Build Me Up Buttercup

I want to work on building up my strength/stamina. I had a reality check last night...

Last evening it was too hot to walk outside so I cranked down the A/C and did 20 minutes of a kickboxing video (lots of high-energy kicking and punching, as you can imagine). I was so tired and dripping sweat when I finished. I know this is a good thing, but this is a video that used to be pretty easy for me a couple of years ago when I lost alot of weight. (For those of you that aren't familiar, I lost 63 pounds back in 2009/2010 but have since gained it all, plus more, back.) This was a reality check for me in two ways: how out of shape I have gotten (again), and how strong I was getting before and didn't even realize it at the time.

When I started on this journey back in 2009 I was 242 pounds and could barely walk a quarter of a mile at a time. Over the course of a little over a year, following Weight Watchers and blogging, I lost 63 pounds, dropped 3 dress sizes and built myself up to walking anywhere from 4-7 miles, most days of the week. I was in the zone, I tell you, and I felt fabulous. On days that I wouldn't walk outside (usually rainy days, because I loved being out in the sunshine and fresh air - or in the winter) I would do exercise videos and slowly built myself up to the harder ones. I was getting a good mix of cardio and strength training.

Last night I got to thinking of what I used to do, exercise-wise, and how strong I was getting at the time and didn't even realize it. I want to get there again. I WILL get there again. That's when I was in the zone and the weight was coming off nicely. Now I'm eating better that I ever have in my life. I still count WW points, only to keep track of my calories, but eating primally now. If I can build myself up to that exercise level that I had before, while eating primally, I'm going to be hard to handle, LOL. It's going to be hard, for sure, but I can do it. It was hard the first time and I did it. I have to keep remembering how fabulous I felt wearing clothes that fit better, having a better clothing selection, how great I would feel when people would compliment me on my weight loss, how much more energy I had, how I felt more feminine and attractive, how my aches and pains disappeared.

This time around I started out at 258 (ugh!) and I'm now down to 236. I've gotten my craving under control, since going primal, and I continue to work on my emotional eating. I'm starting to feel better and slowly starting to see a change in my body and clothes. Now to build on my strength/stamina...

Eyes on the prize. I can do this. Again.