To the average person, the weather has changed, the birds and blooms.
Blah, blah, blah.
To the allergy sufferer and the chubby girl training and exercising, can we go back to chilly?
Yeah, OK, don’t panic. I haven’t switched to a weather article. Just saying exercising is easier when it is cooler.
I do have to give a shoutout to Cheryl, who I met in the cereal aisle at the grocery store two weeks ago. She stalked me and asked me if I was the one who writes the articles in the paper. We chatted for a bit over Special K.
I was standing there with a stranger, not anymore, who was teary-eyed telling me until my article she had given up on finding a way to keep at it.
She said she was always the big girl and in her 40s, and now, she was determined to just be that same way, but she read how raw and open I was and was inspired to pick back up at her pace.
I will keep my word and not share her personal information, but Cheryl, you are killing this. Don’t stop now. I want to finish this with you.
What is important for each of you to read is that we all — every single one of us — are battling something — addiction, eating disorders, depression, sadness, loss, dependency, lots of things.
Losing weight is not the only thing we can struggle with. You need to know that your current situation is not your forever situation. No matter your battle, you can turn it around. I promise you.
Remember that upside-down curveball I wrote about back in March? Yeah, the one that jerked the rug out from under me. Well, I have had to really modify, change my mindset in all aspects of life.
Do you know how hard it is to change the mind of a now 37-year-old stubborn (yes, Dad, I said it) girl? Well, it is real hard, but modify I have done.
I have to improvise right now for various reasons. I have turned aspects of my house into fitness stations. My son loves it. He is able to exercise right along with me.
Summer is busy — flat out. Sports, cookouts, events, daily life increasingly more hectic.
Remember, you have to plan your work and work your plan in order to succeed.
Current status: Maintaining and building to a stronger core. I have the best — literally the best — team of folks who keep me accountable, tell me what I need to hear and ask me what they can do to help.
My trainer that I met back in November, Kristy Smith, is amazing. She is literally a machine and inspires me each and every day to find a way to keep going.
While that curveball I write about has kept me from training with her regularly, I still find a way to incorporate what she taught me. She has started releasing videos of daily workouts, which she shares on her personal Facebook page, that I incorporate into my routines.
Keep ‘em coming, Kristy, even those dreadful elbow plank toe touches (insert death emoji face here).
Who said running the Oktoberfest race was a good idea? I am sitting at roughly 19 weeks before my race where I need to run the whole thing. Now, we turn up the heat. Now, we shift our focus.
This requires my running partner and I to constantly check each other’s workout plans, our meal plans and our struggles. It requires this partnership to be honest and accountable and push each other hard.
I won’t lie, I am nervous — real bad nervous. The main thing is can I really make the whole race running?
Lacing up new running shoes. Getting ready to sweat out the summer. Smiling the whole way knowing I am doing all this for me gives me that motivation I need.
If you see me on the busy city streets, along Walnut Street by the soccer fields of an evening, dragging myself through Sunset one slow jog at a time, just give me a shoutout. Remind me why I am pouring in sweat while your air conditioning is on.
Heather Chase is a Seymour resident chronicling her weight-loss and fitness journey. Chase will be writing a monthly column, published on the final Friday of each month, for one year with The Tribune. This month’s article is running on Saturday due to the high school sports postseason.