I Must Have Been High

Tweet

Pin It

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Since I started living better, I have lost 7 pounds.

I also lost 7 pounds in the first 10 days back in 2010. Isn’t that interesting?

I’m exercising every day, and I’m sticking closely to the calorie limit I set for myself.

I haven’t done anything drastic, relying on baby steps that will easily become part of my life. I’m really pleased with my progress.

This healthier lifestyle feels comfortable.  I feel like I never stopped being healthy in early 2010, never got pregnant, never ate bowl after bowl of ice cream, never stopped exercising.

Back then, I was using EA Sports Active to work out. I remember it being tough at first. I remember feeling like I was going to pass out afterward, and I remember collapsing onto the couch, totally out of breath and near complete exhaustion.

That hasn’t happened this time around.

In fact, after my Day 3 workout, I was feeling unchallenged; I’d barely broken a sweat.

I didn’t want to cheat myself, so I decided a custom workout was necessary to supplement my previous efforts.

I programmed a workout with all of my favorite activities – tennis, hitting targets, a long run (because I knew that would burn a lot of calories), and some upper body stuff.

What happened next was not my brightest move.

I cannot explain my actions, except to say that I must have been high.

Exercising hard, making your body work and sweat, can make you high, right? It’s the endorphins or something.

Anyway, I blame that for what I did next.

After exercising for a whole three days, I decided that I needed to add resistance to my upper body workout. You know, my second upper body workout in a half hour.

I grabbed my resistance bands, and I pulled. I stretched. I did shoulder presses and bicep curls and lateral something-or-others.

Exercise bands in hand.

When I was done with the second workout, I was tired. Sweat puddled on my skin. My clothes were dripping.

I was proud.

The next day, I was unable to move my neck. I’m pretty sure I pulled something doing all of those overzealous resistance band exercises.

I reclined on the couch, neck against an ice pack, head propped up on a soft pillow.

I was pathetic. Every time I picked up an arm or moved my head or sat up straight, I could feel every muscle from my skull to my ribs stretch and strain and groan. Exercising that day was completely out of the question.

I was a cliché, an overconfident exerciser motivated by a New Year’s resolution to lose weight.

I did not quit.

I wallowed for one day, lamenting my decisions made while high on endorphins.

The next day, I stretched my arms and shoulders and chest and back, and then I exercised.

But I didn’t use the resistance bands. I am dedicated, but I’m not an idiot.

© 2012, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: exercise, healthy living

Tweet

Pin It