For all of those who feel discouraged when starting...

Some of you may have seen my posts, and know I've lost a whole lot of weight.

But my story doesn't end there. It hasn't ended at all. I still have weight to lose, though not as much. And in other ways, a new story is just beginning.

Because of the joys of *starting* to get older (at 43? is that older, please tell me no!), or maybe it's genetics (I never liked my mother anyway), or maybe it's just the cosmic gods tormenting me... we will never really know, I've had a quite a few health issues this past year. Some have been chronic for years (such as my migraines), others are new developments- in an otherwise (weight aside) textbook healthy woman. My blood work and labs have been literally spot on perfect for at least the past 6 years. Some of the issues I've had... they've not yet found a REAL reason WHY. So... being a medical mystery is always fun. In any case, I am on daily meds for some things and others we treat as we need to- basically treating symptoms while trying to find the source.

As a result of the medications, my once (borderline almost TOO low) blood pressure is now in the normal range, but the high normal range. My resting heart rate, once in the low 50s, is still in the normal range but high for ME, and now in the mid 60s. For this reason, and the fact my meds have affected my appetite, and I generally can't eat much, earlier this year my doctor placed a 'cease and desist' order on all cardio for me, as it causes BOTH to skyrocket into dangerous territory. Even if it didn't, he fears I wouldnt be able to eat back enough calories.

Bear with me, I have a point to all this.

At my MONTHLY checkup and labs(yes, monthly) earlier this week, he gives consent for me to do STRENGTH TRAINING - still no cardio- but all the weights and strength training I want. This morning, I went and met with a trainer at a local gym. I'll spare all of the details, but we spent about two and a half hours between discussions and assessments of where I am.

And that assessment? Made me want to CRY. It was not that long ago that I could do an hour on the elliptical without even THINKING about it (no, he didnt try to have me do cardio, he knows my doctors orders and is following them lol). I literally had to FORCE myself not to get emotional over the fact my stamina and endurance for things that I thought should have been EASY were NOT.

Logically, I know the answer.

1- I basically have NOT worked out at ALL in over a year. I have LOST strength and muscle mass. I KNOW this. I KNEW this going in. Regaining that is one of my GOALS.

2- I am working muscles and muscle GROUPS I've never really WORKED before. not intentionally, in any case. of COURSE I can't do much! I am starting at square one. Just like the very first day I got on the elliptical... and could only last 4 minutes. I have to view this... like that.

Just as the elliptical got easier...this will too. I've paid for 12 sessions with this dude. 6 weeks. I am betting that money, that in 6 weeks... I will be able to do MORE than I was TODAY. and THAT will be a win.

SO.... when you, who have just started your weight loss journey for the first time, or maybe the 10th time, are feeling discouraged? Know that you are not alone. That there is someone out there, who lost more than twice what she currently weighs, has taken on a new challenge... and had her butt handed to her on a platter today. And fought back tears in front of a perfect stranger (I am NOT an emotional person. I am the QUEEN of compartmentalization! JUST ASK MY THERAPIST!) And even with that near emotional breakdown...she is NOT giving up. And she WILL be back at that gym Monday morning at 10 am. And she WILL have her butt handed to her again. And she'll go back Thursday morning. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

If there is one thing that I am.... it's stubborn.

And I bet you are, too.

Hang in there. It gets easier. Wash, rinse. repeat.

Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Excellent post!

    Singling out one li'l thing for comment:
    Because of the joys of *starting* to get older (at 43? is that older, please tell me no!),

    43? Older? 😆🤣

    No.

    No.

    This strength training thing you're starting? That's an anti-older strategy, besides.

    I used to be 43, for a while, sometime back. I'm "younger" at 65, functionally, than I was at 43 . . . by far.

    Chronologically, older is linear. Functionally, it's not. Function is what matters to quality of life. You're doing Good Stuff.

    I hope you get to the root of your symptomatic issues, can get clearance to broaden your scope of activity again. Even if not: Functional improvement is possible.

    Look up Ernestine Shepard: Started training at 56. Look up Madonna Buder, the Iron Nun: Started training at 48. They're just the tip of a very big iceberg of amazing late bloomers.

    43? Pfft. 😉

    Go, you!

    god i love you <3

    my body still hurts from friday

    what the hell did i get myself into? LOLOLOL
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    Baby - and you are still a baby - you are still in the first flush (well, maybe second) of youth.

    Greet it, welcome it and enjoy it.

    So what did you think? You’d prance in and be lifting the big plates? That nothing would hurt the first or second or third time? That you’d be pulling like the big boys and girls in a month or two?

