Two years of progress: Why you shouldn't put too much emphasis on the number on the scale.

When I first stepped into Training For Warriors (TFW) Long Island two years ago today, they had just opened. I really didn't know what to expect. I had just lost 15 lbs and wanted to start an exercise program. It was different than anything I ever experienced, and I couldn't even finish my first workout. The coaches talked about being lean and strong but it was lost on me. I just had a feeling that this was something special. So with blind faith, I signed up. 

Two years ago, I couldn't do most of what I could do today. My original deadlift goal is now the warm up set to my warm up set. I had no upper body strength. Any time I tried any upper body exercises, I would throw my back out. I couldn't do a push up, a pull up, or a chin up.  It took a while, but I strengthened my lower body, my core, and the upper body strength came too. 

There is no doubt that I am physically stronger today than I was two years ago but strength comes in many ways and more important than my physical strength is the mental strength that I have attained. Personally, I know I'm a stronger person now and that has made me a better wife, mother, friend, and teacher. TFW has given so much and in return I have tried to share it with as many of my friends as possible. 

While I can go on and on about how great TFW is, I am upset about one thing. 

As time went on and the membership grew, The coaches added new equipment and methods of support for the members. One thing they started doing was taking before pictures and measurements of all new clients. Since I joined so early on, they never weighed me, or took my measurements, or my pictures. I had a picture from before my initial weight loss (about 10 months before I joined TFW,) and I knew that I dropped 3 sizes after joining, but I never had a true TFW transformation picture. 

Until last week. 

If you don't know what timehop is, it's an app that accesses all your social media and tells you each day what you posted on that day the year before,and two years before and three years before, etc. Thanks to timehop, I finally have a Tfw transformation picture. 

Two years ago on July 4, I went to Aruba. A few days after  I got home from that trip, I joined TFW. Timehop sent me a picture of myself two years ago on July 5. If you compare that picture to one I took this year, you can see major differences in my body. Everything is more shapely and toned. So two years later I am leaner, stronger, and more confident and I could not have made this transformation without the support of my coaches and TFW familia. 

While I'm thrilled to finally have a transformation picture, an important lesson has come out of all of this. It's a lesson that has been very difficult for me to learn. While I lost some additional weight after I joined TFW, in the last 8 months, I have gained some of my weight back and I have been very upset. With every monthly weigh in I get frustrated that the weight is returning. When my coach asks me how my clothes fit, I always tell him that they still fit the way they have. Then he tells me to stop worrying about the weight. Let's go back to that transformation picture. Can you believe that I weigh more in the after picture that I do in the before picture? Well, it's true.  I guess being 135 lbs is one thing, but being 135 lbs and strong and lean looks and feels very different.

If you change nothing, nothing will change

If someone said to you that your life would be exactly the same 5 years from now, would you be happy or do you hope that somehow your life will be different?

Two and a half years ago I decided it was time I lose some weight. I was unhappy with my size and unhappy looking at myself in the mirror. I knew that I needed to change in order to achieve that goal. Clearly I wasn't going to lose weight by eating pasta every night and snacking constantly. 

In that time, I have experienced an ongoing series of changes in my life. Obviously the big two were changing my diet and adding exercise. But even within those areas, things have changed.  As the weight came off, my goals changed as well. I no longer just wanted to lose weight, I wanted to get fit. Then, it wasn't just about being fit, I wanted to be strong.  

When you start making drastic changes in your life, you quickly find out who your real friends are. They are the ones that are supportive and help you along the way even though they may not choose the same choices as you have. I was lucky to have a group of fantastic friends and an understanding husband who saw all the good my changes were making for me as a person and for us as a family. But trust me, not all of my friends were that understanding and so some of my friends changed as well. 

My idea of exercise used to be taking a kick boxing class or maybe taking a 1 mile walk. I never thought that two years later I'd be lifting weights, running obstacle course races, and running on trails through the woods for miles. I never thought that because two years ago, I couldn't do that, and even if I physically could, I never would have. If something was uncomfortable, I just didn't do it. Obviously sitting on the couch and watching tv is easier than running (something I had never done before).  But in order for me to reach my goals, I had to change.

In September I'll be running another Spartan race. This summer I'll be training for that race. The other day I went for a trail run with a few friends from the gym. This is only the second time I have ever done this. If you knew the pre-2013 me, you know this is not something I would ever volunteer for let alone help organize. And while this was part of my Spartan training, something great happened while I was there. I wasn't just training for a race, I was really enjoying myself. I found myself looking at the flowers in the woods and taking in the beauty of the scenery and thinking “How did I get here? How did I become this person who enjoys running through the woods up a mountain?” If you asked me two years ago where I thought I would be now, this was definitely not what I would have pictured. But the last two years I have embraced change (maybe not as willingly in the beginning, but much more so now).

So here is today's lesson, one I learned over the last couple of years from some really great people who have helped me along the way. If you aren't happy with something in your life, it isn't going to change itself. Sit down and be honest with yourself. What is your goal? What do you want to change? Now list 2 things you can do to make that change happen. Here is the hardest part- you have to decide that you want to do those things to make that change. No one can force you to change but you. And it's going to be uncomfortable. So unless you are committed to that change, it's not going to happen. You are in control of who you become and if you change nothing, nothing will change.