Active April

I’m always looking for motivation to be healthy.

If you don’t know, about two and a half years ago, I signed up for Jennie Craig on a whim. I’d gone to an appointment with my mom for moral support. I knew I needed to get in shape, but I was sure I could do it on my own, and didn’t need to sign up for any program to do it, I was just going with mom because she didn’t want to go alone.

She was going to sign up, and I was going to walk away and go do my own thing.

But I signed up. And I’ll be forever grateful that I did. In the next 4 months or so I dropped 25lbs.

More importantly, however, I changed the way I thought about food, about exercise, and about my health.

This post is not an advertisement for JC. Although I feel I do owe it to the program for my weight loss, and I think it is a great program and it DOES work, this isn’t about them, it’s about me.

I needed to be in the right mindset to take control of my health, and although JC helped me on that path, it was I who made the decision to do it.

And since then, on my own, I’ve done a pretty darn good job of staying healthy.

Over this past holiday season, however, I slacked a bit. I regained about 10 lbs. Now, to be honest, considering where I was before I regained this weight, I’m still in pretty good shape. If I wanted to, I’m pretty sure I could stay right where I am, and would never be called overweight by anyone.

But I know my body, and I know that the 10lb difference matters. Over the last several months I’ve been able to manage the food and exercise balance so well that I have maintained my weight pretty steadily. I have not been super strict with either food or exercise, but have managed to not gain an ounce.

I have also not managed to lose a single pound.

You could say I’ve maintained, or you could say I’ve plateau.

Either way, the scale’s not budging, up or down.

I read somewhere that the “cursed” last 5 lbs women struggle with constantly are a woman’s body’s way of telling her that maybe she’s not supposed to lose that last 5 lbs., which is why she’s constantly re-gaining them.

I wonder if that is true. I’m wanting to put it to the test.

I am determined to lose the last 10 (or actually it’s 13) lbs. to reach my goal weight. I’m going to do this one last SERIOUS push in the next few months to drop the weight, get in great shape, tone my body…and see what happens. I wonder if after I do, with this new balance I seem to have found, I’ll be able to maintain it, as I’ve maintained the weight I am now for several months…

So, starting today, I’m putting myself on a 1200 calorie a day diet, with healthy options, regular snacks, and a complete and varied diet.

And also, I’m joining my twitter friend Ami on her Active April challenge.

Here are my “activity goals” for April:

Mondays: Shred at the gym

Tuesdays: Kickboxing at the gym (with the exception of Board Meeting Tuesday, because…well, I can’t miss the meeting)

Wednesdays: will probably be my day off from the gym, but if the weather allows, power walk outside, and if not, abs and arms at home with FitTV

Thursdays: Cardio day at the gym

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are always a crapshoot schedule wise for me, so I’m just going to focus on trying to get in at least 30 minutes of “real” exercise each of those days.

On top of that, my plan is to walk at lunch daily, take the stairs at work instead of the elevator, park far away from wherever I go, and just MOVE more.

I also have a plan to chat with a friend about starting a weight training routine of some sort. I’m completely clueless when it comes to weight/strength training, but really want to get into that a bit…

So, there you have it, my ActiveApril plan…wanna join in? Visit Ami's blog to find out more, or let me know in comments that you'll be joining in...