Betsy put her hands to her cheeks and said, “your face is so much slimmer.” Not the first place you expect to notice a difference…..but I’ll take it. Cheek bones are da bomb!

If you ask a group of women what she’s looking for in weight loss, slimming, toning – you will get a dozen different answers. We’re not all built the same AND I say GooD ThINg For ThAT! Diversity and variety is the spice of life. Beauty has no definition. I often think that beauty is a feeling, an energy, not a physicality.

Most often what all women want is for someone to notice “the change“. Where ever and whenever it comes, however small. As you start “becoming” someone who enjoys fitness, changes are going to happen. If you are quite overweight, like I was….[was] … so freaking good to say…you want pounds dropping off and you want your scale to clap every time you get on it! Adoration, please, Mr. Scale. Nothing less than adoration….I’m working hard over here!

But that’s not how it often works. One of my trainers, Betsy told me something one night when I was complaining (a little) about the scale not moving. She said, “weight loss isn’t the first thing that’s going to happen“. Huh? BUT I…..wan.t….

Later, David and Abby built on that fact and talked about how muscles are forming as my strength is being built. David is a preacher of “build strength first, then fat loss will come”. This IS why I’m having so much success losing fat with doing Kettlebells 3X a week for 39 minutes a session versus running crazy #’s of miles 6 days a week like I was 7 years ago. {Oh the irony. How perfect is the universe when it takes away the thing I clutched with my fist (running)….and replaced it with what I really needed (kettlebells}. When I was running, David said I was probably burning off fat and muscle. He’s not against running….just not cardio exclusively. Strength first. Always strength first.

So what impact has strength first brought to my life? Let’s review a few of the obvious.

#1 – I’m sitting here today wearing a pair of brand new, never worn Lucky Jeans that I bought 7 years ago. Why are they never worn? LOL, cuz they never fit. Back then, in 2013, when I ran my marathon – I was convinced that I’d never be fat again. I bought all these clothes, jeans, tops, in a size smaller than I was at that time. It was motivation to keep going. Not a terrible idea….I just hadn’t considered that my “change” back then wasn’t as positive, nor as sustainable as I thought. I was about to have a 2013 energy crisis….and revert back to a 260+ pound woman. It was unconceivable at the time. But it happened nonetheless.

#2 – I weighed in yesterday, and I’m 200.6. The day I ran my marathon, I weighed 197. So I was almost 4 pounds lighter back in 2013.

#3 – Back to #1. I’m wearing “the jeans that never fit at a higher weight today than when they didn’t fit.

It’s change.

My body is changing soooo much more with kettlebells than with running. It started with my face. Come here you gorgeous little cheekbones! I didn’t know I’d love you so much until I met you <3

Then, my pooch started to flatten. Come on ladies..you know the pooch. If we were kangaroos, they’d call it our pouch. But it’s the lovely little gift left behind by our babies.

Then my waist started to emerge. A waist! Followed by some collarbones, and then my sneakers got too big….it’s all change. It’s amazing!

Over there —— > Mr. Scale was doing his thing. Loving and hating me, AS HE TENDS TO DO. But my body, S.H.E wasn’t havin’ none of that. She was doing her thing. Burning fat and shifting things….she had her eyes on those jeans….and I didn’t even know it.

This all became real this morning, as I was drying myself off after my Sunday morning bath. I take a nice long warm bath on the weekend mornings….it helps me distract my mind so I can more easily make it to breaking my 18/6 fast later in the morning. I was drying off and caught a glance of myself in the mirror.

What. Are. Those ?

I noticed these two small indents to the sides of my tummy.

BY GOD – I HAVE ABS!

Those little puppies just emerged out of thin air and pasted a smile on my face that will last the month of February. Hot DAMN!

So the conclusion is this. We all walk into our gyms, and workouts and kettlebell studios for a reason. For way too long my reason has been what Mr. Scale had to say. I think I’m learning to care much more about the change my body is delivering. Heck, after I get past 197 pounds, the whole thing is a mystery anyway. I don’t KNOW what exists after that weight so it needs to stop being such a focus. Of course I’m still going to weigh in every week at WW – but the changes in my body are becoming equally, if not more important.

I’m so curious. Curious what lives beneath the fat that represents the years of damage I’ve done with sugar and junk food. Curious enough to try to learn how to do push ups. That’s my next goal. And hey, if I fall down and end up face down on the floor…..I’ll parlay that failure into a Plank. It’s all good! Those little baby Abs need attention too. LOL

Happy Sunday 🙂

Ciao for now…Diane