154 weeks using the bodybugg (most of the time). That’s about 1080 days!

My weight loss journey began on March 8, 2010. That was 1127 days ago (and interestingly, that was also a Monday).

I cannot begin to tell you all that I have learned about diet, nutrition, exercise, metabolism, weight lifting/training and so on. It has been an amazing journey. I initially weighed 208 pounds and dropped to 128. It turns out that 128 was a bit too thin for me…so, as many of you know…I decided to start lifting heavier. I put on 10 pounds in about 6 months and was pretty happy at 138. However, injury, illness, heart surgery, etc – led to small fluctuations and most recently (a month ago), I weighed in at 149.3. That was much too close to my no fly zone (also known as 150).  I knew that I wanted to drop some pounds, but wanted to preserve as much muscle as possible. So, I kept doing my old workouts and put the bodybugg back on to help monitor and maintain an average of 1400 calories per day. Two weeks of that yielded only minor changes, so I changed my workout. As mentioned yesterday, I am doing supersets and active rest sets along with sprints and I have begun to see some good changes.

Here’s where the listening part comes in…I am great at setting up a plan and sticking to it. I am not so great at being gentle with myself and not sticking to it when I need to give myself a break. I give myself all sorts of wonderful messages:

“I have to do it the way it’s written. I can’t skip a day or I won’t reach my goal. I might gain weight if I don’t work out today.”

So recently, when (due to scheduling issues) I had worked out 9 days in a row, my busy little mind started to tell me all of these things. However, my tired little body was saying it needed a rest. For a change, I listened. I skipped my workout. (as it turns out, I missed the one on Saturday and Sunday is a rest day – I had a stomach bug)

Did the world come to an end? Will I still reach my goal? Did I gain weight? Of course, you know the answers, all is still fine. And the important part is that I am learning to do what feels right. I love my workouts, so when my body tells me something it is not an attempt to get out of working out. Instead, I am avoiding injury or allowing my body needed rest or just making healthy (read as not obsessive) choices.

Can you think of areas in your life where you tend to listen to your mind instead of to your body? Maybe you take care of others and forget to take care of yourself. Or you spend more hours at work than you do at home, even though you are exhausted and stress is starting to take its toll on your health. Perhaps you cut corners at dinner time (eating fast food or food of poor quality) because the kids are begging for one of those meals with the toys (you know what I’m talking about) and although they give you indigestion and make you feel bloated, you give in to their pleas.

What does your body want? What does s/he need? What if you didn’t listen to that very noisy mind of yours?

Did the thought of listening to your body actually increase the volume and frequency of that chattering mind? Hmmmmm….