Proof that pre-Beachbody I ran a 5K… once. As you can see from the finish line, I was thankful to be alive.

I was one of those annoying people.  You probably know those people.  Weird people who don’t have to do anything to stay thin.  They eat what they want – with their speed-of-light metabolism – and seem to burn calories while using the remote control or knitting needles. You ask them how they seem to manage their svelte figure and they just giggle, wave a hand in your direction and say “Genetics” or something equally as puzzling to the average human.  I say “was” because my speed-of-light metabolism has slowed to an excruciating crawl… or maybe, a metabolism with a walker.  Somewhere between my 3rd pregnancy and now, I seem to have to watch what I eat… and –  wait for it  – work out!   Whaaaa?!?

To the above-referenced average human, I suppose you couldn’t really tell that I had packed on a few pounds in the past few years.  (Thank you, fashion industry, for all those flowy tops and empire wasted dresses that hide my fluffiness so chic-ly!)  But the fluff has slowly been accumulating – my jeans becoming harder to button… and  I ignored it.  Until January.

Conversion.  The root word – Latin – meaning “to turn.”  God is consistently surprising me with His twists and turns for my life.  And really, He can and does turn people on a dime…a million conversions happening to change the course of our lives.    He turns us more towards Himself – more fully of who we are made to be – with each one.  Maybe its a job, an idea, a school, a new friend – or an illness, heartache, loneliness or suffering – something happens that unexpectedly wakes us.  We go to bed one way, and wake up another.   That’s how my conversion happened in January.

For me, it was a professional disappointment.  Something happened that felt unfair and unsettling.  Because I had this overwhelming feeling of injustice, I felt rejected and invisible.  It seemed as though no one was there to fight for me.  I said a lot of little prayers that day.  With my self esteem seemingly at an all-time low, I prayed that I would see clearly who I really was and would hold my head up – to a higher purpose.  And so, I went to bed that night… and woke up to a new day… different.  I was ready to fight for myself.  I got out of bed that next morning and had the strange and unsettling urge to put in a workout DVD for the first time in months.  The DVD primarily consisted of kickboxing.  Kicking…punching… oh, sweet baby Moses, it felt good.  Don’t get me wrong… the good feeling was slightly outweighed by the fact that I couldn’t suck in enough oxygen and I lost a liter of water in sweat.  But, with each physical kick, I felt myself kicking the old beliefs away.  A slow realization came to me that I could – with God’s help – restore healing to myself.

I started looking into other workout programs and found P90X by Beachbody.  I inquired on Facebook whether anyone had a copy I could borrow…and lo and behold, found my coach.  This outstanding woman gave me a lot of direction and insight.  She had been where I was.  She knew the struggle of creeping towards 40 and not feeling right and feeling as though something was lacking.  She is a mom to 6 and was still able to lose weight, change her lifestyle and eventually become a certified TurboKick instructor.  With her help, I joined a 60 day challenge group with 16 other women from around the country.  We all dove in together… changed our diets, got up at the crack of dawn, had our children make fun of us, some dragged their husbands in on the adventure (such as my lucky hubs)… but we all had the ultimate goal in mind.  To convert the old way of thinking to the new.

We just finished the 60 day challenge.  I am back into those jeans… 16 pounds down… definition I’ve never had…. you’ll see more posts on this subject in the weeks to come.  I’m a believer!!  So much so that I signed on to help others as an independent Beachbody coach and will be seeking my own TurboKick certification in April.  I would’ve laughed at myself doing this 6 months ago.  My motto 6 months ago was “I only run when chased.”  Today, it feels right.  On good days, I feel discipline and strength seeping out of my pores.  On bad ones, its really not as glowingly awesome.  Some days it hurts… like that time I inadvertently punched myself in the face during a workout.  But oh the reward of knowing that God has made this way for me… turned me down this road… and given me the strength to fight for myself.

“Tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless.” C.S. Lewis

Fitness products we used:

TurboJam by Chaleane Johnson

Shakeology