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I started regular strength training about a month ago. I’ve recently read about all of the health benefits being active and specifically strength training provide. But honestly, I just want my legs and knees to be able to keep up with my fit hubby this coming vacation.
We’re going to some of my favourite places along the Mediterranean. I’m excited to share them with him. Although we are taking an 11 day cruise, we are going to be doing a lot of wandering around on our own. Cities in Europe are great for exploring and I plan to spend the days walking and seeing where our feet take us.
So I’ve added some body weight, free weight, and resistance band training to my regular activity. My old trainers would be so proud. Although I hated it at the time, I’m thankful for the time spent with a trainer years go. I can still workout at home and avoid injury. If you have never done strength training, it’s worth it to find someone to show you how to do it right.
Things have been going well. I’m walking faster and stronger than I was. Even my dance moves have more umph! So I was surprised to notice some of my old “weight loss” thoughts playing around in my mind.
I found myself discouraged that I wasn’t seeing any visible changes in my body. My internal voice was complaining that after all of this hard work there was nothing yet to show for it. Telling me that I was clearly wasting my time.
What does that voice know?
I reminded the voice, that change doesn’t happen overnight. That “to reap the many positive results from exercise there needs to be a consistent effort”. (Intuitive Eating, p.3493) This is a long term investment. And I’m in it for the long term. And well, it’s only been a month.
Besides, I also tell the voice, I’m doing this because research shows it is good for my health. I’m doing this to improve my walking, which it is doing by the way. And, I tell the voice, size has nothing to do with health. You can be healthy at any size. My goal is to be healthy, to be active. So you can take your weight loss thinking and go somewhere else. Thank you very much.
Maybe I was still associating strength training with weight loss. Who knows? But there is no room in my life for that kind of wrong and unproductive thinking. I’m done with that and I’m ready for the next negative thought that tries to get in my way.