Nov. 20: The Lady is a Mini-Tramp in These Foolish Things

As you know, I started a physical and mental fitness journey on January 1 of this year. It started with the 75 Hard program, in which I thought I’d give myself a challenge since I was struggling with getting up in the mornings and getting my workout in and just general discipline and attitude about everything. I could see that my weight was creeping up and I felt so fluffy. And my mind was super foggy and depressed. Things felt very not right. Just off.

I nearly gave up after the first 30ish days because I was following the program to a T, but I wasn’t seeing or feeling any progress. I thought, why am I making my life so much harder with this dumb challenge? I’m working out twice a day, adjusting my diet, not drinking any alcohol, and reading personal development books and yet…why am I not seeing and feeling anything yet?

One of the rules of 75 Hard is to take a progress picture every single day. It’s the easiest thing to do, and yet it was the thing that made me have to start over at one point (but that’s another story). The thing is, I had allllll those photos of myself - every day I’d take a full-length front view photo, a side photo and then a photo of my backside (reverse photo in a full-length mirror). So I decided that, before I gave up, I’d go look at a comparison between Day 1 and Day 30-something.

Lo and behold, I WAS changing! I just couldn’t SEE it because I was so close to it! I had lost maybe a couple of pounds, but in looking at a photo comparison I noticed that my stomach was VISIBLY flatter. Not just a little bit, but by a lot!

And that was all the motivation I needed to keep going.

Sure, it took me 131 days to officially make it through the program (I failed because I missed taking a progress pic at around Day 48 or something and had to start over at Day 1), and I think that was actually a good thing because as of today I have kept up with every single one of those habits I learned from 75 Hard.

So the fitness part. I am honestly thrilled with the changes I have seen in my body this year. I’m 25 pounds lighter and fitter than I think I have ever been. I use various workout videos as my workout “class” in the mornings and I walk the dog 3X daily, and one of them is always a longer walk that feels a little like exercise, but I enjoy it so much!

My workouts have changed since January 1. I have used video workouts for years and years, and I love them because they are perfectly timed and offer a great variety of workouts and options…and they’re free! I’d mainly been doing cardio workouts, and I continued that for the most part during 75 Hard, but after I completed the challenge, I decided to focus on building more muscle because I’ve learned how important muscle building is for an aging body.

So I found a few VERY challenging strength training workout channels and influencers. I think I’ve posted a couple of them here, but the two hardest ones for me have been Heather Robertson and Caroline Girvan (I think Caroline has probably the hardest strength training workouts you can find online!

And if you’re wondering, I’m currently doing Caroline Girvan’s Epic III program. I did Day 13 today and, ooooof.

And I’ve been listening to health and fitness podcasts every time I travel back and forth from mom and dad’s. There’s a LOT of information out there! You really have to pick and choose what to focus on because you could spend 100% of your time trying to figure this shit out.

I am trying, trying, TRYING to be as healthy as I can while maintaining a safe exercise regimen. Remember, I almost literally killed myself doing Orangetheory classes? Yeah, none of that. I am also listening very, very closely to my body. When it tells me I’ve pushed myself to my own personal limit, I listen!!

So, how exciting it was for me to realize that as I was going through these extra-tough workout series, I’d outgrown my weights (3, 5, 8, and 10 lb dumbbells - lightweight, I know, but they were quite effective in the beginning, and they still work for a lot of exercises) and I needed to move to heavier ones! I ended up scouring Facebook Marketplace since weights are not cheap! I have now added 12s, 15s, and 20s. And I can’t wait to keep increasing the weight where it works for me.

Additionally, my personal research has led me to the “systems” inside the body.

And the lymphatic system is a topic that has come up time and time again.

How has it taken me 57 years to figure out what the lymphatic system actually is?? It’s the wildest thing! It’s the system that removes the grossness, toxins, and ICK from our bodies and the ONLY way to make the damn thing operate is MOVEMENT!

And one of the movements that helps the lymph system operate seems to be jumping. Rebounding. Trampolining! Apparently, there are so many great things about jumping on a trampoline that I just had to purchase a mini trampoline. Thing is, not only is it great for the lymphatic system, but it’s especially fantastic for those of us who are starting to age - things like helping us increase our bone density (I was diagnosed with osteopenia last year - I am scheduling my next bone scan for April of next year - I understand that you can actually reverse osteopenia this way!), increases heart function, increases brain function..the list goes on (and if you click the link, above, you can see many more benefits)!

The mini-tramp arrived on Sunday evening and I was jumping by Monday morning.

So far, it’s been super fun! I’m bouncing 10-ish minutes in the morning (before my weight training) and 10-ish minutes in the evening after either walking the dog or kinda close to my bedtime routine. I haven’t fully figured out how I’m going to use it going forward, but they say as little as 2 minutes, 2 times a day can work wonders!

And although it’s a bit cumbersome, I am able to roll it out onto my patio for storage.

So look. My whole apartment has turned into a home gym. It’s ridiculous. I now have the following exercise equipment at my place:

• Yoga mat
• Dumbbell weights (see all the sets of weights, above)
• Wrist/Ankle weights (2 lbs each)
• Sand weights (kinda like beanbags?)
• Resistance bands (from extra light to super heavy)
• Jump rope
• Walking pad/treadmill
• Mini-trampoline

I mean, I love it. There’s NO reason I can’t get 15K steps every day now, ha!

There’s NO reason my lymphatic system isn’t getting a whole lot of drainage. [Side note: I still need to figure out if there can be any lymph issues remaining in my body. You know my colon surgeon removed a bunch of lymph nodes during my semi-colectomy - AND found cancer cells in them, though the chemo swept them out]

And as a matter of fact, there’s NO reason why I can’t become the most physically fit I’ve ever been. There’s NO reason I won’t have a 6-pack and beautiful “summer arms” come next summer.

So look. Look at what starting a silly little challenge like 75 Hard can do to a person!

Have I gone overboard?

xox,
GS