Twelve Minutes Matters - 79 days left

I must admit that today was one of those days that I just didn't want to do a workout of any kind.  I had planned on doing it earlier in the day and it hadn't worked out.  With each passing moment, I dreaded it more and more.  When it was finally 7:00, I resolved that it just wasn't going to happen and I should just sit down and go ahead and write out my blog for the day.  It was at that moment I heard myself thinking, "I can at least do something".

As I mentioned yesterday, my friend, Monica, had sent me the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start video that I had borrowed from the library about a month ago to get me going.  It is a short 12 minute workouts that can be done individually or combined for a longer workout.  "Surely I can do a 12 minute video now!  After all, I am the crossfit queen.", I said to myself.  And that is what I did.  I put in the DVD and did the first cardio workout that I had done over and over and over again a few weeks back.  You know what?  I was a lot better at it.  I was able to actually do the cardio burst to some degree where as before I had struggled just to keep going as the same pace as before.  And when I was done, I wasn't gasping for air like I was about to hyperventilate.  In fact, I did 30 squats to finish it out.

What a great feeling to be able to notice such a difference from the place I was physically just 30 days ago.  And when I think about how much better I will be in the next 30 days and the 30 days after that, there is no way that the 5K run I will be doing with my friend, Julie, will beat me.  I am amazed at how far I have come already.

Accomplishing this short workout this evening also gave me a huge mental boost.  I folded what felt like a minimum of ten loads of laundry today.  It seemed with each shirt, short, or pair of jeans I touched my pile of clean clothes seemed to multiply.  I had thought about how not keeping up with the laundry is similar to not keeping up with my health.  After a while, getting healthy again and physically fit becomes a huge task that seems to get bigger and bigger with each passing day the longer it remains untouched.  I know it is fine to give yourself a break here or there.  However, I have never been one to do well with doing things in moderation.  So one day breaks become week breaks, which then turn into month breaks and pretty soon twelve years have passed and I am over 100 lbs heavier.

As I pondered these thoughts I became completely overwhelmed.  How in the world can I go the rest of my life without eating anything "bad"?  And the longer I waited to do my workout tonight, the thoughts got louder and louder and louder.  Thankfully though, when I did my workout, just for that short 12 minutes, my mind cleared of all of those thoughts.  I then shifted my thinking into how much better I was feeling now and how much better I could do the workout.

Yes, there will be hard days.  And yes, there will be days that I want to have a "bad food day", not just a "bad food snack".  Yet I found today when I accomplish something even small towards my goal, it is like a rocket propelling me into the next challenge knowing that I can do it.   Every small accomplishment really does matter, even when it is just a 12 minute video that I have done countless times before.

Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible)  - I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].