Vacay Maylay

In the previous blog “And the Winner Is…”, I started describing that right after Thanksgiving I took a few days off to rest, relax and rejuvenate. One of my first thoughts were to pack workout clothes and check out the amenities of the facility. In fact, I booked my place based on them having an indoor pool and a work out facility. I arrived the first day and made a list for the grocery store. I purchased items to make sandwiches, salads, bought fruit and yogurt. This is a far cry from not having anything in the vacation refrigerator except wine. The past times were spent eating out every meal thinking that was a treat while on vacation. This year, my treat is maintaining all of the hard work I have put in to date. At this point, I am reflecting on where I was a year ago. I still did not have health, weight management or workouts in my mind. Since dance fitness is one of my current exercise routines, I found a Mixxed Fit class in the area and arrived at the rec center pumped and ready to dance off some calories. Because of a miscommunication in the schedule, I ended up in a total body conditioning class. It was the hour before the dance class. I could only think the front desk lady wanted to play a cruel trick on me. Man, that was one hard work out. I wasn’t exactly ready. It was a combination of weight training, exercise ball, medicine ball, rubber tubes and intense cardio. I have been getting better gradually but this class threw everything at me with a greater intensity. I really had to talk myself through this one. There was a lady in there that appeared to be in her late 60s. I am 40. She was hanging right in there, so I figured I can’t let her out do me. I am already in here and I can’t just walk out! Oh my, I got to one point and said if the instructor calls out one more exercise, I am going to cry. But I made it the whole class and I am proud I stuck in there. I even attended the Mixxed Fit class right after it. I was so sore but I did it. On another night, one of my girlfriends invite me to workout with her. I said yes BEFORE she described this boot camp type high intensity interval workout. I thought of a million excuses to get out of it. They put the screws to me people. Battle ropes that made my arms noodles, so many squats I think my legs went numb and other exercises I had never attempted. I was done…I mean done, but I pushed through. Pushing through this week, on my own, on vacation, building in exercise and mindful eating gave me a sense of I-can-do-anything-I-put-my-mind-to kinda thoughts. In addition to vacation, I came back to a girl’s night out party and a buffet luncheon to celebrate an anniversary. I believe this was one of life’s little gauntlet challenges to see how I maintain despite having many food-related obstacles thrown at me. Aww, that was a dirty one. Hey, I did get a little muddy but overall, I maintained and did not get off course. Maintenance through all of that is a win! Shake a tail feather and feel free to follow my progress as I begin to approach the one-year mark of making the decision to lead a healthier and more fit lifestyle.

Written by PurplePearls