    In other words, you thought what I thought!!!

    Where in the WORLD do we get these ideas.

    Strength training is very, very humbling. There’s ladies on here - @quiksylver296 @KickassAmazon76 @DancingMoosie @JBanx256 - among many others that kick my *kitten* down to humble every time I see them post. Grovel, even.

    What I’ve had to accept is, any competition is with myself and in my own head, and any criticism or beating up is also coming from within. I’ll never compete with others. Maybe I’ve already experienced my personal records. I don’t know. I do keep trying anyway, though.

    What I’ve learned is that I do it for health and results. To get the results, I don’t have to lift like everyone else. I have to accept that my wonky shoulder is going to make me twist dangerous and ugly to get weight up at a certain point, and be happy to get up what I can, cleanly. I have to accept that my pile of plates is ridiculously dainty compared to younger girls or that more genetically gifted, competitive lifter woman my age I see training sometimes.

    Comparison being the thief of joy, and all that.

    You’re going through a natural reaction to doing something new, following an extended, stressful health situation, all of which followed that suckfest we know as Covid.

    If anyone has this, I know YOU have this and will find your way through it. You may discover you loath strength training. You may find it’s addictive and move on to something else. But either way, your *kitten* is off the sofa, which puts you in front of 95% of the population.

    Mucho huggos, dear friend!!!!




    you are another one i love dearly <3

    I am just not used to feeling WEAK. I knew I had lost a lot of strength, I just don't think I had realized how MUCH I had lost. So, couple that with doing something totally new to me and i think it makes it doubly hard.

    just gonna take a whole lotta time, patience, and stubbornness LOL
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    Baby - and you are still a baby - you are still in the first flush (well, maybe second) of youth.

    Greet it, welcome it and enjoy it.

    So what did you think? You’d prance in and be lifting the big plates? That nothing would hurt the first or second or third time? That you’d be pulling like the big boys and girls in a month or two?

    In other words, you thought what I thought!!!

    Where in the WORLD do we get these ideas.

    Strength training is very, very humbling. There’s ladies on here - @quiksylver296 @KickassAmazon76 @DancingMoosie @JBanx256 - among many others that kick my *kitten* down to humble every time I see them post. Grovel, even.

    What I’ve had to accept is, any competition is with myself and in my own head, and any criticism or beating up is also coming from within. I’ll never compete with others. Maybe I’ve already experienced my personal records. I don’t know. I do keep trying anyway, though.

    What I’ve learned is that I do it for health and results. To get the results, I don’t have to lift like everyone else. I have to accept that my wonky shoulder is going to make me twist dangerous and ugly to get weight up at a certain point, and be happy to get up what I can, cleanly. I have to accept that my pile of plates is ridiculously dainty compared to younger girls or that more genetically gifted, competitive lifter woman my age I see training sometimes.

    Comparison being the thief of joy, and all that.

    You’re going through a natural reaction to doing something new, following an extended, stressful health situation, all of which followed that suckfest we know as Covid.

    If anyone has this, I know YOU have this and will find your way through it. You may discover you loath strength training. You may find it’s addictive and move on to something else. But either way, your *kitten* is off the sofa, which puts you in front of 95% of the population.

    Mucho huggos, dear friend!!!!




    you are another one i love dearly <3

    I am just not used to feeling WEAK. I knew I had lost a lot of strength, I just don't think I had realized how MUCH I had lost.

    Don't worry, it's temporary.

    I don't know specifically what the underlying cause for you is, but will say this: Anecdotally, there seem to be two situations in which people tend to make relatively faster progress in gaining *strength* (as distinct from muscle mass):

    1. They're brand new to working to get stronger, or
    2. They used to be stronger, something like a hiatus depleted that strenght, and they're working to regain it.

    You sound like case #2, from your description.

    Remember that *strength* is a matter not only of adding new muscle fibers, but also a matter of efficiently and effectively recruiting and using muscle fibers you already have. That latter, a.k.a. neuromuscular adaptation (NMA), is faster than adding new muscle fibers, and is the probable mechanism behind the relatively more rapid strength increase in the situations enumerated above.
    So, couple that with doing something totally new to me and i think it makes it doubly hard.

    just gonna take a whole lotta time, patience, and stubbornness LOL

    Keep an open mind, keep working. You may see some really good results faster than you may be expecting, and surprise yourself.

    Either way, you're on the right route, and you *will* see results, as long as you keep working on that route. Be open to the possibility of success. 😉
  • mytempleisloved
    mytempleisloved Posts: 24 Member
    Thank you. I will not give up.