The other day after I taught BodyStep, one of the new members of my class and I got to talking. I told her how I could tell she was getting the moves, understanding the BodyStep workout and looking great out there.
She agreed, but then she asked me: how many more of these classes until I loose weight?
The question caught me off guard.
How could I answer that?
I don’t think about exercise that way.
I told her weightloss depends on so much more than how many BodyStep classes one takes. It has to do with what one eats, what types of exercises one does (a mix of cardio, strength training, etc…), body type, genetics, overall health, etc… I couldn’t give her a number. And I told her I don’t find numbers helpful anyway. That my best advice for a deconditioned participate is to take a variety of classes, find what works best, and make it a daily habit as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
In this diet fad culture, it seems everyone wants a quick fix. But the thing about quick fixes are they don’t fix. Or if they do work, they can’t be sustained. Real health and real fitness is a lifelong thing. There is no end to living a healthy life full of exercise and good food.
I never weigh myself. The only time I hear my weight is when I go to my annual OBGYN appointment. I don’t need a scale to tell me how I feel.
Weightloss and maintaining a healthy weight and overall fitness level has no end in sight. There is no date you can set, no minute you can say, “now I’m fit, so I don’t have to worry about my fitness anymore and can now eat what I want and never exercise again.”
After I delivered my daughter and had 32 pounds to loose, I didn’t weight myself, didn’t obsess about my midsection and do any crazy extreme diet or exercise routine. My goal was simple: to feel like myself again. To do that, I started off slow with daily walks. Fed my body nourishing food. Took it easy until I was able to ramp back up into my previous workout routine.
People always want to know: how long did it take you? I can’t even say. I don’t think like that. I just took it one day at a time. One gym class at a time. One walk at a time. And now, at over two years later, I’m stronger, leaner, and fitter than I was before I was pregnant with Kate.
If you’re deconditioned and thinking about starting an exercise routine or if you are in the midst of weight loss thinking when is this over, I encourage you to rethink how you think about exercise and weight. There is no end. It’s a forever thing. When you release yourself from time constraints and expectations, it’s freeing. And fitness becomes this fun thing you do everyday because you love it and it’s good for you. I think you’ll be surprised by the results.