yo.go.girl.

My wife is now up to 1.5 hours a day working out and seems to eat nothing but hemp rope (for the fiber) and has trouble keeping the weight down. After you reach a certain age your body just gets a ‘Prius’ like efficiency when it comes to food. Where my son can eat two ‘double doubles’ and still has a 1% BFI.

BTW, looking much better.

After completing two half marathons (one in November, one in February) I have completely fallen out of my fitness routine and am stuck so far in a rut right now I feel like I may never get out. Thanks for writing this. At least it helps me remember I’m not the only one this happens to.

Way braver than I could ever be…posting a before pic that is. I have the same problem- I have a 15yr old and a 5 month old now and there are days I just need the comfort foods. Trying to watch what I eat using the weight watchers online tracker and doing some sort of physical activity at least 3 times a week. I have a long way to go, but seeing post like this gives me some motivation! Thanks!

First of all, thank you for keeping it real around here. Secondly, your abs are to die for. I mean, you’re about to give Jillian a run for her money. Talk about inspiring!

Oh, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who really, really wants carbs and sweets when I’m sore from workout out. What’s UP with that? And, also, you rock for being brave enough to post the before pics — you couldn’t pay me enough to do that! Oh, and wowza, you look pretty rockin’ in those after photos!

Just…thank you for those “before” pics. They make me realize that even I could rock something vaguely similar to your “after” pics. How long did it take to go from before to after?

I was just out for an outdoor run in the sun with no music or specified place to be and it was pretty sweet. I wondered how you were doing and I’m happy to hear things are going good in this department right now.

There is nothing brave about posting your “before” pics because you look better than most people’s “after” pictures!! You looked great before, but good for you for doign what makes you feel best.

Thank you SO much for this post…dude it is SO true. Some of my hardest & lowest points in life recently have been running a half marathon & losing 20lbs…only to find myself 15lbs heavier and so out of running shape a few months later. It happens to the best of us and the rest of us.

Right now I am on a fitness high and *training for my first sprint Tri this weekend (my goal=, not getting eaten by a shark, not crying & screaming for help, not falling on my face during the 2.5mi run just because, and the biggest goal~finishing!) By training I mean I signed up 3 weeks ago because I run, bike & swim so why not all together? Now I am questioning that logic.

Thanks again for posting, this is awesome and it has taken me so long to realize that the only one who holds me accountable to being fit & feeling good is ME, and that is the hardest critic to please. You ROCK!

*Linking to this post on my fitness journal, hope that is kosher :-)

De-lurking to tell you that I really like your hair in the after photo!

THANK YOU for this post! I’m in a rut and trying to build the momentum to pick myself up out of it. Gosh, that last paragraph just resonated with me so hard. <3

You look great, btw.

It’s always a good feeling to get back on the wagon, your new(er) hair looks awesome, and as a lady who has about the same size boobs as you and is so tired of frumpy sports bras, PLEASE tell me what you are wearing so I can get one!

Dang girl! how do you get your abs so tight? You have a serious 4 pack going on there.

Brave Woman You Are:) I am trying Zoomba, and I think I am in love.

You look great! I have lost 32 lbs, but I still don’t look as good as you did in your before photo – my big problem is that I have droopy belly from my babies, and losing weight just seems to make the belly droop lower. Any suggestions?

Also, I started Bikram yoga this week because I bought a Groupon for it, and I love it love it love it!! :)

Whoa, you are badass. One, for posting your before pictures (although most people would kill to look like your “befores”), but for putting it out there. 2. For picking yourself back up. 3. Dude, your “after,” or shall we call it, the “ongoing”(?) … you are amazing. I totally feel inspired to lose the 7 lbs my doctor pointed out I gained this year. And the almost-10 from the year before. Oy.

You look fantastic! And thank you for sharing about slipping back into old, awful habits. I’ve gone up and down between both of my pregnancies and I’m trying to turn it around again. So hard to find the motivation. Thank goodness my 3 yr old loves the gym playroom. If I mention the gym he cries until we leave. Now if only I could convince my 14 month old I’m not leaving her forever.

Not only is your bod looking good, may I just say that your hair is awesome too these days? Love!

And I know I’ve said it before – maybe even here – but the best part of teaching at the gym is that it MAKES ME GO TO THE GYM. I cannot give any excuses to not go when I’ve got a class waiting for me. And I always love it once I get started, no matter how crappy I felt prior to class. I highly recommend teaching, once you have found that exercise passion and want to share it with people.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

I am not an exercise nut but this is both impressive and inspiring. Thanks for being brave enough to put your “bad” (though they really aren’t) pictures out there.

