Digging Deeper....

"Sometimes you gotta push past the pain and DIG DEEP inside of you to make it through a workout!"

My inspiration for this post was that exact quote above that I heard while I was watching a DVR recording of the Biggest Loser yesterday on my lunch break and then continually put in my head with a conversation with my best friend and the feeling I felt as I ran the last 2miles of my running for the mini last night at the gym. 

I don't know if you guys have been following this recent season of Biggest Loser but I have been on and off or when I can catch an episode on my DVR lol, so far I am 4 episodes behind but hoping to get caught up over my spring break next week because I really want to be ready for the finale when it comes on and also just watching it some days inspires me and I connect so well with some of the players feelings and struggles. That all being said I know some don't like it because it's not realistic and let me tell you having lost over 120lbs at home, it is NOT easy and a ranch would have made it SO much better haha, but for the type of show and what the players are going though I think it has a lot of good elements for people watching and in the end we are all struggling the same. 

One of the was Blue Team now part of the Black Team players and biggest guy on the show Arthur made this quote when he was personally interviewed about how he made it on a stair stepper for 10mins. Mind you this guy is over 400lbs and the machine couldn't even almost with stand his weight. Anyways he talked about how he did and what helps him block out the horrible pain and wanting to quit feeling because most times he could only make it 2mins or so. I loved how he said "you have to dig deep inside" meaning the feeling of going inside of yourself to find the strength. That sparked a memory in my mind when I had that Arthur moment when I was on an elliptical at about 250lbs and pushed myself like I never had before and did it for an hour, not just my typical 15-30mins. I believe that day I had really had a stressful time as my parents were going through an ugly divorce and I was just DONE, I wanted to run away from my issues and be done. It was the first time in my journey to my goal that I felt I really, really wanted to turn back to cheeseburgers and food. I remember even thinking, "Why the heck am I going to the gym, when McDonald's sounds SO much!?". None the less I stuck with what my daily routine had been of the gym and drove their and past the food places. Well that day I "dug deep" and found that inner strength and did what I thought at that weight and  mental state I was incapable of doing. I just really focused on the stress I was feeling, the anger, the frustration and sadness and just busted it out. I remember on the 30min mark thinking I gotta quit my legs are killing me and that is when the digging deep begins in which I still do today. 

I had my friend who is starting who weight loss journey ask me "Kassey how do you go to the gym and push yourself, will I ever get there, and get past the pain and find the pleasure in it like you do?" I wanted to laugh at first because while yes I have found that "runner's high" these days and enjoyment not ever day do I skip to the gym lol and it does cross my mind to take a nap instead but it made me think about that digging deep inside you thing. It did get me to talk about how you I do find that level though of pushing when it seems physically impossible and then the great endorphin filled feeling you get once you do. It's almost an out of body experience because say your running at a 7mph and you are in the last stretch of a 20min run and that last two miles you just wanna quit, or it could be the last set of eight terrible bicycle crunches in a class at your gym where you wanna shoot the instructor for adding eight more, it's those moments where a lot of us quit or want to but where you have to push to inside of yourself and your determination rather than the physical part alone. It's like on the outside your body is SCREAMING for you to PLEASE stop lol but you have to ignore that and think inside of what really counts. It could be thinking of that feeling you know your gonna feel after, a goal, a family member, your kids, your husband, your dreams of finding love whatever it takes, FIND IT! I know as I lost weight one of my biggest concerns was being able to have children because due to the weight my hormones were so off and as are many women who are obese, and I would think when I wanted to quit early in a class or with my trainer that "Kassey is that 2mins worth more than your future with kids someday?". While yes that 2mins isn't probably THAT big, sometimes it takes goals that are that big to cause us to look outside of the physical pain for just a little longer and DIG DEEPER :). 

I hope this all makes sense and can be an encouragement to some because we all have the ability to dig deeper and really find that motivator inside of us and be able to push away the sweaty, shaky feelings of our muscles giving in or the pain getting to be too much. I am off to get through another busy day of midterms and life but just finished a great hour of yoga and now on to some running and zumba at the Y :)! Have a great Thursday!