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| Wednesday, August 04, 2010 |
| Jody is Fit at 52! |
About a month ago we posted a blog called What Does “Diet” Independence Mean to You? asking our readers to tell us about their journey, their successes (and failures), what happened to finally motivate them to make a change, what the most important thing they’ve learned was or what you they want other people to learn from their experience. Today we wanted to feature Jody’s story. Jody (Fit at 52) is one of our loyal readers and favorite bloggers! You can check her out at Truth2BeingFit.
Hi, I am Jody and I want to thank the Sensei team for letting me “blab on” about my passion and love for fitness and health!!!
I am 52.5 years old and have been married for close to 27 years. I have 3 grown stepdaughters with 7 grandchildren among the two oldest stepdaughters. The youngest just got married so…there is time!
I really have been active in some sort of sport my whole life. Yes, I was heavy as a youth into the first couple years of high school, but I was still very coordinated and did join sports, cheerleading and drill team. In my younger years, pre-school and elementary school, I played outside a lot. I lived back east in a time when playing outside was the norm and all we did!!! Imagine that!
BUT, I also ate too much and the wrong things. Unfortunately, this is what was in my home growing up. In my parents’ defense, all this healthy lifestyle and food information was just not out there. PLUS, we did not have the computer age so availability to the internet was not even part of the equation yet. I KNOW…some of us are old enough to predate this! J Also, news and TV stories did not cover the healthy lifestyle. SO, yes, we ate hamburgers and hot dogs and fattier meat choices and pancakes and toast with lots of butter and sweets…well, you get the point! I packed on the pounds. Being short to begin with plus a more “hold the weight” body type - meaning I was more a gymnastic type body vs. a small frame body - well, the pounds came on. It was tough and I was teased by my peers and yes, adults! Ya wonder where kids get some of their mean tendencies…sometimes from the parents! This is something for parents to think about and be careful what you do and do not say in front of your children. They hear all!
In high school, I finally did lose the weight but not the right way. I ate way too few calories, too many salads with very little protein, not enough healthy fat…all the wrong way. It took me years to learn that eating more and not less, eating something other than “lettuce”, adding in the right amount of good protein sources and the right amount of healthy fats actually makes one look and feel better! I wish I had learned that early on!!! I eat more now then when I was in my teens or 20’s! I also wear a smaller size even though I am close to the same weight. Below will explain this…
So, in college, I did not do any gym or sports type activities as I was in school full time and worked part time. I did try to exercise but nothing like now or even in my 20’s, so I did put on some weight but never got above a size 8.
I started lifting weights in my early 20’s. Right out of college I joined my first women’s gym. I was living at home at that time and it was right around the corner and convenient. Plus being new to that atmosphere and not having the best self-image, I liked it being all women. I lifted, but more just as a person that did not know a lot about it. Also, 25 years ago, things were just not the same! The information was not readily available like it is now. BUT, I knew I had to do this to keep my weight off and I was determined not to go back to being “fat” again!
In 1982, I joined Family Fitness which is now 24 Hour Fitness. I may be one of their longest members as I joined at one of the very first clubs they opened! I was doing aerobic classes and also lifting weights; more machines than free weights at that time. I continued to do aerobic classes and always kept my weight lifting but moved more towards free weights and machines in my 20’s to 30’s. During this time, I also took up running and actually did quite a few 5K races that I placed in and won a couple for my age group too!
In my mid 30’s, I had a man in the gym ask me if I ever thought about competing in bodybuilding contests as I had the right body type and build for it. THAT started my introduction to “real” weight training and my love of lifting weights from that point forward! I ended up training for a couple years hard core and did two amateur bodybuilding contests in my late 30’s, two years in a row. I won the overall novice the first year and won the open the second year. Now they were very small contests but competing in front of people was majorly “out of my comfort zone”!
After that point, I was hooked on weight lifting forever. After my bodybuilding years, I spent about a year coming down from the size slowly. I started eating differently for weight loss and then maintenance vs. building and I started incorporating circuit training for my weight training rather than standard hard core lifting to build up my muscles. I have been doing that ever since along with varying my cardio, food and workouts!
I have had past failures! But, I like to not look at them as failures but as learning experiences!!! Mine was not any of the putting all the weight back on, losing and gaining or that type of stuff. My mistakes were in eating incorrectly and working out too many days. So…my “learning experiences” were:
Stop by on Monday to find out what Jody has learned...
- The Sensei Team
If you like this article, you might also enjoy…
Sensei Talks: Ask the Experts – What do you do to stay thin?
Sensei Why You Shouldn’t Deprive Yourself
Labels: Guest Blogger, healthy living
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posted by My Sensei @ Wednesday, August 04, 2010   |
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| 5 Comments: |
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Thx ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hi Jodi! Your positive energy, honesty and motivation to be fit for the pleasure of living life in your body has been inspirational to me. I am so glad you are speaking to everyone about the potential for making healthy changes and choices, enjoying food, and feeling great about yourself! I’m looking forward to the rest of your story.
Nancy from Sensei
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Jody, I love your story and your site! Love to see you spreading your postive healthy self to others!
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Jody, you are such an inspiration to me! Great post!!
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Thx again to you all! Thx to the Sensei team too!
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Thx ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!