Slow and Steady Maniac

2015 has not been a stellar fitness year for me. It started out with one of the coldest winters on record which meant I was stuck inside with my neuralgia and had to find creative ways to exercise from home. Then I fractured the same foot bone- twice! Two weeks ago I had vein surgery on my lip and I find myself once again on exercise restriction.

Yet ironically enough, I’m in the best physical shape I’ve been in 18 years. 2015 could have been the year that I threw in the towel. Old Tara certainly would have. Old Tara would have gleefully used these limits as a perfect excuse to cozy up on the couch, read a good book (or ten) and binge watch some great shows. She would have succumbed to that all or nothing attitude- well if I can’t get a good calorie burning workout in- why bother?

New Tara? I’m not having it. I worked too hard to get to where I am- healthy, well, energized, and comfortable in my body. New Tara realizes that small slow changes make a lasting impact and eventually get you to your goal. I'm a slow and steady maniac! 

Today I walked on the treadmill at 2.5 miles an hour for 30 minutes. This is vastly slower than I’d usually walk. I could say that I ONLY walked a little over a mile or I ONLY burned 207- calories- why bother? What difference is it going to make? Will it make a difference in my weight loss/maintenance this week, maybe? The difference is that I choose to keep moving. It keeps me emotionally and physically well- my mind, heart, lungs- every single organ gets stronger, better with every step.

2015 has been a test of my willingness. Am I willing to do what it takes to stay well? To find new ways to move my body while stuck inside this winter? Yes! To buy a stationary bike (Craig’s List) when I’m only allowed to use a bike while wearing a boot and stuck inside this winter? Yes! To show up at my personal training appointments while wearing said boot, knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to work as hard yet knowing that I was still working? Yes!

My past few weeks of post-surgery recovery have been way worse than expected. To quote my husband “I was sold a bill of goods.” Truthfully, I expected to be down a week. Last week, when I was sitting in my doctor’s office getting my stitches removed he asked if I had any questions and I asked “when can I exercise?” Now don’t get all judgy of me here, I’m not an obsessive compulsive exerciser, I just know that exercise is a part of my overall wellness regimen. If we could take a moment of silence here to remember old Tara who looked at exercise as a chore, exercise as overwhelming, too embarrassed by her size and physical limits that she wouldn’t even go to the YMCA…

So the doctor answers that he’d like me to rest for two more weeks and normally this would send me into an emotional tailspin and I’d go into an overeating-feel-sorry-for-myself-binge for two weeks. Not this time! I’m walking it, slow and steady. Not focusing on what I can’t do, focusing on what I CAN do.

Often I think that we don’t start something because we can’t do it well enough (or at least that’s how I feel sometimes). So we don’t.even.try. Gosh if we stepped back and looked at that, we’d realize how counterproductive it is.

When life’s obstacles get in the way, just keep going. Don’t try to keep up with others, just do you. Make the choice and find a way to be the best, healthiest version of you.

Commit to the choice. Ask for help. Continue with courage.  

Hugs and Friendship,

Tara