Friday, February 22, 2013

Day Two

Today I did muscle building exercises on the Wii Fit. I always find that the hardest thing about starting an exercise program, aside from the self-loathing and regret at the reminder that I stopped my last exercise program quite a long time ago and am now dealing with the consequences, is finding the balance between not enough and too much.

The last time I did these exercises, I knew what my body could do, and it was considerably more than my body can do right now. I haven't lost faith--with hard work, I can get my body back to where it was or even stronger than it was--but I have lost muscle mass. I don't know what my body can do right now, and not knowing that leaves me at risk for injury. There's the potential to push too hard and hurt myself, and even a muscle pull at this stage of the game can stop my good intentions in their tracks.

On the other hand, the entire previous paragraph might just be an excuse to go easy on myself, to cut corners and be lazy. It's really easy to fool oneself with exercise. A little bit of work is not going to counter the pizza I had for dinner tonight. Doing a few minutes of work and then lying on the couch for the rest of the day is not going to do anything positive for my heart or my pants size. And fooling yourself can have the opposite effect because we allow ourselves treats when we feel like we've been good.

So I need to find that sweet spot where I've pushed my body as far as it can go today, knowing that next week or next month it will be able to do more, if I keep working. And keeping in mind that sometimes less is more, but something is always better than nothing.

I've taken two steps down the road to a healthier body. I just have to keep on going.

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