Accepting my Body and Owning my Attitude

April 10, 2012 By Leanne Vogel June 10, 2015

I did upwards of 5 hours of yoga a day while I was in India so I was was surprised to discover just how much strength I’d lost when I got back home. I’m sure it was a combination of not getting enough food at the ashram and then happily enjoying endless servings of fried foods, ghee, and breads that did me in. But it was all part of the experience and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. My first week home was challenging. I spent most of my energy feeling sorry for myself instead of making goals and staying positive. It was really hard for me to accept how far I’d regressed. All I kept obsessing over was the progress I’d made from November to February… and how I looked nothing like the third picture anymore! At about week two of being home, I snapped out of it when I reminded myself that if I had time for self-loathing, I had time for positivity and self-love. Heck, it’s quicker to say something positive about yourself than it is to sit around feeling negative and toxic. Negativity is such a time killer! So, I worked on my positivity by posting little notes around the house about how awesome I am (hey, sometimes you just gotta be bold!) and have spent the last month trying to get myself back to where I was in January. I’ve been reserving Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings to bodyrock. I wake up at around 4am, drink a cup of herbal tea, have a big fruit bowl with seeds, dried fruit and a Simply Bar if I’m feeling a bit hungrier that normal, write a blog post, then sweat it out for 12 minutes. I find the workouts very comparable to CrossFit but without the competitive negative self talk and high price tag! It’s also really convenient to be able to workout from the comfort of my own bedroom. You really cant make excuses when you’re 10 steps away from your gym. I purchased the sandbag, dip station and a $5 medicine ball from Home Sense and use the Seconds Pro app on my iPhone as an interval timer. The app was only $3, $17 cheaper than a gymboss interval timer! I would love to bulk up on my at-home gym equipment with a couple of kettle bells from www.fitness-mad.com – they have the customized power blocks that I absolutely love! You can set your own intervals, workout to music, change beep types, oh it’s fantastic! I also chose to keep track of the workouts in my old CrossFit book so I can track my progress as the weeks go by! On Monday and Wednesday mornings, I head to our local community gym for 60 minute spin classes with a 90 minute class on Saturdays. The classes never fail get the heart pumping and it’s a great social activity, too. The instructor is an avid cyclist so the program is geared toward outdoor riding and is as true to the real thing as one can get without having to spend thousands of dollars on a road bike. I’ve begun going for quick runs after my 60 minute spin classes and Sunday bodyrock sessions. Nothing too drastic, just a couple of kilometers here and there. What with all the changes happening in my personal life (I swear I will reveal them soon) I’ve decided to hold off on racing this year and just take it easy. I’ve never had the chance to run without a specific goal in mind, so it’s been nice to adjust to that and just get out to enjoy the fresh air. Lastly, when I can, I escape to the yoga studio down the street from my office for a 1 hour vinyasa yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The teacher is fabulous, the class has just the perfect amount of intensity, and I always come back to the office ready to rock the afternoon. It’s taken me awhile to ease back into a schedule that I’m comfortable with and continue to stay motivated to achieve my very best. All in all though, I’m proud of myself for persevering and accepting my body for what it is right now. Regardless of looks, I feel healthier physically, mentally and spiritually than I have in a long time… and in the end, that’s all that should ever matter. Have you ever had to restart your workout progress or gotten discouraged or overwhelmed while trying to achieve a goal? How did you manage it?

This entry was tagged: crossfit