Do you stop yourself before you even start?
Why I’m doing (or did) Operation Transformation
- It’s more than the accountability
- It’s being part of something bigger than me
- It’s an energy and buzz of joining over 100,000 people.
Most people would probably consider me pretty healthy, but I must confess I am not fit. And fitness is a huge part of being healthy. I know which foods to avoid and juice quite a bit. But I pretty much loathe any form of exercise that involves cardio. I enjoy yoga, pilates and walking along a beach – and when I say walking, I really mean strolling.
So when my sister texted me and said she was joining Operation Transformation at the Westport Leisure Park, I had already been “thinking” about it, but her text(s) were enough of a prompt for me to say yes. Yes to getting fit (and to losing a bit of weight gained over the 3 month Christmas period to be honest). Life is always full of opportunities, every day. You have to decide to look out for them. They won’t necessarily hit you like a bolt of lightening; it might be a simple text, an email, a friend inviting you to join them. And it was starting in an hour’s time. That was Monday 6th January. We assembled into a team of 5 – we called ourselves the “Ladies of Leisure” because 2 of them worked at the Leisure Park. Al, Ger, Louise, Rachel my sis, and myself. And there were about 45 teams! HUGE BUZZ.
They say to have success we have to do things differently. But really it’s more about doing different things. So if I wanted to have the energy, motivation and good feelings then what I was doing wasn’t really working.
Maybe I was lazy? I didn’t feel like I was choosing to be lazy, but I still felt guilty about being lazy.
So while my diet was ok, I decided to do different things – I added in exercise, first time really in about 16 years. The Westport Leisure Park were offering a super deal if you signed up for 2 classes each week for the 7 week programme. So I did it. Got out of my comfort zone and said yes to a spinning class (because I heard people who do it LOVE it) and a kettle bells cardio class.
After 1 week of walking and 2 fitness classes, the following week’s walk became a ½ walk ½ run which to me and my sis sounded impossible. But we did as much as we could and surprised ourselves. Another week in and 2 more fitness classes I felt like a new woman. 6lbs down, I already feeling a stone lighter. We laughed at how good we were starting to feel, and how addictive the exercise was started to feel. Who were we??
The Ladies of Leisure supported each other with group texts, every day, and “doing it for the team”. We all found a slight competitive nature in ourselves! We kept on the plan, weighed in weekly, came along to the weekly Operation Transformation (pep) Talk and Walk, turned up to the spinning (which I didn’t like) and kettle bells classes (which I did), every week and while it didn’t always show in the scales we were having fun because we were feeling it in our clothes and our energy. More than that we felt alive! Of course we had a slip ups, injuries, aches and pains, but we kept going because it felt good to be a part of something that was life changing.
Yesterday Monday 24th February was the final meeting to celebrate the stats. Everyone won by just turning up. EVERY team lost weight overall and everyone was enjoying the feel good factor, especially when Jan/February can be such dull, hibernation months! And like Collette our spinning instructor said, the easy part was signing up. 285 signed up, 225 finished. WOW! Westport is now 88 stone (1232 lbs) LIGHTER!
But what I’m most proud of is my new friends in Ladies of Leisure. Our team lost 26.8kg or 6.94% of our body weight and came 2nd overall. We won a prize! Oh how we laughed! Us, the fitness fanatics! And you know what? We’re going to keep going. Take advantage of all that OT has given us, and start training for the Ladies West of Ireland Mini Marathon on May 4th!
What I would have completely dismissed (and did dismiss) only 8 weeks ago is now something I want, and can see myself doing. And I may not be able to run the whole way, but I’m going to enjoy the training, learning how my body responds, and feel the buzz by being consistent!
Sometimes you just have to do what’s in front of you NOW. Say yes to the first step, not the whole staircase. In fact, I’ve learned is just run for a minute, and then walk. Don’t be thinking about the whole hour! I thought I’d do a couple of classes a week and that would be that. I just never knew what life had planned for me. I am not the same person today as I was then, that short time ago.
Don’t put off your dreams because you think that it’s out of your range today. Enjoy the journey, do what you can consistently, push yourself, and embrace the results. We did the work every week, supported and encouraged each other, focussed on our daily actions, and the results speak for themselves! A simple formula (not always easy) but isn’t that what life is about?
If you are looking for a “different thing” to do, then look no further than Balanced Health.
If you dream about a career as a holistic practitioner, to help others with their health ….
… JOIN US! You’ve read this far …. check out the first step now:
We have 3 courses starting soon. Would love to see you there
“If we wait till we’re ready we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives”.
