On May 24, 2010 I made a commitment to myself to get healthier, to get moving in my body and get into better shape. As my jobs progressively got more sedentary I noticed that I was putting on more weight and having a really hard time losing any of it – regardless of how much lettuce and non-fat yogourt I ate.
I knew the ‘problem’ was not what I was eating but what I was/wasn’t doing. So, on May 24, 2010 I joined the YWCA and started the journey I am still on. I was too embarrassed to have the ‘fit test’ done with a gym staff so I stepped on my Wii Fit board at home to mark my starting weight and BMI. I was rather devastated at first – at 5’1″ I weighed 161 lbs and a BMI of 25.22. The Wii told me I was overweight and then I watched my skinny little Wii character balloon up to resemble the shape of hungarian salami (a food I still love and indulge in from time to time :).
The only thing I have ever really done at the gym is used the rowing machine. I generally hate the idea of working out in a basement on a machine but there is something about the urg that I can pop in my ear buds and row until I’ve left a puddle of sweat under my seat. I know from a long history of trying to get into shape that I need to love whatever it is I choose to do for exercise and the urg gave me what I needed and I was able to re-connect with the love of rowing that I developed a few years earlier at the Leander Boat Club. I made another commitment to myself after my first sweaty session on the urg last May – that if I work hard enough, follow through on my commitment to get healthier I will allow myself to fork out the $500 in May 2011 to join the rowing club again. Motivation and healthy reward if I kept my promise to myself.
It wasn’t long after my joining the YWCA that I knew I needed something else to compliment my gym time. So, on June 7, 2010 I stepped through the doors at De La Sol to attend my first hot yoga class with Erin Aquin. It was love and I knew this was ‘it’. I had practiced yoga before at the gym and at home with videos but this was an experience like no other for me. Inside those hot room walls for the first time in a very long time I felt self love, acceptance and a gentle forgiveness towards myself. The mountain I had built up of what losing weight entailed melted into a molehill in those 75 minutes. I attended as many classes as I could and those in my world heard much about that hot room and lovingly obliged my excitement and excessive talking about poses and everything else yoga.
Over the summer when I was away on vacation I had a yearning for my yoga practice but was not at a point where I could practice alone without a teacher. As the summer turned into fall I saw the sign go up at De La Sol for the Yoga Teacher Training starting in October 2010. I had enrolled at Sheridan College a couple of years ago for their Hatha Yoga Teacher Tranining but the program never got off the ground. I very much felt standing in the ladies change room staring at the poster that this was the time. It was a dream I had had and now was the time to pursue it.
I enrolled in the course and began a new leg on my journey. With enrolment to the program I got free unlimited yoga and have been taking full advantage of it. Since June 2010 I have attended over 100 classes at both De La Sol and Moksha Yoga Hamilton and am well on my way to a healthier lifestyle. I am still not ‘skinny’ but have muscles and strength and feel good in my skin. Last check in with the Wii I was 132lbs and had a BMI of 22.1 – a major change in 9 months.
Being a person that has trouble following through on long term commitments I decided that I need to make a mini-goal inside of the goal I set for myself last May. As registration for the Leander Boat Club is coming up I have decided to take on a 30 day challenge – one yoga class per day and 30 minutes of cardio a day for 31 days starting today.
Not only will this challenge help me physically but it is an exercise of personal will – something that flickers inside of me but has yet to burn brightly. It is easy after a long day of work just to come home and go to bed but this challenge will inevitably cause me to dig deep and find the will that can easily waiver. I will mark my weight on the Wii today and check it again on March 31 to see what if anything changes. If I follow through on this 30 day challenge I will allow myself to register early for the Leander Rec Rowing starting in May. Even as an adult that controls when, how and where money goes to, exercising a little bit of work and reward has always been positive for me.
I write again on March 31 with the outcomes of my challenge. Cheers to health, wellness and happiness!