Awakening My Inner Superhero

[AmyTheMagnificent]

Good Afternoon, glad to be here.

 

By day, I am a 31-year-old desk jockey from Connecticut trying to pick up the pieces of my life after finally mustering up the nerve to leave a 14-year-long abusive, unfaithful marriage. I enjoy cooking, camping, writing, makeup, interior design, anything British, and music, particularly metal.  I have always been a little on the heavier side, topping out most recently at 199lbs on my 5'5" frame, constantly telling myself for years that no matter how much I may feel trapped in my own skin, nothing but that bucket of extra crispy or that NY style brick oven pizza will make me feel better. Except maybe for glitter. I'm easily distracted by shiny objects... don't judge me.

 

Then one day, I woke up.

 

Finally, I decided one day back in January that I was completely dissatisfied with where my life was headed. I had a terrible marriage, a dead-end job, and a complete lack of any inspiration or positive thoughts about myself or my abilities.  I wish I could pinpoint exactly what made me stand up one day, look myself in the mirror and say "today's the day," but I really don't know.  I just decided I had had enough of feeling sorry for myself and my situation... the only one who can change your journey is yourself, right..?

 

So I looked back into my past, trying to remember a time when I was thoroughly happy with my life and I remembered when my best friend and I used to entertain ourselves in high school by creating our own fictional universe, where we would rule absolutely, oompa-loompas were evil, and leprechauns were the ones responsible for the items that always went missing from your laundry (don't ask).  Anyhoo, we decided the capital city of this utopia would be christened Spiffyville and I would rule as Amy The Magnificent, Supreme Empress.

 

That's when it hit me. My alter-ego never left me, she's just been frozen in all her fantabulous glory in a paralyzing slumber, waiting for something epic to awaken her... and what can be more epic than becoming a superhero, right..?

 

I had been reading the NerdFitness blog for about a year now, finding it to be a breath of fresh air to the normally much more pretentious reading material out there, and all the while thinking to myself "these are my people... these people have what I've been missing all along!" and that's when Amy The Magnificent took over, lit a fire under my ass, and got me on the track I have been following since then.

 

My first order of business was to take care of my diet.  I am the girl who swears she keeps Andy Capp's Hot Fries in production, enjoys her beer "the darker, the better," and has tried all of those insane "gastric nightmare" carnival foods that come out yearly. I knew something had to be done there, but I knew it couldn't happen all at once... if I made too drastic of a change too quickly, I would set myself up for failure and the inevitable pity party.  So, in reading about the paleo diet, I have started edging myself ever so slowly to the cliff... not jumping all the way. I have cut out about 90% of the carbs and sugars in my diet, and begun keeping track of my caloric intake using a handy-dandy app for my 5th appendage, my phone. I can't bring myself to cut out dairy yet, but baby steps, people.

 

Next on the agenda..? Fitness. I used to attend dance classes as a child and teenager, and have some significant cartilage issues in one knee because of it.  In the past, I always used to use that as a crutch or excuse not to work out... "oh, the treadmill will kill my knee after 10 minutes... blah blah blah..." Amy The Magnificent wasn't having any of my excuses.  If I want to be the supreme ruler of Spiffyville, I need to get off my ass and work for it!  Come to find out, I cannot only last longer than 10 minutes on a treadmill, but I love every second of it! I joined a gym approximately 4 weeks ago and try to do an hour of cardio 5 days a week... I know it's not the standard dead lift superhero workout I've been reading all about on the blog, but I figure once I feel good about where I am health and circulatory-system-wise, I can venture into the unknown territory of toning and buffing up.  So far, I am happy to announce that as of this morning, I have lost exactly 10 pounds from where I began... TOTAL ego boost! =)

 

Anyhoo, that's my story for the time being... had I not found this site, I'm not sure my inner supreme being, superhero or not, would have been awakened. I have you to thank for putting me on the path to this adventure and I can't wait to share where it takes me.  Amy The Magnificent, signing off. =)

 

 

[Oldboots]

By the sounds of things, the super hero has picked herself back up, dusted her self off and started to walk tall with her chin up   Excellent work Amy The Magnificent.

Congrats on losing that 10lbs, just reafifrms your choices were the right ones. Always good to hear.

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on the weight loss! I love that you and your friend had a whole empire land, I did that with my friends too. As far as giving up dairy, if you don't seem to have any health issues, you may be fine with it.

[Noname123]

Congrats on the weight loss so far, and awesome to see the excitement to keep the momentum going I picked up weights after a month or a little more of straight cardio. Spin was my cardio of choice, but I got hooked on races. Are you signing up for any fun 5ks in your area? 

[AmyTheMagnificent]

Thanks for all the support... It really means a lot. As for the 5k's... I'm definitely a speedwalker, but haven't quite kicked my fear of running yet. Now that the weather here in the northeast has stopped PMS-Ing as bad as it was all winter, I'm going to try and get out for a jog or two... I live on a dead end circle with a school at the end, so I have a nice course at my disposal! :-)

[Trix]

Speedwalking and running are quite different, so you may never know until you try.

 

Nice to meet you, Amy the Magnificent

[Noname123]

Also plenty of people walk 5ks If you do like moderate jogging intervals finding  a running in the group in the area to build a support group- the one in my area has people who run sub 6 minute miles and people who run/walk 20+ minute miles, they're great support groups and help get you excited and build a routine