Fitness: The Cold Hard Truth, Part 2

I have been a runner since I was 14. A friend insisted on me being her new running partner since she'd picked up track in high school. She taught me a few tips she had learned from her coach, and soon I was running up to 3 or 4 miles a day, four days a week, and sometimes ending with a long round of poorly-executed crunches. At the end of a workout, I would feel fabulous, and I even started losing some of my baby weight, but the fat around my thighs and belly wouldn't budge. In fact, it was almost getting worse...

So I was literally stuck in a plateau stage for years. Bouncing back and forth between the same 5-10 pounds because my workouts and diet never changed. The greatest discovery of my life (health-wise) was strength training. I'm not kidding. It wasn't until I was in the recovery stage of a messy break-up that I found myself turning to different things to deal with the emotional pain and keep myself busy. Thankfully, at least one of these things turned into a healthy obsession. I signed up for a gym membership and switched up my cardio workouts, adding the elliptical and stationary bike to my usual running-only regimen. Soon, I was bored of even that and began researching new workouts. The discovery of WomensHealthMag.com changed everything. I couldn't believe how many exercise moves were out there---so much  more than just the ab work and lunges I had been doing so far! I also began venturing out into the gym itself and trying new machines and workout classes. With each gym session, my confidence grew and my clothes seemed to, also! What a feeling. Even though I was still a newbie, I had finally burst through my plateau!

A few months later, I realized the importance of healthy eating in concordance with my new exercise plan and how much more energy better nutrition gave me in my workouts. Protein was the most important factor in this; I learned quickly that it's not just for body builders or even just for men. Everyone has muscles, right? Just the same way that everyone has bones and skin. Both men and women consume calcium for our bones and slather on lotion for softer skin, so what's the difference in gulping down protein shakes for our muscles? Any kind of lean protein is essential to making all the muscles in our bodies stronger, and in a woman's body, that means her entire body will become leaner. I decided I would rather have a sculpted physique than settling for a skinny-fat frame like most of my friends had at the time, and now I feel better than ever.

My final point...
    Everything in moderation. If you deprive yourself, your willpower will be that much easier to completely fail you when you're tempted.

...a little bit of chocolate, a lot of sweat, a little bit of wine, a lot of spinach, a little bit of examining your body in the mirror (seriously--it's impossible not to), a lot of protein, a little bit of not stressing over calories, and a lot of rest after a lot of hard work...