Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Sister Fitness

Two years ago (next week, but who's counting), I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw this lady:



I started eating a healthy diet...a very strictly healthy diet...a lifestyle change type of diet, not a "diet" diet.  I started exercising.  Every day.  I busted my buns.  For a full year I changed everything about the way I thought about healthy living.  (Actually, for a lifetime I changed the way I think...but for a year I changed the way I lived.)  

A year in, a year ago (next week, as it turns out), I'd somehow managed to melt off almost 60 pounds...and well over 25 inches!  (I think I was pushing 30 inches, but I can't remember for sure.)    A year ago (next week), I looked in the mirror and I saw this lady:



Wow.

What a change!  I felt good.  I mean...I looked a LOT different, but physically I FELT a lot different as well.  I had SO much more energy.  I wasn't as fatigued.  I was...well, a lot more me.  I was a lot more of a me that I had been missing for a really long time.

One of the "tools" in my healthy "toolbox" was Zumba.  I discovered that I LOVED exercising.  I loved the way it felt to have that workout rush...and the post-workout rush...and sometimes even the post-workout headache.  (I get those a lot, the headaches.)  I discovered exercise can be FUN!  I fell in love, once again, with exercise, and it was really all because of Sister Fitness!

Sister Fitness is a 2-woman Zumba team.  (They probably can do other stuff too, but they're so amazing at Zumba, why would they?)  Sisters Hillary and Natalie (who are amazing, Godly women with even more amazing stories and super cute kids) decided it was important for them to exercise regularly...and for others to exercise too.  They took a Zumba instructor course and decided to teach a class...and it has grown and thrived immensely over the last few years!  

So, I got sucked in to the Zumba "fad."  And I exercised and ate right and lost a ton of pounds...and then I got so busy working that I gave up my daily exercise.  I started eating a lot more convenience foods (and convenience store foods).  I "forgot" about my fruits and veggies and very low starches.  I "forgot" how good it feels to push through a workout and sweat like there's not tomorrow.  I "forgot" what it feels like to be fit.

I forgot.

Until last week, when I looked in the mirror and saw this lady:



This lady is tired.  All the time.  This lady is not as vibrant.  This lady is not the lady I worked so hard to "regain" (physically or mentally).  This lady is not the lady God made me to be!  

So this lady has started eating a little healthier.  This lady has re-committed to health.  This lady has re-committed to HERSELF.  This lady is going to live a long, healthy, MOBILE life.

This lady's going to do that with the help of Sister Fitness!  

You see, I don't have the time to get to a Zumba class right now.  That's been a huge struggle.  And I don't always have the patience to lug my 3 (already tired) kids to Zumba class and home, getting them in bed well past bedtime.  I honestly get too hot at class.  (That sounds silly, but a side effect of my MS is that when I get overheated, I can't see as well and I have some other issues.)  It is really difficult for me to enjoy Zumba in a class setting right now!

But Sister Fitness is trying something new.  They're working on a monthly "subscription" of sorts, where you can do Zumba right from your own living room!  You can do Zumba while your 3 year old runs laps around you and your 7 year old tries to untie your shoes!  You can do Zumba in a place you don't have to worry you'll mess up.  You can do Zumba in a place where you can stand right under a fan and open the back door and garage door and wrap a wet towel around your neck to stay cool (not that I would do anything like that...)  You can do Zumba on YOUR terms!

I know, I know, there are other dvds you can buy.  There are other workouts you can do.  In fact, I purchased one of the "real" Zumba dvd sets a year ago, and I've used it exactly twice.  (If you're interested, I might be willing to sell it to you.)  But you are NOT going to find another video as fun or encouraging as the one you'll find from Sister Fitness.

I don't know how to post a vimeo video here, so you'll just have to click the link...but CLICK HERE to try out the very first "episode" of Sister Fitness at Home!  It's 54 minutes of sweaty fun!  

Enjoy!  (And be watching...I'm going to keep you updated, again, on my journey!)