My Journey to Better Health
It's been just under two years since I started this blog. While I've shared a few personal anecdotes about various experiments I've tried through the years related to my health, I've never before embarked upon a specific plan and shared it with readers on a regular basis. That's about to change.
I'm performing my first-ever dance solo next month. I've always danced, but this is the first time I've ever done a solo. It's easy to blend in to a group, and I've never had the confidence to do something completely on my own. Well, last year I moved to a town with next to no options for adult dancers. Since I've spent my entire life doing one form of dance or another, this has been a huge disappointment. After 10 months of research, asking, and false starts (I thought I found a class but it was cancelled after I was the only one to show up for 2 months!), I finally took matters into my own hands. I asked my daughter's dance teacher to give me a few private lessons and choreograph a routine for me to perform at my daughter's dance school recital. I knew I was a little rusty since I hadn't been dancing for almost a year, but I figured, hey -- I have 3.5 months to prepare, so I'll train and it will be all good.
Fast-forward to last week. I'd just received my costume and was doing a dress rehearsal. All of a sudden it hits me -- we're only 1.5 months out, and my flexibility, strength, and endurance are NOT where they need to be, or at least, not where I hoped they'd be. I'm way too winded after each run-through, and my leaps, kicks, and turns are not the best I could be doing. That's it! I'm going to spend the next 6 weeks hitting it hard!
So many times people assume that just because I'm a health education professional, that I must have it all figured out. I must be "perfect" -- eating all the right foods all the time, getting enough sleep night after night, and moving in all the right ways to build muscle and keep my fat ratio low. Guess what -- it's not true!
In fact, I will just out myself right now and share that I've gained a total of 15 pounds since we moved to this city 11 months ago, and not due to muscle gain. :-(
I called my favorite trainer, Laura Endres of Walk Fit Challenge (formerly of This is Fit -- you may recall my 2-part interview with her over a year ago, which you can find here and here). Thankfully she ROCKS, and she's agreed to help me out by getting me back on the straight and narrow with both my eating and my high-intensity interval training, as well as focusing on improving flexibility for my routine.
I will share my journey for the next 6 weeks here with you all. Hopefully I'll be a good reminder to all of my readers that we ALL need help every once in a while, no matter what our knowledge or level of expertise with something!
Check back to see how things go.