It’s really inspiring to see the progress you’ve made; that backsliding happens but the important thing is to get back on the exercise wagon and keep working. I think it’s brave to post the before pics but it’s so helpful to see a “normal” body in all its forms, both when you think it less than its best, and after you have worked to improve it. Great work; good for you for working hard to make a difference in your physical health/shape, and thanks for sharing your triumphs and struggles, with this and with everything else.

You are awesome – I so needed to read this and see your before and after pics today – over the last year I’ve lost about 80 pounds, which, hurrah, yes, but now I am stuck and I still have about 30-40 more pounds to lose (how is that even possible?? How can one person be that overweight?) I’ve been stuck there since about April, working hard and not seeing the weight come off – sure, I’m stronger, etc. etc., but dammit, I want my stomach to get smaller!! So you are motivating me to think about changing it up, trying something really new, and seeing where it takes me – and thank you for that. (Plus, you look freaking awesome, BTW. You really do have great abs!) ;)

I’ve been on WW for a few months now, seeing pretty steady results (about 1b. a week) but cannot get motivated to do any kind of exercise. My question is how do you motivate yourself to get off the couch and go….

I’ve been putting off posting my before and after shots. Mostly the before because, well, you know.

I might just do it already. Thanks, you.

Also? You = Hot, friend.

It’s so encouraging to hear about someone else who struggles–succeeds–backslides–wallows a bit–then gets back up and tries again. Makes me feel like this pudgy state I’m in (I swear, I never used to have a gut, but it n

Ahh! Sorry posting on phone–anyway, thanks for the update! Inspiring.

Ok, I hereby call bullsh*t on the belly complaining….REALLY? That is your TROUBLE area? Are…are you sure? Because from here it looks super! (not that I mean you don’t TOTALLY deserve to have fabulous abs after working it so hard…just that, well, the whole Albino Shar-pei thing doesn’t seem to respond much to aggressive work outs for me. Boo hiss.)

Thank you so much for sharing the before pictures. People backslide- it happens. And I see a HUGE difference in the After pics. Congrats.

You look FANtastic! Way to go! This is a well-timed post for me. I am reading Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. Both your post and the book seem to be speaking the same message to me!

I do love my workouts (on my own), but the actual act of GOING to the work-out doesn’t um, work out as well as I would like…meaning, I don’t make myself go as much as I should, but once I’m there I love it. And I have been over-indulging too much, too. I wish I could stop!

Thing 1: Your hair is unfuckingbelievable. Soo jealous.

Thing 2: It made me feel really good to read this. I read a lot of fitness blogs, and it seems like people only give the “why” when things are going well. Everybody has bad periods, and you talking about behind the scenes stuff gives so much more realistic a picture. I think that it definitely IS brave to post pics of yourself (even if you look hawt in both), because it shows that you struggle too, and you’re giving us the reasons why.

Thing 3: You’re a rockstar.

You had me at ‘cake’.

You get it together pretty fast, you look great.

I have the same issues, especially for a very specific week out of the month where all I want to do is wallow and eat choclolate. But everytime I backslide and get back to the gym, the pain and soreness should be enough to prevent the back sliding, but no.

I ride the same roller-coaster, and it gets exhausting. Thanks for posting; it helps to see that I’m not just “crazy”. Will we ever come out of this, and just find the balance??

I’m exactly the same…I’ve lost 70 pounds and you’re so right about how things go from in control to completely out of control so quickly…I’m also constantly figuring out new ways to keep myself interested with food and exercise. But I think once you accept that its a constantly changing thing, that acceptance itself helps. I always like to think of it as a company…a CEO isn’t going to make plans for one year that would be the same for the next year, it’s about going with all the external factors that are affecting the company blah blah shitty metaphor but you know, I like to think of myself like that too, constantly adjusting to the change and working ways around it.

Also, you look awesome! :)

Thanks for this. Backsliding is such a bitch, and it’s always so comforting and heartening to be reminded that things can be turned around again.

Seriously, you blow me away with your powerful writing. I love your writing and your insights, but cannot believe how you continue to surprise me with how amazingly awesome you are! Thank you.

I love how you let crossfit go since it wasn’t a good fit for you–you didn’t have any energy leftover to eat healthy and weren’t enjoying it so much. I would’ve continued to bash myself for my lack of self-discipline. Revolutionary to blame the routine instead. After all-it is ultimately about our overall health, mind, body and spirit and if something is making us feel bad about ourselves then let it go.

I also loved the before and after photos. It’s one thing to take the photos, but to post them–you are courageous. Not that you looked horrible in the before pics, but we all want to look our best and to have the courage to show yourself not at your best, to provide encouragement to others is awesome. You are looking amazing now so clearly your routine now is working for you!

Never give up. Loved that too.

