The times, they are uh-changin'

I love the lady gym!! Just something about it - the people, the group classes, the energy. I am never really disappointed when I go no matter what class I take. Although, I have a new favorite instructor that I just started taking classes from a few weeks ago and have been stalking her in her classes ever since.

This instructor is hard core and she has like the perfect athletic body. Somebody who I am sure, has always been into fitness and it shows. Well friends, I was wrong (shocker, I know).

During one class last week I heard her say that she used to be over-weight. So I am thinking "oh she lost her last 10 pounds, good for her!"

Sidenote - I am being sincere in this statement. Losing weight is soooo tough! I would never put someone down for trying to get healthy. Whether you are trying to lose 2 pounds or 200 pounds (or 1 stone for my friends who weigh in other standard units of measurement), my hat is off to you and I wish you all the success in the world!!

The next day, I showed up to a class early and was pleasantly surprised to see that she was the instructor. She seems very open like I am and we were alone, so I asked her about her weight loss. I was wrong again. Turns out she lost 87 pounds. She is about 5'2 so that number is super huge! Did I tell you she has like the perfect athletic body? I was shocked. She gained alot of weight with pregnancies and only started working out about 3 years ago after she started Weight Watchers and now she is BIG TIME into fitness and being an instructor.

Now fast forward to a few days later when I show up to take her Zumba class (my 5th Zumba class that week). There was a woman who is about 60 who was taking the class as well. I guess she had been in a class with me earlier in the week. She approached me and said "you must really like Zumba, I think you take a lot of classes." I told her I loved it and how it helped to shape my waist and abs. She then told me that I hop around alot and am very bouncy. I could not help but laugh. I told her how I wasn't always able to do that. I told her when I first started taking classes that I weighed almost 300 pounds and you just cannot hop around when you are that heavy.

This is where heads snapped and jaws dropped, including the instructor. And I got the question I had never gotten before "you used to weigh almost 300 pounds?" I could not help but feel happy inside. I must look far enough away from 300 pounds now that it is hard to picture me that heavy.

So far on this journey, most people knew me when I was at my heaviest. These are some of the first people I have encountered that did not know me then.

Today in a class I noticed something else. I am no longer the least fit person in a room. That used to bother me. Not to be the heaviest, but to be the least fit. When the class would do something challenging and I struggled. I still struggle with difficult moves and heavy weights but I am what I consider a fit person now.

So the times are uh-changin'. Last year I would not have said that. But I have created someone new. A fit, fun person. Hopefully I still feel fit at turbo kickboxing tonight. Burn calories, burn!