Working out...Who has time for that??

  Hello I am Aimee and I am a workout junkie. I suppose there are so many other things I could be, like a junk food junkie or a reality TV junkie or maybe even a social media junkie. The reality is there are way worse things out there.

  I teach Tabata [high intensity interval style training] at the gym 3-4 times a week and I do DVD workouts 5-6 days a week. I usually keep this momentum 10 months out of the year. November and December really are struggle months because there is so much hustle and bustle going on with the holidays. I do get sluggish with my eating in those months too. Truth is, nobody is perfect and I am a 80% good 20% bad type of gal. What you eat in the winter shows up in the summer so be careful to not fall victim to those dreary months. Yes treat yourself but don't allow those treats to overtake your entire diet. If you struggle start writing or logging on your phone everything you eat in a day and you will be surprised how much accountability is in that action alone!

  With my diseases comes muscle loss, extreme fatigue, nerve loss and weight gain. Yes weight gain comes from being lazy, eating bad and age but throw my two diseases in and it's grounds for disaster if I am not careful. Why do I workout so much? Because my health depends on it. I love to workout so that helps but when your health literally depends on you to remain active that is a huge motivator.

  So this year I kicked it back old school and began the New Year with Brazilian Butt Lift from Beachbody. My problem area has always been the booty, hips and thighs and I was ready to conquer those for good! I purchased the program YEARS ago and completed it but it has since been sitting on a shelf. I was going to sell it but decided to give it one last whirl. To my surprise I was burning more calories and feeling better after my winter fog 2 month break.

 I completed the 'butt' program 1 1/2 times then a friend loaned my her 21-Day Fix Extreme program which is also a Beachbody program. This one KICKED me into mass overdrive, love hate relationship at its finest! Seriously how can you go wrong with 30 minute videos??

  I did the 21 Day fix program 2 1/2 times before I got in the mail the crazy 22 Minute Hardcore Corps by Tony Horton [yes from Beachbody]. Tony had my heart in fitness since P90X and P90X3. He challenges people, offers some cheesy humor and above all gets the job done. I am currently in week 2 of the 8 week program and I am literally crying out fat. Can you say burpees?? Or how about pushups and pull-ups? The videos are only 22 minutes long [warm up on your own and very short cool down at the end] and they are KILLER! "But Aimee, how could you possibly burn that much in 22 minutes?" Trust me, I average 250 calories in that short 22 minutes. You burn and you burn fast, your legs will scream on some days and your arms will beg for mercy on others. You've been warned!

  Truthfully, we all want to workout or at least be in shape. Our society has created such a fast atmosphere that we tend to put things like working out off to the side until it's too late. These DVD fitness geniuses have mastered shortening the time for people while still getting a very effective workout. I challenge you to find what works for you and go super HARDCORE in the amount of time you can dedicate!

Now go out and there and burn some calories...a quick gun show for you below hehehe...come on humor me!!

[Disclaimer..I am NOT a Beachbody coach nor am I affiliated with Beachbody in any way. I love the products and promote what I love]

Not your average cookie cutter....

  

[Disclaimer...I am happily married, have great friends, my kids are amazing and this blog is about a super personal issue I have dealt with in defining me and where I belong. I wouldn't change who I am ever, and I love where I am in life]

 

 For years I have struggled with fitting in. Scratch that, my whole life I have struggled with fitting in. I am not your average cookie cutter...

 
   In school I was never quite athletic enough to hang with the jocks, I wasn't bright enough to be with the brainacs, no musical talent what-so ever excluded me from the choir/band groups. As an adult in my late twenties/early thirties I struggled to maintain relationships with female friends [maybe still do from time to time], I had my son at 21 so I was the 'young mom' with him and then when I had my daughter at almost 30 I became the 'old mom' as she hit grade school. 

  So as you feel sorry for me at this point [haha, totally kidding], I want to remind you that we all feel like misfits from time to time. When I was diagnosed with my two diseases I thought, 'ah-ha! I finally have found a name for my issues now lets find others like me!'. It wasn't that easy, I actually have two diseases that most people have never heard of and those that do have one or the other disease don't have both of them.

   So there I was stuck again with issues others couldn't understand. Sure I could find people with one or the other aliment but not both. So I figured I was going to have to live with not fitting in all over again..at almost 40 that is where I stood. 

  This past weekend I had the privilege to attend an AMAZING Leadership conference in Tampa for one of the diseases I house [visit www.cmtausa.org for more info]. The disease surfaces in so many ways there are those who are in wheelchairs, to those wearing bracing on their legs, hands that are deformed and weakened, severe hip issues and then there is me....[crickets chirping here] I don't need bracing at this point, my hands [although super weak and clumsy] can function quite well, my hips [although are lose and slide around] are still functioning, and above all things I actually had multiple people ask if I have the disease or if I was there for a family member. 

  SURE I am happy that the disease hasn't progressed to any of those places yet, but even in the light of the event [we are all there as support group leaders for the disease] I don't fit in. I don't fit the 'look' of a person with the aliment...ugh!

Start of conference

   The people at the conference were amazing. They were inspiring, creative, interesting and just down right fun. But being the 'above normal' [said loosely because I have friends that could argue that :)] I didn't fit in, and I actually felt kinda odd in the environment. Now let me pass along that I am not a negative Nelly kinda gal, actually I am quite positive but one longs to fit in somewhere at some point in their life! 

  And then it happened. I don't know how exactly it did happen but it did. I somehow ended up with a group of gals that just made me feel that I was normal...yes I said it normal! Maybe not normal to another persons standards, but normal to ours. From chest up we all look the same, but this group is different. A few wear braces on their legs, a few have weakening of the hands but that didn't stop them from making me feel like I had known them for years!!   

  Sure others may view us as crazy, odd, and funny..:) but guess what? I fit right in with that, they get me! And they laughed at my stories and jokes [even the not so funny ones]. We took that conference by storm and even the airport! 
 
  So finally, after almost 40 years I have found my peeps. NOW PLEASE DON'T misunderstand me, I have friends. I actually have lots of friends but there is something different about this group. I cannot put my finger on it, maybe its because they are closer to the same cookie cutter as me :) 
  So if you are struggling with not finding your place, keep looking. It may take years but don't rule out that you belong nowhere because you do belong, it's just a matter of finding others that are just like you.

Blessings.....