Active in NWI: Many Moments Making One “Aha!” Moment

Active in NWI: Many Moments Making One “Aha!” Moment

Transformations are happening in people's lives all the time. Some happen in one big bang, and others happen stretched out over time. For me, many small moments combined to give me my "Aha!" moment.

I was inactive and unhealthy for most of my life. I ate terribly. The food I took in was awful and in high abundance. I would get home from school, eat a ton of crap and sit on the couch, watching TV. I was much more of an introvert and very uncomfortable with myself. I had been heavy my whole life and my name is Jenny Craig, so that was not easy.

When I was in college I took a hard look at my life. I was working hard and had a ton happening. I quickly started to notice that things were so much harder for me because of my health and confidence level. I wanted to feel good about myself and comfortable in my own skin. I did not. College speeches, presentations, and networking were so awful for me. I won't even talk about my dating life. I dated around, but it was tough. I finally decided I needed to make a HUGE change before my HUGE self had even more HUGE problems.

I began with my diet change. I turned that around and I am now a pescatarian. I figured that you get out what you put in so I try to eat what is best for my body. Of course I indulge once in a while. No American should live their life without eating a cookie or drinking a craft beer here and there.

For the physical part, I do all types of things to stay healthy. I really like running and I think it is a great way to get lean and relieve stress. I often do boot camp workouts and even build some of my own boot camp routines. Spin classes are a really fun, different cardio option that can be really tough and mixing up your mileage with running, spin, elliptical, and stair machines is an awesome change up. Recently, I have started incorporating some weight lifting in my workouts. One of the best things about working out is my support group. The friends I workout with in the mornings push me to do better, make me accountable, and make it fun.

There are times when I just don't want to get up at 4am to work out. Motivation can be tough. Everyone goes through lulls and moments when they lack motivation. For me I like to have a reason to be training, like a goal or a race I want to excel in. I am currently training for a Spartan Beast. This is a 13-15 mile lone obstacle course. This will be one of the hardest races I have ever attempted and I want to do more than just attempt it. I hope to do really great at this race so I have to push and train hard. This is also the way I have kept motivated through the winter, which is one of the hardest times of the year for me to keep going.

Another great way to keep is having a support group. The friends I mentioned before are one of the main reasons I workout in the mornings. Leaving my house at 4:30 is not easy but they make it so much better and honestly their disappointment is a great reason not to hit the snooze button.

I have other goals besides the Spartan Beast. My fitness goal for 2015 is to complete a Spartan Trifecta. This is the completion of all three spartan races; Sprint, Super, and Beast within one year. I will probably always have a weight loss goal (some people are never happy, I know) but my main fitness goal is to be a healthy, strong woman who is comfortable in her own skin. Health, confidence, and strength are always my biggest and best fitness outcomes.

If you want to share your fitness journey, send an email caitlin@ideasinmotionmedia.com.