Healthy for 100: July 2012

Two years. It's been two years since I started this blog. I've gone up and down. Up and down. I joined a gym and started doing what I've always done: lots of cardio and lots of reps with light weights. I was in my comfort zone and there was no magic.

July 2010

Starting Weight: 225.2
Starting BMI: 37.5 (Obese)
Bust measurement: 48'
Waist measurement: 48"
Hips measurement: 51.5"
Biceps measurement: 12.5"
Thighs measurement: 23.5"
Body Fat Percentage: 53%

A few months later I started seeing some signs pop up around town advertising a new CrossFit gym opening in our area. I asked my husband about it and he stopped in and got some info, but we decided, in the end, it wasn't the place for us. OH MY, HOW WRONG WE WERE!

I kept going about my routine, Body Pump & Step classes. I wasn't seeing a lot of results, but I was having fun and I knew, just knew, I'd start seeing the results eventually, right? I read the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women and finally a light went off. Lift heavy things. Wha??? I thought only guys did that. I mustered up the courage to head into the weight room, but even though I'd read a book I still didn't really know what I was doing. I was enjoying myself, but at the same time I was getting so discouraged. Would the weight never come off? I'd all but given up cardio and without really knowing what I was doing in the weight room, I was sliding backwards. I was right back to where I started in the first place.

In January of this year, we spent a few days at the Great Wolf Lodge here in WA state and it was the. most. eye. opening. experience. Climbing the stairs to the third story slides was almost enough to send me into cardiac arrest. My legs burned, my lungs hurt and I wasn't having any fun. On top of that, none of my clothes were fitting right and I was just uncomfortable all of the time. How could this be? I'd been going to the gym consistently for a year and a half. What had happened?

You know that saying about insanity? Doing what you've always done, but expecting different results? I was living it. Right about this time, a friend from high school started posting about CrossFit and I remembered that day so long ago that my husband and I had discussed it. I called him again and said I wanted to look into it again. Something had to change and I needed something new. We went in to check it out and I knew. I knew it was the answer.

Baseline tried to kill me, but I knew I wanted more. For the first time since high school, I wasn't focused on losing weight, I was focused on getting better. I'd forgotten what performance goals were like. I'd forgotten how much they can get into your head and push you to limits that you didn't know you had.

I had a rocky start at the box. I think I cried at every WOD for the first month. I was a nervous wreck and I kept remembering all of the awful things I'd read about CrossFit online and how they are all a bunch of douche bags and snobs. We even had our own run in with a CrossFit douche bag and it was almost enough to derail me. Actually, that one experience is one of my most treasured memories. After only a few weeks at the gym, feeling like a complete outsider and wondering if I would ever fit in, I was blown away by the support Jason and I received over that weekend.

At that point, I started to relax a little more. I was confident that even though every single workout kicked my ass, I would eventually reach my goals. I started making friends at the gym, I started to get to know some of them on Facebook and I realized that we really did belong. We really did fit in. Even though some of the people are more than a decade my junior, and they run circles around me, they're always there to encourage me (or call me out on Facebook when I mention cherry picking a workout). For the first time in my adult life, I feel like an athlete again, I feel like I'm part of a team again.

After five months of CrossFit, I've learned that I'm mentally and physically stronger than I've ever given myself credit for. I'm blown away every time I get a new 1 rep max, but more so, I'm impressed with the mental toughness I've shown, not only in the WODs, but in life. Succeeding in CrossFit has given me so much confidence and it's spilling over into every aspect of my life. For that, I'm eternally grateful. I can't wait to see where I go from here!