I fear these posts have turned into more of a parade than what I initially set out to do.
What I mean is, I started #aHeartFitFriday in an attempt to redefine beauty and fitness. Or, really, the misrepresentations that have become the face of the word “fitness”.
What do you picture when you hear that word? Either a happy, beauty with a flawlessly sculpted body and unending energy OR a very tough looking man or woman angrily powering through yet another rep, muscles bulging. Or something equally intimidating, right?
That’s not helpful or realistic.
Fitness is about how you feel on the inside. Though I’ve spoken about that, I feel I’ve put too much emphasis on outward measures, like weight loss. Remember this post where I talked about weight loss being a factor, but not the focus?
I meant that.
So, while I’m thrilled with my weight loss so far, this week seems like the perfect week to bring the focus back to fitness. Why, you ask? Because I didn’t lose anything this week and, frankly, I’m perfectly fine with that.
This isn’t about me. It’s about us. Women, wives, moms, friends. It’s about us banding together, vowing to take care of our bodies and building each other up.
Will you join me?
What do you need to help you in your fitness goals? Would you like to see more of a community focus? Do you have any ideas on how to achieve that?
I know I need help. My workout is the first thing I toss when I need to spend extra time on anything.
Focus on fitness and help – YES, I need help with that.
Exercise is the FIRST thing to go when my schedule is busy or I am stressed. Even though exercising would help me with the stress and give me more energy for the busy schedule.
I’m not sure what kick in the pants I need, but I definitely need one! I’m open to ideas…
hmmm… ok, so what if we came up with some sort of contest? Would that help? What if we could tie it to a charity and do something to raise money while we’re at it? Then we could tie it into your #gowithout movement… I don’t know. Thoughts?
Hmmm…good thinking. Have you seen CharityMiles? I just downloaded the app and am doing some research. Basically, you use the app to track when you walk, run, and bike. How far/long you go gets money donated to one of the charities in the app. (It appears to be legit.)
Maybe we could pick one of the charities and set a goal for how much we can raise for them in a given period of time?
YES! I haven’t seen it, but I trust you, if you say it seems legit. Let’s do it! That’s exactly what I had in mind.
I have mixed feelings about the inward and outward thing. The focus needs to be on inward first. For me, the weight loss and exercise is all about preventing health problems that come from uncontrolled diabetes. That’s my main focus. I want to live. I want to be able to have the energy to do the things I need to do, including things at church I want to be involved in. Having more energy to do good helps the inner me. However…I have to admit the vain creature within me delights in looking better. I think that’s okay if you don’t go overboard and make THAT your focus. I only lost a half lb., but I was okay because I knew the faster weight loss had to slow down at some point. And I feel so much better. We just do the best we can as weak humans, and we can’t beat ourselves up over our lack of perfection.
I love your thoughts. Thank you so much for commenting. You’re right. It’s a delicate balance, as is anything in life, and as long as the focus is on health, it doesn’t hurt to show results.
To answer your question on my comment over on your post, I did buy the smaller jeans!
In fact, I’m wearing them right now.