The Past
My identity is wrapped up in being a runner. After almost 42 years of running, it is part of my fiber. But instead of being
my best friend like it used to be, because of a moment in time in May 1983, I realize now, that it was starting to be my enemy. Since this article is about the present, I won’t go into the details, but if you want to learn what happened on that day, you can read my “About” story here.
The Present
Fast forward almost 25 years to a day in my life now…
I am an early riser by nature, but until recently, when I woke up, because of my chronic illness, my body felt like it had run a marathon the day before. These days, however, I have more enthusiasm for life and I seem to need a little less sleep because I sleep more soundly. I don’t get tired all the time like I used to, either. Two significant events have occured and one is that I have finally accepted that there are other ways for my physical being to achieve success than just going out the door day after day and failing at trying to recreate a past and the other is that I now have a low stress job. Now there is a present that includes running but doesn’t revolve around solely running and miles run or times run or how many days in a row that I’ve run. It is a big weight off of my shoulders. I also don’t have to
work seven days a week like I used to (unless, of course, if I want to!)
The greater focus now is on a balanced, total body workout that includes doing a strength training workout on DVD (which I had never done before), running, logging into my Million Dollar Body Club member site and joining a group of other people in the WOWY online gym who are also committed to achieving their health and fitness goals. It is also a much more balanced life, too, with workouts that are fun again and that I look forward to doing, being able to workout with my WOWY “friends” and spending time with my family while I work out!
Now, when Daddy (I have a 3 year old daughter Grace and a 1 year old daughter Carly) works out, that means he goes to the playroom/workout room, puts a DVD in the player and starts working out. Instead of being gone for an hour or more to run, he just goes for 30:00 or sometimes not at all. Instead of going out the door and being gone to run, now my daughters can see me doing my workout and I am being a role model for them in the process. And just as an aside, if I am in the middle of a workout and there needs to be a diaper change or there is something that one of them absolutely has to show me, I just push pause.
So what do I get for $2.99 a week as a Million Dollar Body Club member besides WOWY? Twice a week there is a new
episode of BNN TV (on the computer), there is Slim Style (okay, I’m not exactly a GQ guy but it is probably interesting to most people), Thin Kitchen cooking videos (which are great), Trainer Tips from real experts and a whole slew of additional resources including healthy recipes, fitness tools, a wealth of fitness and health articles and much, much more.
Finally, what’s my favorite part of being a Million Dollar Body Club member? In a word – WOWY (okay, so that’s four words – Work Out With You). When you log into WOWY to start your workout (which I do every time so that I have a chance to win that day’s prize), I see all of the other people working out. Monday, for example, there were 162 people all over the country working out at 4:00 pm MT. Just to name a few of the people working out right now, there is Anna in California who has lost 41 pounds, Ryan in Missouri who just started at the beginning of January and has already lost 5 pounds, Janette in Arizona who has lost 11 pounds and so many, many more (actually 56 to be precise). I think that it is just great to see these other members, know what workout they are doing and feel the enthusiasm in their comments. To me this is what being a Million Dollar Body Club member is all about – the camaraderie and fellowship of a national fitness community that can all say, “Working out just got fun again!”
PS If any of you want to log into WOWY, just send me an email at howtobefit@aol.com and I will send you an invitation to work out. It is as simple as that!
