My Journey With Health And Fitness – Back At It

Well it took some work but my online workout system is now fully operational. I knew coming here that in order for me to stay motivated and do my classes I needed to have a system that was a little better than trying to do the online workouts using my iPad. I was very cognizant of the fact that I would likely try and find excuses not to participate in the classes so decided we needed to set up a ‘high end’ online gym. And so, mini Mac connected to the 55″ tv with a Bose speaker and all is good. Much to my surprise I am actually enjoying doing the online workouts and now know this is absolutely doable every time we come down here. The only thing I need to do is find a decent workout mat because the one I am using is super flimsy. But, I’ve still got weeks to try and find one.

It has been over a month since I had that massive arthritis flair up and it has quite frankly really held me back. I stopped doing anything that was high impact because it was very painful if I jolted that knee. That has been very frustrating for me because truly when it comes to my fitness I am not good at being patient. Nevertheless, I forced myself to allow my knee to completely recover because I didn’t want any further setbacks. Over the past couple weeks I had slowly started upping my intensity level while being diligent to stop if there was any pain. The past few days I have been able to go full at it in my classes so decided now would be a good time to really push things again.

This morning I got up and thought, right today is the day. Put on my new running outfit (this includes a cropped running shirt because it was already 25+ degrees) and my LED vest and started running. Well guess what, an hour later and with a big grin on my face I had completed my first run in about 6 weeks. Yes, I know I hate running but that smile was because I’m back baby! The knee didn’t hurt at all and after the run I still managed another hour of walking (and then eventually a fitness class). Even now as I write this my knee isn’t bothering me at all and I have suggested to my husband that we go for a nice long bike ride later this morning. I should note, I do not have full flexion in my bad knee and some days I don’t get the 110 degrees bend needed to ride a bike and trust me I haven’t had that lately. Today however, I’m confident that I will be able to ride my bike and I am pretty happy with that.

And so, I am back at it. Ok, I know I never really stopped working hard it was just I wasn’t working as hard as I like. Funny, I look back at FB posts from 3 years ago when I really started down this fitness path and I kind of shake my head. Who knew that I would get to a place where I really enjoy working out and being fit but that is where I am today. My husband posted pictures of me just finishing my run/walk this morning and I looked at them and realized, I’m no longer that short, fat chick that lived in my head for so long, may she never return.