Today’s Fit Five Friday features Sarah from Massachusetts. Let’s see what she has to say about health, fitness, and her body.
1. What do you love about your body?
I love my legs because they are strong and I can do so much with them. I have always been a very physical person—From an early age I was turning cartwheels down my street, jumping and flipping on beds and couches, handstands, headstands, somersaults, running, jumping, etc. In an effort to burn off some of this relentless energy, my parents put in a good effort to help find the right activity for me, which turned out to be figure skating and dance. As a skater, my legs would power the movements across the ice, launch and land every jump and support every spin. As a dancer, they provide balance and virtually support and facilitate almost every movement. I stopped doing both of these activities as I reached adulthood, which is sadly the case for most people once they join the real world. After quitting smoking in 2005, I decided to start dancing again to offset the pain of the habit change in a positive way and it was so worth it to do that. After years of not dancing or exercising much, certain muscles in my legs had atrophied and they were weaker and not as able to do the things they once did. Since restarting dance, I have made a conscious effort to regain that strength back and while I am certainly not as limber and agile as I once was, I have improved a lot from when I first started and most importantly, I am back to loving my legs.
2. What would you like to change about your body?
I don’t think I really want to change anything about my body. There certainly is plenty of room for improvement, and I work hard at strengthening and exercising it. I sure could work harder, but we all have our limits and I am proud that I have kept it up for the most part. What I would like to change is how my mind sees my body. This has been an issue of mine as far back as I can remember. I can talk up a good game, but when it comes right down to it, the insecure side of me will take over and pick it apart completely. Given I know that I have this issue, I coach myself out of the negative thoughts, but it is mentally exhausting since it is against my “glass half-empty” nature. Ultimately, I want my body to be as healthy and fit as possible. Some days it feels more healthy and fit than others. On a bad day, it is all to easy to list off the things that I don’t like about it and would like to change but that does not do anything for me. I have been blessed to live a healthy life thus far and my body has been good to me, despite some of the abuse that I put it through in my less responsible years. It will never be perfect because, well, there is no such thing, but I would really love to get my mind on board with these thoughts a little more naturally.
3. Have you ever been or are you currently on a diet?
I have been on diets before although not for many years. Every diet I have been on was dangerous and thankfully, very short lived. My 10 year old self attempting Slim Fast…. my 15/16/17 year old self attempting numerous starvation diets…my 18 year old self trying to survive off small garden salads from my college cafeteria for a month or so… Obviously these were very dysfunctional attempts at trying to get skinny and I can tell you, albeit shamefully, I was not concerned about health, I was concerned with being skinny and weighing a certain number that was completely unreasonable. Thankfully, I could never sustain or carry these diets to the extreme—some sort of common sense (or my growling stomach) would take over before things got out of hand. Today, I take a totally different approach. I am not “on” an actual diet per se; it is more that I try to manage my diet so it is reasonable and healthy. I aim to get the nutrition, vitamins, and minerals that I need to fuel my body so I can be as healthy and fit as possible without caving to my sweet tooth too much. Most days, I do a decent job at this, but I certainly falter from time to time. Thankfully, I do love vegetables, although not as much as I love ice cream.
4. Have you ever or do you currently belong to a gym?
I currently belong to a great gym that I have been going to for over 8 years. It started as a great deal through my work as they are a full fitness club with a pool and racquetball courts and all. My workplace has changed a couple of times and I no longer get that same “deal,” but I get so much benefit from using it, that the only time I cringe at paying for it is when I am in a slump and not going. For years, I tried to self manage my exercise program completely. I would be all gung ho for a while—doing both strength and cardio, putting in hours and hours and really trying to push myself, and after a couple of months I would get bored and lose motivation and wind up barely maintaining a 3 mile run on the treadmill at 0 incline, until I was REALLY bored and would then stop going for a few months until I dragged myself back in, and then the cycle would start again. After a really, really, really long slump (14 months), I realized I was never going to break the cycle if I didn’t get some help, so I hired one of their trainers. My experience so far has been awesome. Having someone push me hard, talk me through finishing a set when I really want to quit and take an interest in making sure I progress makes me more accountable to myself in achieving my goals. He doesn’t talk about my weight or getting skinny—he talks about getting stronger and maintaining and building on it. This does not come cheap, however, so I am trying to learn as much as I can from him so I can use the knowledge to drive myself forward whenever I decide to stop using the service.
Prior to my current gym, I belonged to others—my first being through my college back in the nineties that was spectacular, I had a short term stint at the local YMCA and another stint at a local gym that had the basics, but I never felt comfortable in (and I could not pinpoint why…I just…didn’t). Once you find the right one for you, like my current arrangement, it makes a huge difference.
5. What does fitness mean to you?
To me, fitness means keeping my body in a condition that is metabolically fit and physically strong so I can enjoy life. I look forward to my physical ever year, because I want to know every detail of my lab results as well as my blood pressure and even my weight (the doctor’s office is the only setting that I get weighed in anymore). I want to be able to do fun activities like dancing, swimming, hiking, running, etc. without getting too winded or injured. I have also worked hard to think of fitness in terms of what is most healthy and fit for me and me alone and not think about how fit I am relative to other people, which is an old habit of mine that can be quite toxic.
Bonus: What is your current fitness goal?
My current fitness goal is to finish a couple of road races starting with a 5k and then working my way to a 10k. I would be thrilled to complete any outdoor race since I have been a treadmill rat for a very long time and I have not taken it outside yet, which I feel I need to. I am hoping that by typing this, I will get my butt outside and do this. Wish me luck!
