I lost my way in the fitness world a couple of years ago, and just completely gave up. I thought this is just what happens in life, you get older, you focus on work and your family and lose that cute little body you had in your 20s. The thought of working out 6 days a week rather than spending every free minute I had with my love and our fur babies had me feeling guilty and slightly selfish. When we got married last year, I didn’t like who I saw in my wedding photos, that wasn’t the body that I wanted and I was so mad at myself that I just gave up like that. I had the photographer photoshop a lot of our photos, and that just made me feel fake. When the new year rolled around, like so many others I thought “well maybe I’ll go back to the gym”. Then I got an email from Jessie about the One Daily Challenge and again I thought to myself “well ok, 4 days is doable, a one month challenge is doable, let’s give it a shot. Baby steps!”
It was rough in the beginning, I’m not going to lie. The first week I was chugging along and then the 2nd week rolled around and some problems at work happened. I was sooo tempted to throw in the towel again. But I told myself NO! It’s an hour a day, 4 days a week, with an active rest day and one 20 min cardio day. I NEEDED to do this, not just for my body and physical health, but for my mental health as well. I needed to start taking care of myself again, and I could afford, I WOULD afford one hour a day to do that. Some days were easier than others. I always get frustrated with myself when I can’t do something well and that definitely happened with certain ab exercises. But rather than giving up because I wasn’t perfect at them, I did the best I could and sometimes that has to be enough for the time being. Nobody is perfect at everything the first time around or even the second or third time. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a marathon for me, not a race and that it was important to just take it one day at a time.
I loved how doable it was to incorporate into a very busy work and home life. It made working out very attainable for the busy, working woman and I loved and appreciated that so much. And of course the constant cheering on and support of my fellow AMAZING Jessie’s Girls!!
This may sound corny, but if it at first you don’t succeed try, try, try again. Never, ever give up, because THAT is the one and only way you lose.