You look great!! I actually just reached my first weight loss goal this morning, 17lbs down! I know that you had a lot to do with me knowing that it was possible for me to do this. I kept feeling horrible that I couldn’t get to the gym. I had a small child, I work full time, I just couldn’t handle taking more time away. Well….about 3 years and 2 kids later, we are finally doing it. After we put our kids to bed, my husband and I have been doing The 30 Day Shred every night. We have also been watching calories. I remember (many moons ago) when you just started w/ jumping around in your living room to a dvd. (I actually bought the same one you used, but I hate her. She’s evil). At any rate, I love the pics you posted. 2 kids and 2 c-sections later, I was really starting to worry that my stomach would always be flabby. It’s nice to know there is hope!!

AMEN! You look great! I love how balanced and rational you are about food and fitness. I especially love this quote “I could definitely be leaner if I didn’t inhale everything in sight like a starving teenager a couple days a week, but … well, life’s short, right? I have many ice cream related needs” You are right, life is too short to deny myself all of my indulgences….it’s all about balance. Thank you again for being a level headed, smart inspiration in the crazy world of fitness!

I tend to follow the same eating thought process – eat well during the week, have one (maybe two) nights on the weekend where I allow myself to indulge. Because giving everything up makes life not worth living, and you eventually end up just reverting back to cramming your face all the time. And who wants that? I say indulging once in a while is better.

But it’s the workouts. Sometimes I have such a problem sticking with getting my lazy butt to the gym. I know all about the back-sliding. Just as I start to get some momentum and am gaining ground on toning, I end up getting a little lazy and next thing you know, the clothes are tight again and the belly you are losing is making a fierce comeback.

Thank you for writing this! You are a complete inspiration, and you look fantastic!! I think I am going to make you my new motivation.

You inspire me BECAUSE you backslide from time to time. I can’t really relate to the type A fitness bloggers who live to exercise. You remind me that even if I lapse into my old bad habits (god, I love sugar!) I can make the choice to to get my butt back in gear in time to look pretty foxy at the neighborhood pool.

Linda – I’ve commented before (on previous posts) to say how inspirational you’ve been to me. Seriously. I still remember when you first tried TurboJam and the Abs DVD (with the funny guy). I bought those and they were my very first attempts to workout. I will forever be in debt to you.

I love to change it up too…since those early DVDs, I’ve tried bootcamp, Zumba, Kettlebells, TRX, even those Tracy Anderson DVDs :o) I think I’m just a fan of changing it up…so I can totally relate to this post.

I lost almost 50 pounds (I was 3 pounds from 50)…then I gained back about 15. It is so disheartening to see reverse progress. Its not that I ever really completely stopped, just stopped trying as hard.

It helps so much to know it happens to everyone so thanks for posting. By the way — do you read http://www.thegreatfitnessexperiment.com? I’m a fairly new reader, but OMG – she tries a new exercise every month and then reviews the results (like hula hopping one month, crossfit one month, running one month, yoga one month). Super cool experiment. I’m doing her Nov 2010 experiment right now. :o)

oh – and you look HOT. If those construction workers could see you now…. heeehee

You look awesome!! Very inspiring!!

THANK YOU for posting this. I’ve been backsliding very badly for …um, kind of a while now, I’ve lost track of how long, and this post is both comforting and inspiring. You look great, but more important, you seem really happy. Glad you left XF and decided to do something else, it’s clearly working! :)

I SO needed to see this. I completed P90x and was so proud of myself. And then…nothing. I quit working out. And now I’m so angry. I worked my ass off to finish that program and now I’m losing weight but I think it’s just because the muscle I built up doing P90 is going away. I swore I wasn’t going to let myself lose my momentum and yet here I am.

I don’t know why it has to be so hard either. I think about my weight CONSTANTLY and I’m just so sick of it.

Anyway, you look amazing and thanks for sharing!

You look fantastic, first of all. Secondly, I love the bit about having ice cream needs. Hilarious!

This really resonates with me as I’m trying really hard to get into the swing of fitness. It’s tough. Especially the not-eating-everything-in-sight part.

I just read this article on “Depletable” self control, and this blog entry totally reminded me of it. http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/89377/poverty-escape-psychology-self-control

Maybe you couldn’t control yourself from bingeing on carbs after cross-fit NOT because your body was trying to heal itself, but because psychically you couldn’t deprive yourself of another thing? I think that’s why finding exercise that you actually enjoy is so important, it isn’t creating a misery void that you then need to fill with food.

Also, I am a newly pregnant first time mom- and I have been reading your archival baby blogs for laughs (and information). Thanks for those!

Looking good, looking good! After losing 22 lbs during a fitness contest my work was hosting, I gained it all back in the three months of never ending winter over here. Now I am back in the saddle again, running, yoga, eating lean, and I feel so much better and look way better too. Why is this so hard to remember???? Thanks for the post, and sharing.

Dude, you look great! I think you’re right; the most important part of any fitness routine is getting back off the wagon after you inevitably fall off.

What’s JB up to for his fittness these days? Still boxing?