Workout Journal - Week 6

Six weeks ago, I learned that we have a gym membership as one of the benefits of living at the Extended Stay. I decided then that I have an opportunity to get my body and my sanity back, and that I needed to do it now. I've been intimidated by "perfect" barbie dolls at the gym for way too long, so I finally got off my butt and took on a task that I both dreaded and anticipated at the same time. I did not want to go from an unhealthy person to a skinny person. I wanted, and needed, to go from an unfit person to a fit person instead, and there's a difference. "Skinny" is an image, "fit" is a state of well-being. To achieve the image of "skinny" would be self-defeating, and I don't need any more excuses for that! Becoming "fit" is the opposite, it is self-enhancing. I don't care that I'm not, nor can I ever be, a size 0. Who is? I do know that I can increase my cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength, and decrease my body fat. Heck, everyone can do that! Along with that, I want to achieve a fit body without going on a diet. Weight loss is not a product of deprived fad diets (which only makes your body fatter and weaker by lowering your metabolism), but a result of choosing foods (using plain-old common sense) and increasing movement. Physical fitness isn't about depriving yourself of food and dancing around in neon leotards like a Barbie with her life handed to her on a silver platter. That's just not reality. Being fit means having cardiovascular health, muscular strength and a healthy body fat percentage. That's honesty, not the BS that the media force feeds us everyday. I'm not interested in what the people who earn a commission in this industry have to say. I do want, however, to change the way that I look and feel because I have to live in my own skin everyday and being unfit is not something I want anymore. I know that I have a long way to go, but that's okay. This is a process that is literally one step at a time.