In my friend’s words, “is it until you turn to a broom and disappear before you realize that you don’t need all these you are doing?” Those words were said to me some years ago. Okay, you are wondering what I was doing too? It was yoga.
I discovered yoga in 2020 during the pandemic when I was trying to find something to do with my life before boredom finished my life. It was 2021, and my friend had visited me very early in the morning around 7:00am, and that’s the time I work out. I work out in my room, thanks to Sarah Beth on YouTube whose videos I have been using to get better at Yoga.
Back to my friend’s words, I said to her “I won’t disappear. I only want to be healthy, and stronger than I actually was, and that’s my reason for choosing to work out in the first place”. Dieting? I don’t even eat much to start with, perhaps that’s why I lacked strength. So, my reason for starting to work out was to stay fit, fix my almost deformed shape caused by a hunched back that I got from trying to fit into the height of my mates in high school, and maybe have a little bigger bumbum (covers face).
From what I’ve learnt from experts and coaches, watching what you eat while maintaining a routine at the gym will help you get the desired results faster. From experience, I don’t know perhaps because even though I have sweet tooth, I eat quite small meal portions, and I prefer it’s a healthy combination. The mantra for my meal is “quality over quantity”.
Dieting and gyming work hand-in-hand. I remember seeing a video of a pot-bellied man who finished working out and returned home to a meal of fatty foods in a plate that would be finished by ten of me. When I saw it, I felt, “he goes to the gym for fun and not to maintain a healthy lifestyle”.
It’s 2024, I am yet to disappear, but I’ve attained a stronger body frame even though I still look as slim as ever. However, my back is very straight now, but my bumbum is yet to grow any bigger (bursts in tears). My meal portions have increased a bit, but not to an extent that would hinder the healthy lifestyle I’ve adopted.
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed working out. What started as a routine for me to get a straighter back has become something I can’t live without. My muscles are more relaxed, just that I’m yet to be able to a 100% split, I appreciate my body flexibility and the little strength I’ve added since I started.
However, there’s one thing I do that lands me in trouble every time. It is that I go beyond my capacity. When you do yoga, the instructor would say “don’t force a pose so that you can hold on to the pose for the duration you’ll be there”, however, in a bid to test my capacity, I go beyond my pain threshold. How do I know I’m passing my boundaries?
I suffer sprains. I know my body is trying to tell me something when my bones are sprained and are in pains, I take a step back, or I completely take a break from working out until I’m healed. There was a time I was maybe addicted to working out even while in pains, but I learnt to beat the addiction and just heal first.
Ever since I started working out, I’ve not experienced the toxic part of it maybe because I have a target for working out in the first place and I stick to it. Once the results were achieved, I draw up another one. I don’t try to lose weight because I was underweight. Rather, I try to maintain my weight and make my bones stronger with eating healthy and exercising.