Sunday 03.25.12

Today Kelly lives large on her paddleboard

I really want you all to meet my dear friend Kelly because I think she will make you smile and inspire you. Kelly and I worked together in Florida and became fast friends as soon as we met. We share each other's every high and low, and Kelly saw her share of lows at the beginning of our friendship. Kelly reached a very unhappy weight and fitness level for herself, which correlated very strongly with her very unhappy mental state. I am overjoyed that this is no longer the case for my wonderful friend. Several months before Jacob and I moved from Florida to Iowa, Kelly completely turned around her mental and physical life and she began training with me. I asked Kelly to describe her turn around for us to share with all of you because I think she has many important insights about health and nutrition. Additionally, it shows that every small step in the right direction adds up to big changes in the long run.

Kelly's Health & Wellness Story

I've lost almost 45 pounds in the past year. I am 40 years old. The last time I weighed this much (well, this little), I was in my mid-twenties in graduate school. My only responsibility at that time was writing my thesis and going to the gym for 2 HOURS A DAY EVERY DAY. I was living on Lean Cuisines and Slim Fasts. 

Two big changes have made all the difference this go-round (and there have been many go-rounds in the past 15 years). One of the things is eating for health, not lack of calories. Cutting out processed foods, eating healthy things I love, and trying to cram as many superfoods into a meal as possible has made me feel a ton better and made dropping pounds practically effortless (if you don't count all the cooking effort, but that's fun - usually.) My focus now is nutrition and not deprivation. My Paleo challenge has encouraged me to scrutinize what I eat even further and pay even closer attention to how what I put in my mouth makes me feel. It also helped me make progress toward a goal of eating more ethically and sustainably by relying more on unprocessed, organic, antibiotic free, cage free, grass fed, natural cave food (sabertooth tiger ribeyes excluded.) :)  

The second change is in how I exercise. And I credit Sarah 100% for this change. I used to do the same cardio classes and the same Nautilus circuit day in, day out, week after week. I thought in order to have a "good workout", you had to be in a gym, for an hour, red-faced, gasping for breath, and somewhat miserable. Because of moves to different cities, loss of interest, and/or basic laziness, I had many fits and starts at various gyms. After an initial increase in slimming and toning, I would invariably plateau, make increasingly infrequent trips to the gym, and then quit going all together. And I never could get rid of the arm flab, which has bugged me forever. When Sarah started training me, I realized you could get a kick-ass workout inside, outside, with props, without props, anywhere, anytime, in 20-30 minutes. And it could be fun. I learned to love variety in my workouts. The intensity was a little overwhelming at first, but I learned that I really like the full body, functional movement, and however much it's burning (in a good way), I just push through because I know it's going to be over fast and the results are worth it. I actually ran, RAN(!) during my namesake "Kelly" WOD. Even though my face was purple afterward, I still feel proud. And even prouder that I did it 2 minutes faster the second time I did it a few months later. I have a closet full of sleeveless shirts for the first time in my life, and it has to be REALLY cold before I cover up my pythons. :) 

I've found that the intensity and variety in my physical workouts have translated into better ways of dealing with the rest of my life, too. Take burpees. I realized that while the real physical challenge is getting up off the floor, the mental challenge is making myself drop to the floor to begin with. But once you're down, you're halfway there, and I just keep going. I've thought about burpees many times when facing an unwelcome task at work, for example. Half the battle is getting started. So I tell myself, remember the burpees- just get started and I know I'll get on a roll and push through to the end. So my life has changed. My healthy body has made me healthier in mind and spirit.