So three days ago I started Insanity – a series of workout dvds with Shaun T that drives you to “dig deeper” as you move through 40min of cardio. I have had these dvds [well, files on my hard drive] since my Junior yr at USAFA and I never got around to trying them out. Well, it is safe to say I have felt the burn.
Seriously. It is just 40min a day and you can do it in your living room! Getting in shape or maintaining your shape couldn’t fit into your lifestyle any easier. I would just keep your pets away while you do because my pup likes to headbutt me every time I do a pushup and step on my hair if it is ever on the ground. I dont think she is a fan of my working out.
If you know me, you know I have done my share of fitness. From swimming, to fencing, water polo, yoga, triathlons etc, I kinda dip my fingers in as many pots of fitness as I can. I have done crossfit workouts too – many a stairwell work out in college but with my new work schedule I have found it hard to get to a physical gym and I havent been on my bike in a bit – need to take it to a shop to get it fixed. So I have turned to the at-home gym and Mr Shaun T has been quite helpful. I am hoping to try and keep up with it for 60 days and really see if there is much difference. The reality is, I’m pretty happy with my body. It pretty much likes to sit at the weight its at and in order to get down more I would have to sacrifice foods I like which just isn’t an option. I’m healthy and I’m strong and I just want to stay that way.
But that brings me to a different point – America doesnt know how to just be happy being healthy. We are obsessed with ideals – the “skinny” ideal and the every growing “fitness” ideal. I read a really interesting article about this here. This ideal we have of fitness where women are getting to such low percents of body fat in order to have these cut defined muscles that it is sometimes worse for their health than before.
Not to mention that to get to these body types that we see on magazine covers, we have to begin sacrificing foods and sanity. Counting every calorie in and out. Now dont get me wrong, I keep a [rough] running tally in my head of the amount of calories I eat in a given day but if I want that piece of chocolate, you bet I am going to eat it. I dont want to live on salad all day. I just wish that the ideals we tout to society were more realistic to those of us who dont live in an airbrushed world.
But I do love salad. Which is another thing I think about often – how I have trained myself to think that healthy foods taste better than any of that crappy junk food. I crave avocados over m&ms, when I want a late night snack, I cook up some collard greens and hot sauce or some bbq green beans. Weird. maybe. but healthy just feels so good to me, I wish that everyone was able to eat healthy foods and truly enjoy them. It makes me so happy when I hear about people trying new lifestyle food or workout changes.
A guy at work started the Paleo diet last month and has dropped 20 lbs. Every day he comes in and we sit and talk about what were eating and what he’s made and how much he has learned about eating healthy whole foods and how good he feels. I can’t even explain how happy that makes me. I love talking about eating good foods.
How do you feel about health and fitness? Is it something that makes you excited or is it something you are constantly struggling to get through?
