The reason I ask is because after having coached fellow
Beachbody customers for 6 years now, I've found that how we view ourselves really has a lot to do with what we become. Let me explain.
When I first bought
Power90 from an infomercial, I was 32 years old. I had been fit and active in highschool, and taught aerobics several times a week in my early 20's. I had 4 babies in 5 years and put on more weight with each additional baby; tipping the scales at 50+ pounds heavier than I typically weighed when I delivered baby #4 (my last biological child). I was active; I ran a few times a week and lost the weight after each baby with
INTENTIONAL effort; eating less and exercising
faithfully. At 32 years old, I had a large, young family and I stayed active by continuing to run 1-2 miles 3 or 4 times a week, and I played in 2 different adult soccer leagues on the weekends as a half back (read: lots of running). Makes you want to throw a shoe at me doesnt it? ;o) Well dont yet, cuz my story isnt as cut and dry
"I've been healthy all my life, blah blah blah" as that might imply. :) I didnt eat any particularly healthy way - in fact, with our busy lifestyles, and spending lots of time on the soccer and baseball fields for our kids, we ate a lot from the dollar menu at fast food restaurants or the snack bar nachos
(eew!!). But because I had youth and metabolism on my side, it didnt show any effects on my weight gain.
UNTIL......It seems like
I hit 32 and my metabolism gave up. I had been mistreating my body by not eating healthy and letting my metabolism clean up after me. And forget about VARIETY in my workouts; I found what I liked and parked it there. Everything adjusted and settled into a nice little plateau. And thats when I put on weight; 15 lbs fast, without changing anything I was doing.
My pants were getting tighter and
I was tired all the time. I was the classic case of a 'bird eater'....I'd eat nothing all day till about 2 (I was busy with toddlers, laundry, schedule, working at the school, and I was a youth pastor for jr. highers, etc...) and then I'd carb load when I got the shakes because I was so starving I ate whatever I could grab on the go.
HORRENDOUS HABITS!!! So though I might have
looked like I was healthier than someone else who was carrying around some extra weight;
I wasnt healthy at all. My metabolism had everyone (including me!) faked out! Until it betrayed me (hee ;o) ) and showed the real effects of what I was doing to my own body. At this rate, I was going to be 30 lbs heavier by the time I turned 33 and the scary part was that I had no idea what I had done wrong, or more importantly, what I needed to do right. Thats a sad and helpless place to be.
Now here's where how I viewed myself comes into play. I knew that extra weight
WAS NOT me! I didnt want to say "Well, I'm 30-something, thats what women and men do after they settle down and have a family" HECK NO! I believe God made our bodies to be useful for all sorts of adventures right up to the end, and I want to live life to the FULLEST! :) I dont want to resign to being old, and accept this old body that starts to break alignment with my mind: the YOUTH in me! :) I can still tap into the
feelings of being a teenager, cant you? Its funny how though 20 years have gone by, I still FEEL like the same person who walked the halls of my high school, dont you? A song comes on, I smell a scent from the old times, or I watch a movie that I loved as a younger version of myself, and it takes me right back! I want to be an
ACTIVE & fun mom - an adventurous and energetic wife - a fun friend - who
PLAYS!! :) I still like to pull pranks, do a cartwheel if I see a sunny patch of grass thats perfect cartwheel "space" ;), climb to the top of the rock wall, and I want to be able to still do the splits when I'm 60. :)
THATS how I view myself, so when I started my very first
Beachbody workout, I did so because I viewed myself as a fit person that needed a new plan. That the extra weight
WASNT ME, and it needed to come off. And every day that I worked out and made healthier food choices (the
Beachbody CLUB plans were
BRILLIANT for helping me learn how to eat right!!) was because I was becoming who I
REALLY felt I was:
a healthy, fit, youthful, and spunky TRACI. :)
Who YOU think you are deep down, is who you work to be. Does that make sense? If you dont view yourself as fit and thin, then you arent as likely to be vicious about getting there. Its more like
"I hope to get there.....but I never was, I've always been chubby, I'm not really an exercise person, I just love food, I dont know if I can, etc. etc. etc. etc." Do any of those sound like the things you've said about yourself, either aloud or just to yourself? Did you know that in doing so, you're setting yourself to be EXACTLY who you believe yourself to be?? Good or Bad.
You have the EXACT same muscles as a fitness/athletic competitor. The only thing separating you from the body you were meant to have is the food and exercise choices you make! You can ABSOLUTELY be fit, healthy, strong, thin, lively!!!!!!!!!!
Really take this in, and print it out somewhere you can see it daily:
The only things standing between the body you have today and the body you WANT to have are YOUR CHOICES!! What will you choose TODAY?Ignore those voices in your head (that either have come from you or someone else) that have told you you cant do it. Thats simply not true. Its not true that its not in your genetics to be fit. NOT TRUE. Every single body type can be fit and healthy and active and strong. :) Every one. Whether you gain weight first in your hips, or your waist, or your neck, or your rear end, or your arms or in your earlobes...... :) .....every body type can be fit and lean. Start telling yourself NOW who you really are based on who you want to be, and then take those steps to fulfill the dream. I'm not talking about "I'm a lotto winner"....I cant say that will happen if you tell yourself that. :) Statistics probably would show otherwise. But believing yourself to be healthy and fit and WORTHY of that dream is absolutely possible. 100% of the the time! Not bad odds, right?
Set yourself up to succeed and tell yourself that ITS POSSIBLE. When you work out, envision how strong and lean your muscles are becoming with every rep. Think in the *positive* and it will fuel your desire to BECOME what you believe about yourself!
Tony Horton said to me a few weeks ago "2009 is the year of YES!" :) Man, I love that!!!
Say YES to your healthy dreams and fit hopes for yourself....its YOUR YEAR!!xoTRACI +7
