May 8, 2014

5:11 am is the time I roll out of bed to pull on my workout clothes in order to make it to the 5:30 CrossFit Brea class.

Ya…

But I’m doing it because I have to. I need to. I want to.

I have to because looking at the pictures, you can see the reason. I also have to, because I need to lose the weight in order to keep medical issues away. The older I get, the more I weigh, the more likely medical issues will impact my life. I’m planning on living to the age of 110. And yes, yes I know that my pension will not cover me, so I’m already stocking up on wet, organic cat food.

I need to, because I’m training my body to walk 500 miles on the Camino. Getting it into condition to do so. Every pound I lose before I set out, is less baggage for me to cart along.

I want to, because I do enjoy working out early in the morning. Get it done. Get it over with. Check it off my list of things to do. This way I can look at my list and see that I was successful at one thing during the day.

And yup, I sometimes have to push myself to get out of bed to go. That is life. Last year in April, I had surgery and couldn’t workout for over three months. By the time I convinced myself that nothing would work its way out of the three holes in my stomach area ( visions of my intestines writhing around like the snakes on Medusa’s head gave me cause to avoid heavy lifting) about a year had gone by before I got my butt back in the gym.

So I’m back in the saddle again…and again…and again.

Changing eating habits, exercise habits, life habits…it is a challenge, but I keep on going and won’t give up. It took me a whole lot of years to gain this weight and it will take many years to get it off.

Now why can’t it just be like the Biggest Loser or those people pictured on the magazines with the bold statement, ” I Lost 100 lbs in 5 months and YOU can too!”

Ya…sure…for them, but not for me. Hence, when I had the surgery last year, I told the doctor that I was hoping that she would discover a massive (non- cancerous) tumor or the remains of an absorbed twin. She told me that I was funny. I told her I was serious as it would provide me with a reason as to why my belly looked this way.

And now that my hopes have been dashed, reality has reached out and smacked me up side the head. I’m going to have to lose the weight the old fashion way- work it off.

And that is why I rise and shine at 5:11 am. Teaching my body that I am in charge and can become disciplined in this area once again. My body is my Temple, granted it looks like a Rubenesque version instead of a Grecian Goddess, but I’m working it.