Now, I need your imagination here.
Imagine securely strapping these bags to his body. Then, we'll proceed to ask him to do a few things like climbing stairs, walking or jogging a couple of miles, doing push-ups, and jumping jacks... all-the-while having the extra 80+ pounds on him constantly. Moving that extra weight against gravity would be difficult even for Superman Cain. Now strap the bags to a person with less strength and endurance and tell that person he/she has to live daily carrying around the extra weight. Sounds miserable, but that is what I've done to myself. I have 70+ extra pounds of fat "strapped" to me that makes daily moving so unnecessarily difficult. Woof.
What made me think of this? I've been doing the "Jillian Michael's
I struggle with jumping jacks. And no wonder! I've got "70 pounds of dog food" strapped to me! (I have no idea how someone with 200+ pounds of dog food strapped to them could do it).
It's really hard for me to do these exercises, but here's the plus-plus if I endure and continue: My muscles will become stronger trying to move my extra weight while at the same time (knock on wood) losing the extra weight. The exercises and daily movement in general will become easier and easier. Then, maybe, I might actually enjoy jumping jacks as much as Jumping Jillian seems to.
For now, I just enjoy knowing that I did it, "bags" and all.
Jumpin' Jack Gina!
ReplyDeletePlease let us know how the shred goes.
I shall be watching you intently... she said in a menacing yet non-stalkerish tone... to see how you're doing.
Guilt, guilt, guilt, pressurepressurepressure.
Um... unless guilt and pressure don't motivate you to keep going, in which case please ignore the last few paragraphs.
p.s. Go to bed already! Sleep is important.
p.p.s. If you feel the urge to post any pictures of your beautiful German Shepherd Dog, that would be considered a kindness. My poor shepherd is old & sick & tired. To give you an idea of her condition, I took her for a long walk today -- down to the corner and back. That was a marathon to her. Time was when a four-mile walk would merely take the edge off her energy level before we hit the dog park. Sigh.
Good for you! I have to admit that I struggle with the impact of jumping jacks so would question dear Jillian saying anyone can do them. Well, I guess that is not quite right... I guess I just question if she should offer modifications for low impact options. Not that YOU need that, obviously:)
ReplyDeleteIt's really startling when you equate body weight to another object. Like my 20 pound toddler. I'm finding it tough to even carry her in my arms now, and I was lugging that much weight on my body after she was born.!
ReplyDeleteJust remember it'll keep getting easier and easier. Keep up the good work!
Great way to show others what it is that they may be doing to themselves in terms of carrying that extra load. Great Gina!
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, look at all the things you have at home for a workout! People can use water jugs, laundry detergent, DOG FOOD bags to do some resistance training & there are lots more things there to use! AND you can use them just to walk.. maybe hole 1 dog food bag & walk around the yard a fewt times! :-)
Good job on the jumping jacks!!! Jillian is a killah!!
ReplyDeleteI love this post!! It's a great visual way to see what we are going to ourselves! I have a 40 pound bag (ok, who am I kidding, I have a 50 pound bag) I'm carrying around!
ReplyDelete(I have to admit, I took a few minutes just staring at Dean Cain....wow he's cute!)
I have the cardio biggest loser dvd that I love..and the first time I did the jillian 10 minute workout, I was yelling "YOUR KILLING ME!!". It still amazes me how fast the body adapts though and after a week I was doing better and a little more each time.
I will have to get the Jillian Shred dvd, sounds like another winner:)
On the flip side of this, when you lose say, 5 lbs, think about that 5 lb bag of sugar or flour that you just took off. I remember when my son was born and he felt like a feather to pick up, but after carrying him around for 15 minutes or so, that 7 lb bundle of joy didn't feel so light anymore.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the next time you are doing your jumping jacks you can motivate yourself to go on knowing how many fewer bags of sugar or adorable babies you are going to be carrying around!
Yep, have done the same thing myself - and found that even a pound is a noticeable weight once you've done with just lifting it. I'm just aiming to get rid of ten pounds myself, and I found that dragging ten pounds of sugar (purely for photographic purposes, of course) back from the supermarket was actually kind of hard work. Enlightening. Scary.
ReplyDeleteI know of a blog where a guy just ate monkey chow to lose weight, I don't know about dog food, lol.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to exercise, I'm an advocate of consistent daily walking, 45-60 minutes for the best weight loss results. I know saying this will never get me famous as an author or on tv but the thing is, it works.
I remember carrying in two bags of water softener salt - the same weight as the dog food - after I lost 100 pounds. I could barely get up the two steps into our house. Wow, what a visual and physical image of progress.
ReplyDeleteWhile I lost weight, I would periodically carry stuff around a store representing the amount of weight I had lost to that point - frozen chickens and turkeys work quite well...then I toted around my toddler at the time. It was amazing how tired I got.
It adds up and it is definitely worth the effort!
Skye's the Limit wrote:
ReplyDeleteLoved this post! Sadly, I am still carrying almost 3 of them suckers!!! Geez, it's no wonder I can't keep up with my teenager! And to think, I've already lost almost one of them! (-31 lbs so far) So, that would have put me at 4! My goodness! ) :
As I was reading your post, and before I got to the end, I was thinking to myself, "Yea, and on the 30-day Shred, level one, Jillian says, "We're right here with you." and something else about knowing how it burns." I always think to myself, "No, you don't because I am 200 pounds and you're a whopping 105 or something. I'm doing all of your workout with 60+ pounds extra on my body that I don't need.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I always think that I will just get stronger, while losing the weight, because I persevere through her workouts. Jumping jacks are getting easier, but I still can't do the jumprope and jumping jacks back to back. I have to "jumprope" from one foot to the other juring that set.
Great post! Have a nice weekend!