In the past year, I stopped skating with my derby team and I changed my life. Derby helped me get past fears I didn't even know I had. At the end, it stressed me out to a really unbelievable extent. Today I'm a lot healthier and slightly more sane than I was when I was skating.
In the past year, I've lost a full clothing size (maybe more- I haven't been clothes shopping recently) and approximately 25 pounds. More importantly, I've lost almost 7% body fat. Because of these changes, people have asked me what I do/use/eat. Here's my recommendations, all in one tidy package.
I joined a gym and found a trainer I like. I like my gym- it doesn't smell bad, the towels are nice, the showers have good pressure, and I never have to wait for a bike. It has gotten to the point where the trainers and the desk staff at least know my face, if not my name.
I see a trainer once a week. If you say that you're not fit enough to see a trainer, you're 100% wrong. Everyone should see a trainer once in a while- you don't need to see one once a week if you don't want to. She's helped me with my form, pushed me to try things that are now a major part of my fitness agenda, told me to get one more rep wen I wanted to give up, encouraged me when I am feeling down about how I look, made me feel sore in muscles I didn't know existed. I also have a repetitive use injury in my left knee from derby, and she has helped me strengthen the muscles supporting it as well as show me how to protect it when lifting.
I bought the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I have bought more than one fitness book/guide/whatever in my time. This is the only one I followed like it was my job. I took 6 months to do the entire program.
The only part of it I ignored was the nutrition advice- mainly because I'm super picky. I ate about the number of calories they recommended- the theory is that you can either focus on losing fat or you can focus on gaining muscle but if you do both at the same time you won't do either one very well. So I changed my focus to muscle for 6 months. I lost exactly zero pounds doing this program. I lost an entire clothing size. I gained unbelievable pride in the muscles I am finally starting to see.
I bought a Misfit Shine - it's like a Fitbit, only prettier. I am motivated by competition and this motivates me. I like to see the lights reach the goal. It works for walking, biking, swimming (it's waterproof)- pretty much anything. On non-gym days I am totally motivated by making sure I reach my goal so that I can keep my streak going.
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| It's so pretty! |
I set very specific goals. I have goals for body fat, weight, clothing size, time to run a mile, and a few others. I have never been very good at goal setting, so this is a big change for me!
Lastly, and maybe the most important thing, I changed my mindset about eating. I am an all or nothing person in most areas of my life- I can't do something halfway, it's not the way I'm programmed. Which means that I'm either dieting or I'm not. In the past year, I've changed that. Instead of having a "cheat day" which means that I could literally eat insane amounts of food, I have moved to having 4 cheat meals a week- I typically eat 5 meals a day, so 4 out of 35 meals in a week are cheats. A cheat meal is far less damaging. It also means I feel far less deprived- planning to eat out with friends? Have the burger and beer. It's not the end of the world, or the end of the diet. I'll be back to drinking green smoothies in the morning.
I also make a great effort to not think about eating something for the last time. If it's something unusual that only comes around once a year, I'll eat it. But I try to remember, I'll probably get a chance to eat it again and I don't eat like a starving man. I haven't gone on a big vacation during this time- if I went somewhere with unusual food, I would probably eat a lot of it. But I'd go back to being my normal self when I returned. It's all part of the deal.
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