Taking The Plunge

This is definitely not me. Nope, for when I finished Boot Camp at my gym at 6:30 this morning, I had already thrown up twice and was half dead. I was thisclose to quitting.

I went through emotions of nervousness and excitement last night. I decided yesterday evening to take the plunge and FINALLY do something drastic, but healthy, to lose some unwanted pounds. I figured working out three times a week for six weeks - plus at least one day of 30 minutes cardio (as we were told to do) might finally cause me to WIN the battle of the bulge. And this is a battle I have been fighting for YEARS.

So I showed up. It was 5:30 this morning - a couple of hours before I usually wake up. I consider anything before 6 to be nighttime. This was tough, but I was excited. We started out with about 2 minutes of running around the gym, followed by intense and hellish cardio followed by sculpting exercises followed by more hellish cardio.

I believe I threw up at both 5:50 and 6. I was ready to go HOME, but I knew Bert would be disappointed and I had friends cheering me on in the great world of Facebook.

Somehow, I made it through. Yes, I was the worst of all 5 fellow Boot Campers, but I got over any competitive feelings really fast. Because this is about me. And when all is said and done, I hope that I look back and remember how much I struggled and how far I have come. And at the end of the day, I did it. I hung in there for around 70% of it. But just barely. I might be being a little bit generous even.

At the end of class, I asked the trainer if I could do it. I really thought she would say no, that I should hire a personal trainer instead.

"Yes, you can do this. You know how I know? Because you came back. You have to decide that you can do this. I believe you can," she said.

I was shocked.

She then told me - much to my surprise - that most of her life, she was the "fat girl" and how her brothers teased her. After the birth of her second child, she changed her life. Now, she is in fantastic, awesome, perfect shape. It really helped me to know that she did not spend her life looking amazing, and that she had struggled. Because most of you can relate that as women, we struggle with weight.

I went from nearly quitting to pulling myself together. She also told me how her close friend had thrown up after 5 minutes in Boot Camp and nearly passed out. And now, she does the advanced moves.

I know I will be horribly sore tomorrow, but maybe - just maybe - on Wednesday, I will throw up only once.

Labels: fitness