I Work Out Often--But I Don’t Look It

I recently posted about this on Cathe’s forums and it generated a lot of interest, so I decided maybe it was something worth blogging about. Obviously I enjoy working out and can hardly shut up about it. However, for all that I am a very normal-looking, even, dare I admit it, pudgy gal.

I’ve lost almost 30 pounds on Weight Watchers (combined with my video workouts) in the last year or so. And I’m just over 50 pounds less than my highest weight (though that was while heavily pregnant). So at least I’m very slowly on the road to being more fit, though I still have about 15 lbs I'd like to lose (maybe more once I get to that point, but making a realistic goal to start).

I’m excited about the weight loss and people who have known me for a while notice that I’ve lost weight and compliment me on it, but I feel kind of embarrassed to talk about my interest in fitness to people I’ve just met. Here’s a case in point: last week I was talking to my son's new Kindergarten teacher and another mom about working out--and then I felt awkward because I figured they'd look at my body and think, "well, she's not working very hard, is she?" Probably part of my self-consciousness was just that they were (at least as far as visible results go) more fit than I. It made me feel like blurting out something like, "I know I don't look it, but I work out a lot" or something, but I didn't want to sound goofy or belittle myself. In the pictures below (the first taken Memorial Day weekend and the second a couple weeks ago) you can perhaps see what recent progress I’ve made. Though it hasn’t been a big change in weight loss, I have lost some inches in various places--most dramatically in my chubby upper arms. These were not taken to be “before” and “after” photos, and I am not yet an “after” anyway, but I think you can see a little bit of change.



When I posted about this to Cathe’s forum, I got a huge response. Lots of other women felt the same. We talked about how much of it is about the eating, and many people kindly complimented me on the minor changes between the two photos I shared.

I also got this great link from Kathryn on the forum: http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/dixon2.html

It’s a really great article about this same issue of not looking like a fitness model.

I hope to be back later today to do another sort of humorous look at whether or not I’m a klutz--this time exploring my inglorious athletic past.