Confessions of a Fitness Blogger

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

09 Apr 2008 09:42 AM

Some days, I just don't want to get out of bed. Some days, I just don't know what to sit down and write when I pull up the screen. I have a confession to make, for someone who writes about fitness, enjoys fitness and works out regularly; I've been struggling for months to maintain my motivation, stay alert and just stay focused.

It's hard.

Tell Me Something I Don't Know

Life is hard. I've always known this and I think hard work encourages a person to persevere beyond what they could do normally. That being said, I think that after knocking down brick wall after brick wall, anyone would get frustrated to find that there was just yet another brick wall on the other side of the fence.

Tune Ups

So what do you do? What do you do when your workout isn't getting results? What do you do when your frustration with it has you wanting to throw in the towel entirely? You get help. You talk to a professional and you get advice. In my case, I went to the doctor for my yearly checkup. Now as you may recall, I went to the doctor in February of last year only to discover that I had a mass on an ovary that needed to be removed.

I was fortunate, although the surgery was a great deal more difficult than they anticipated; I did not as it turned out have cancer. This was fantastic news, but my recovery time took a great deal longer than expected. As the year progressed, I began having more and more problems with my teeth. In August of last year, I had all my wisdom teeth removed. Again, the results were great, but the recovery time took forever.

That brings us to the present, after months of constant colds, sinus infections and illnesses every time I turned around, I went to my family physician with my complaints. I work out regularly, but I never seem to lose any weight anymore. My energy levels don't stay as high as they once did. I snore. I have difficulty maintaining my concentration and my ADHD, once manageable with a lot of little tricks, seems to flare up more and more.

And the Doctor Said ...

She gave me a full check up and went over her findings along with her advice. First and foremost, she wanted to order a sleep study. She said my symptoms indicated a sleep disorder, but they require a sleep study to truly diagnose. She wants me to amend some of my eating habits (oh, for example my Starbuck's addiction) and to finally, and forever, quit smoking. A habit that I have tried to kick repeatedly as I have detailed here.

But one problem at a time is probably the best way to address the issue. So that's what I did - we'll talk about the sleep study in more detail in the next blog.

Confession

So why am I telling you all of this? Because fitness is about a state of mind, body and spirit. It's not just about how many pounds you can lift and how many miles you can walk. We all have problems and we can all overcome them, sometimes we just need to be able to ask for a little help. If you have a fitness confession to make, feel free to click on my name and send me a private message here. Remember, you're not alone.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger

Mirius (5) 07 May 2008 08:17 AM

Fitness is a state of mind, and I should know about not being motivated. But we have to remember that there are physical obstacles as well. The body is remarkably adaptive - at least in certain ways that aren't useful to us! If you've been running the same exercise routine for a while then it's almost inevitable that you won't be getting results and you'll have hit a plateau. Change is the answer, shift your routines, use alternative exercises, surprise the body.

Heather Long (16954) 07 May 2008 08:19 AM

Absolutely Mirius, thanks for your comment. Shifting routines to keep your body on its toes so to speak is the way to go.