Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to share an experience I had yesterday at the gym. I was getting ready to do my lunges along what I like to think of as my runway and my trainer Julie handed me a 20lb kettle-bell.


Just like that one, but not pretty and green. I was to hold it in one arm as I lunged, attempting to grow my ass. It was SO HARD. I felt like that weight in one my hands had the power to knock me over sideways, and I had to focus so much on my core to stay upright. I was sort of shocked - I like to consider myself pretty strong. But Julie reminded me that the kettle-bell represents about 1/8th of my current weight, and that's a pretty solid portion.

That got me to thinking about how much weight I used to carry around. 115lbs on my back, on my ankles shoulders and knees. I struggled with 20, but at one point I spent every day with 115more pounds on me than I can have now. It's pretty much inconceivable. I wanted to try to lift that much weight, but Julie told me I'd end up hurting myself.

I think of how much I work out now (1-2 hours 5days a week) for a minimum of 7 hours a week and am just so proud of myself for getting started at all when I weighed so much more then. Life everywhere, but especially in the gym is so much easier now- I leap up to grab my pull-up bar, I do push ups with my legs on a box. For people who aren't working out much yet, I couldn't recommend it more - because when your workouts are a 10/10 your food can be more like a seven, and for me, that's a worthy pay-off.