The First Entry...

After being asked by several people where they can find my blog, I’ve decided to finally give it a shot. I have no idea if anyone will read it, if anyone will benefit from it, or if anyone will actually “follow” me, but I have been borderline, or if you know me well, completely obsessive compulsive about figuring out how I can make “my” body fit. I say “My” and it is in quotes because I’ve tried so many different recommended ways from a variety of sources, doctors, trainers, friends, family members, even an infomercial or two… what I’ve found is that no matter what I do, how hard I try, my body doesn’t work the way that others’ do. Over the years I’ve found many oddities, ranging from my actual physical capabilities and body shape to what fuels me and more importantly what sabotages any good faith efforts.

I’ve been journaling off and on in a variety of ways for myself, to inspire others, and to in a sense be able to look back on what I was doing at a certain time in order to pinpoint things that work (for me) and things that don’t. It is a long tedious process, and unfortunately one that I will most certainly continue my entire life.

The good news? While I still fight with my own body on a daily basis, at this moment, I’m stronger and healthier than I’ve ever been. I might argue that in high school I was just as healthy, but hands down, I’m stronger now. (Have you seen my biceps or my quads?) My weight, well, while I’m not a private person, (see my facebook profile if you are unsure of that statement), I don’t plan to post any weights or measurements in this blog… at least for now. Weight and measurements on my body are well unrealistic to what is considered “normal”. Scales lie, medical charts don’t measure actual health, instead they measure what is considered normal ranges. I even fall into the “normal” range sometimes… depending on who and how the measurements are taken. I’m 5’4” and I have never met another female with my body type and while I do have personal weight goals, they are not how I measure my health, but instead another tool or data point to measure my progress of which I have many tracked data points.

My fitness journey or my quest to be fit has been an on-going process my entire life, and no doubt it will continue through the rest of my life. I have been an athlete my entire life. Team sports as a child/teen/adult, then a good friend talked me into doing a Triathlon several years ago and for 3 years it was all I trained for and thought about, that is, until I found out I was pregnant days following my last race… The Spring Classic Duathlon. Now my activity of choice is suspension training (TRX) and crossfit (Hi Def).

I’ve definitely worked my way through some bumps in the road including extreme nausea during my pregnancy which halted almost all my active pregnancy goals, and most recently the news of my severely degenerated spine – complete with two areas of severe canal stenosis, two herniated discs, and one very painful bulging disc that impacts the area of my spine where my spinal cord and nerves exit. Yay me! Apparently, while my head drives me to be an athlete, my body was never meant to be one. I think about that statement a lot, and if I think my fight to be fit is hard enough as it is, if I took out the equation of regular intense workouts, I’d lose the battle for sure. So instead, I just add it to the many challenges that makes up my unique self and will just have to work through it, around it, or in some cases in spite of it.

I’m new at this blogging thing, so feel free to comment, ask questions or send encouragement or ideas…

-kariebeth