Luanne’s Paradigm Shift: Picking Up The Towel, Not Throwing It In!

My good friend, Kathy, told me all about the new gym she had joined and how much she was loving it. Discussing diet, exercise and commiserating about our state of fitness (or lack thereof) is something we’ve always done for as long as we’ve known each other – almost forever!

I started noticing people my age or younger, so many of them complaining about how bad they felt and that they weren’t physically able to do this or that anymore. I observed that in most cases, they looked older than their age, seemed miserable and had pretty much thrown in the towel as far as trying to improve their health and wellbeing. This was a wakeup call for me – I had one foot in that boat myself and needed to make decisive, positive moves to improve my overall quality of life. I think the self-help people call that a “paradigm shift”!

I was captivated by the thought that someone would help me by looking at my calorie intake and tracking my exercise. That’s distinctly differently from what I’m accustomed to. I’ve done a lot of food logging in my life, but I’ve never had anyone but myself to provide motivation to be active and participate in structured exercise on a regular basis. At some point, my good intentions would always be overshadowed by whatever seemed more pressing at the time and then, there I’d be again, back to square one.

Mindset is key when you’re trying to accomplish a goal. I’ve always tended toward an “all or nothing” mode of thinking, which can really be self-destructive when you’re trying to make a change. My typical pattern would be to follow a strict regimen for a few weeks, fall off the wagon for some reason, get disgusted and then give up until I somehow became motivated again.

Bailey, my fitness practitioner, has been a great person to have in my corner. He actually reads those weekly logs and offers helpful suggestions. He’s the voice of reason when I’m having negative thoughts, and is always so encouraging and knowledgeable. It’s also a wonderful thing to have friends and family sharing the challenge along with you. I appreciate Van, my husband, for his support and tenacity and Emilee, my friend, for raising the bar at the gym by always doing the hardest version of the exercise and invariably picking up the heaviest weight! Thanks to Bailey, Austin, Brooke, Chris and Trent for being so positive during workouts. It gives me such a boost and helps me to keep going. Because you believe I can do it, I can do it.

In addition to the obvious benefits – looking and feeling better and getting stronger, going to AFS gives me a sense of accomplishment every time I complete a workout session. It’s a bright spot in the daily grind…like getting a big raise, promotion or a huge “attagirl” from someone whose opinion matters to you.

One thing that’s helped me immensely is to avoid thinking about the ultimate, final, pie-in-the-sky goal…how much muscle I want to gain or the amount of weight I want to lose. I try to think in terms of today or this week, i.e., “I picked up a heavier weight and did all “Group A” moves this session”, “I stayed within my calorie range today”, or “I lost half a pound this week.” There’s also lot to be said for just putting your head down and doing the work. That’s a reward in and of itself.