My Husband said to me one day recently “I noticed you have been working out a lot more than normal lately”, any specific reason? I replied: I work very hard to stay this heavy. But one of the real reasons I upped my 30 minute workouts to two times a day, one in the morning and one at night, is because I was starting a desk job and didn’t want to now have to fight that inactivity as well as the aging, post hysterectomy and the loss of one ovary and the beautiful hormones that ovaries produce challenges, this woman already faces everyday.
I have officially been in the fitness industry since 1998 when I became a YMCA Group Exercise Instructor but my relationship with exercise far supersedes that time span well back to my early youth. It above diet for me has always been the cornerstone of keeping my weight and body composition in check. One of the main principles of Woman Market Ready is to keep your weight no more than 10-15 lbs of your lowest sustained weight (5 years or more) as an adult. That number is individual to each woman as our genetic makeups and environmental factors can range greatly. It is not a one size fits all number and should never be compared to anybody else’s number, it belongs to you and you alone.
My number is 125 lbs. I am currently about 10 lbs higher than that. Technically I still fall within the healthy height—weight range of 111-139 lbs and comply with my own standards of no more than 10-15 lbs of my lowest sustained weight as an adult but my competitive nature still compels me to fight against my number and thus myself. This paradox started to change slowly and subtly when I took my education as a fitness professional and started applying what I have taught others for years and began to re-teach it to myself.
Body composition became my new obsession. How much muscle could I build to “justify” those 10 lbs, how lean could I get and still feel healthy and alive? Did I want to lose those 10 lbs or redirect their energies? Here enter the 2 a days from the first paragraph—30 minutes of cardio; 30 minutes of weight-bearing exercises-weight training & Pilates, alternating days between lifting and Pilates. 1-2 of the days I mix in a little interval training to keep my body on its toes and to throw something new at it—the overload & progression principles. Fast forward.
It has almost been a year since I implemented my body composition regimen and though I no longer weigh myself, I can honestly say I am in the best physical shape of my life. I still fight against aging and the loss of hormones from my hysterectomy but most weeks measure in at a very comfortable 34-26-34. I don’t follow any dieting extremes and to the contrary my new fitness regime has afforded me the peace of my mind to know I can indulge and not fret over everything I eat.
The great part of any fitness plan is finding what works for each of us individually. I found what works for me and encourage you to find what works for you. You are the only you, you will ever have~be good to yourself!
Kimberly
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