DVD. So, I have to switch them over too. That way I can do part of one dvd, another part of another and mix up routines too. Hmmm... or maybe I should just spend the small $ and get another VHS player for the basement? Will have to talk that one over with my husband.
Oh, and the scale hates me. I thought I was out of 240s forever. Seems not. It's trying to mess with my brain - despite eating perfectly and exercising nearly every day! Grrr!!!
Beginning Weight: 255.6 Now: 240.0
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