May
21


Lily and Uncle Steve playing with bubbles
at Logan’s Birthday Party.
(All the pictures were so cute,
I had a hard time picking one.
So I decided to post the whole sequence.)
19 May 2007

So Matt and I have been going to the gym for a month and a half now.  Before we started going, we read all the information they gave us about how to work out effectively and what to expect.  In the Lifetime Fitness book “LeanSource,” it says:

When starting an exercise program, it is extremely important to have realistic expectations.  Depending upon your initial fitness level, you should expect the following changes as you continue with your exercise program:

  • From 1 to 8 Weeks — Look to feel better and have more energy.
  • From 2 t0 6 Months — Lose size and inches while becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely.  You are gaining muscle and losing fat.
  • After 6 Months — Start losing weight quite rapidly.

After reading this, my mind had been programmed.  “Okay.  Expect no physical changes for the first two months.”  It had taken me five years to get into such an unfit shape, so I was just happy that it would take only a year to get back into decent shape.  I thought it was going to take longer.  So the above timeline was already accelerated as far as I was concerned.

But then Matt and I saw physical changes in just a month.  Nothing that other people would notice, just subtle things like our muscles were becoming more defined and our clothes were hanging from our bodies differently.

We also definitely noticed the “feel better and have more energy” part.  It was so nice to not feel sluggish.  I have been sluggish for years, and it has been so pleasant to feel that wash off of me. 

At first, I was still patient.  I enjoyed and appreciated the changes.  I was happy to see progress.  But then, as I saw more progress with each passing week, my patience became greed.  “I want more!  I want more and I want it now!  I want all the weight gone and I want to have all the energy in the world!”

I was telling Matt about this shift in my thinking, and I asked him if he thought the same thing happened with money.  At first, you want money for reasonable things like a nice house and savings for retirement and the children’s educations.  But as more money comes your way, you become greedy, and now you think in your head that it’s okay to buy a $5000 dress — something that you never would have considered before.

Greed is a weird thing.  I don’t consider myself a greedy person, but it came upon me quite naturally.  I became greedy simply because I had tasted something really pleasant, and I wanted more and more, and I wanted it immediately.

I’ve calmed my mind down since this realization.  But whereas it took no effort to become greedy, it did take effort to make myself patient and content in the present again.  I’ll be fit in time, and in the meantime, I’ll enjoy the journey. 🙂



No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment


+ eight = 13