Earlier this year I blogged about Heavy, the new show on A&E. I had not watched it at the time, but was looking forward to it. This weekend I sat down and watched several episodes in a row and a few things hit me:
1. Many of the people profiled had serious traumas in their lives: sexual abuse, parents who had died suddenly or committed suicide, drug problems of their own, etc. It ramped up the drama for the show, but left me wondering why someone like me with such a charmed existence ends up fat.
2. Most of the people on the 7 episodes I watched were severely obese, at least 100 pounds heavier than me at my heaviest and some twice my weight or more. Since the show only covers 6 months of transformation a lot of these folks were just getting to my weight when the show ended. The one woman who started at a weight close to my heaviest looked really amazing at the end and made me very optimistic.
3. It did motivate me in one simple way: if these people can work out as hard as they were at their size I am being awfully lazy.
At the end of that blog post in January I said I didn't think watching other people lose weight on TV would motivate me, well I was wrong. On Sunday I added a whole workout to my week. In addition to a 35 minute outdoor walk I did 25 minutes on the treadmill where I actually ran, ran! for 5 minutes. I then did push ups (I have not done push ups since I was forced by Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Junior High) and sit ups. I felt great when I was done, thanks Heavy for the extra push!
It's great to hear that watching Heavy results in motivation. And remember, the people on that show have one job while they're on the show - getting healthy. They have a team of trainers, therapists, and nutritionists to help them, as well as the other people in the program for support. I think you are doing an amazing job of getting healthy AND balancing work and a social life at the same time. No laziness here!
ReplyDeleteI totally get that Ingrid and I am strictly focusing on what they are physically able to do in the gym while carrying a lot more weight than I am. I am not expecting to lose 13 pounds a week like they do, but I can definitely push myself harder.
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