New and can't wait to get back in shape.

[Laurette]

I'm Laurette, and I can not wait to start getting fit again. Basically, from the time I was three until I was 17, I danced. Through most of high school it was up to 6 hours a week or so, of mad stretching and cardio and exercises. I was pretty flexible, had super leg muscles, and decent arm strength. After I graduated high school I unfortunately fell out of dance, and out of exercise in general. I was dealing with anxiety, and various other things, and became pretty much sedentary. I'd been out of the habit of eating well for most of high school, but with the dancing and my teen metabolism, it didn't matter, I was at most 135, until I dropped my hours of dance to all of 2 a week (and much less exercise intense classes as well), and started eating even worse and dropping most other activities, and I shot up to 170 (I'm 5'4").

I know most of this was because the fat was laying over muscle, as I was still fairly strong. In the next year or two I dropped back down to about 130-ish, and stayed there a while, and am now 150. This isn't terrible, and I still like to think I carry it very well, but in the past two years, I've lost so much strength and muscle. I hadn't really noticed, until I was showing off old dance moves for my boyfriend, and went to do a bridge. A bridge is a super basic move you learn way way back in tumble bears, where you lay on your back with your knees bent, and place your hands on the floor above your shoulders, with finger tips pointing towards toes. Essentially a back bend, but starting from the ground instead of bending into it. (this: http://static2.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/5/4/6/large2/6450534.jpg). I got into position, and started to push, and while my legs lifted my hips, much to my shock, my shoulders didn't move. I couldn't lift myself with my arms into a bridge. This simple move that I'd done for over 15 years with no thought to it, and suddenly I was too weak to execute it anymore. It was sort of a waking point for me, that I had lost all of my dancer strength, and that was heartbreaking.

I've already lost a couple of inches off my waist, though weight has barely changed at all, just from changing my diet. I didn't change my diet for the purpose of losing weight though, I had to change it because the reactionary hypoglycemia I've had my whole life, that almost never acted up when I was exercising regularly, started acting up more as soon as I cut my hours of dance, and got progressively worse since. I have to be super careful about what I eat and when now, or my blood sugar dropping can lead to headaches, anxiety, depression, terrible mood swings (hello sobbing because i dropped my plate of food, and throwing a fork in anger), mental fog/confusion, forgetfulness, and I haven't even gotten to the physical symptoms of nausea, shaking, feeling tired, feeling weak, and dizziness/feeling faint. I want to be active again because it helped a lot with all of those.

The funny thing, is that just in reading the website, I've noticed that the Paleo diet (which I'd never even really heard of) is basically the same as my diet to deal with hypoglycemia, just without the emphasis on complex carbs and having to make sure I at least snack every three hours. I'd been searching and searching for body weight program (I just can't bring myself to pay for a gym where I'm not even sure I'd know what to do, surrounded by strangers) and had no idea what to do instead of pull ups for most of them, but I totally have the ability to do inverted rows here, which I hadn't seen mentioned before, and I'm thrilled to death. I can do this, no excuses, and I'm so excited.

[cactuscat]

Hi there

I had a vaguely similar experience, but with swimming. I used to race when I was a kid, but quit due to my anxiety disorder, and it wasn't until I tried to swim 1.5k again as an adult that I realized just how much fitness I'd lost!

Are you planning to get back into dancing? What sort of dance did you train in? I want to get strong enough to try breakdancing one day - I've got quite a long way to go, though!

Good luck with your goals!