This post and everything else I write (that is about me) is tough because I do not like attention. But I do like helping people. If I can apply my own advice to myself and it works, then I want to spread the "wealth" and have you see results and become healthier (mind and body). It starts with me proving that Treating Yourself works. Now let's get to the meat of the post...
When I belonged to LA Fitness in my young twenties, I would religiously take a kick boxing class. There was a woman in the class that had a rockin' body. She was long, lean, not too thin and had amazing muscle definition. But the best part about her was... her smile. She always had a huge smile planted on her face.
One day after class a woman went up to her and asked, "What is your secret to looking like that?"
"Awww, that's sweet," she replied. "It's way easier than anyone thinks. I stretch a lot, workout 4 times per week and eat clean food. People make it so much harder for themselves. They overtrain and that leads to them becoming even more overweight."
She was saying this while on the ground in a split like position stretching- her nose was touching her knee. However, she wasn't being cocky like, "look what I can do." You just simply knew that was her everyday stretching routine. I swear I wasn't trying to ease drop on their convo! I was basically dead on the floor trying to catch my breath and wiping up the lake of sweat I made. But admittedly I did immediately break in to a made-up stretching routine on the spot because I wanted to look like that.
As the years went on, I never forgot what that fit, very flexible woman said. And I noticed her point being proven over and over again.
Have you ever seen people on the elliptical at the gym and their legs are going a mile a minute, drenched in sweat, but are the same shape and size they were six months ago? Yeah, their body is used to that routine and they probably go 7 days per week. They have no variety, no recover days and are most likely eating too much to see results.
However, it hit home really hard when it happened to me. I started to get heavily involved in CrossFit about 5 plus years ago. CrossFit's professional athletes workout 2-3 times per day. Their workouts were posted everywhere and their daily fitness routine's were always being praised. I should have realized at the time that they were professionals. However, I thought if they can do it, so can I. I started to workout with very heavy weight, I would do sprints, I would do high intensity bodyweight movements like burpees all the time, etc. One thing happened that I absolutely did not expect. I got heavier, I was starving all the time, and every other workout sucked because I was lacking energy. My body fat reached up to about 22%.
The reasons were because:
1. I was not letting my body recover.
2. I was eating a larger amount of food to support my performance. At the time I did not think I was eating a lot. Now that I workout so much less, I eat less because my metabolism does not ask for the same amount of food.
3. My cortisol levels were out of control. If your cortisol levels are high on a constant basis from working out all the time (that leads to stress on your body, then your cortisol levels rise), you can suffer from weight gain.
4. I was not stretching.
5. I was not taking the "Treat Yourself" approach. I was doing the workouts posted because I felt like I had to and I was turning into a miserable person. (By the way... who was making me?)
*I want to clear the air here. Some people can absolutely handle workouts twice a day. But they are few and far between. Most people find out the hard way, like myself, that your body needs to rest and recover more than we think in order to see results.*
I had to change my way of thinking, working out, and eating. Once I started to run less, do PiYo, and lift lighter weights (not light weights, just lighter) my body started to respond. I noticed I was less hungry, my clothes were fitting better, and I was laughing a lot more. I am currently at 18.5% body fat and feel way more comfortable in my own skin. I never realized that lighting up my workout load created a more stable body.
My advice- take it or leave it:
Leave the crazy training to the professionals. Workout about 4 times per week, but put your heart and soul into it. Give everything you have to that workout. Love what you are doing and challenge yourself or you will never keep up with your routine- you will either not see results or you will just stop working out. On your off days- walk, stretch and love every step of your journey because those small steps add up to big successes. Treat Yourself to a great workout, a tasty post workout meal and go relax.
*Random bit of the day for the chicks out there (I have a feeling you will see these "random bits" a lot):
I am obsessed with this Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Treatment. That's a mouth full. It has great under eye coverage without being thick or cakey. It rolls on smoothly and comes in such nice shades. I thought I'd share my fun findings. Happy Saturday!
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