Finally, the Core Fusion Post

This morning I fell prey to a problem common to many after Thanksgiving weekend: none of my pants fit. After all that turkey, gravy, sweet potato ravioli and pumpkin pie, I haven't a thing to wear. Only, not quite the way you might expect. All my pants are too big. It's okay if you need to take a second to hate me a little bit. I'd hate me too, if I didn't know better. My favorite part of the story is the fact that it happened backwards, and being skinny is purely a side-effect of the pursuit of healthy living. I didn't start working out to lose weight. After I had Matteas I had about 15 extra pounds that just wouldn't go away, and while I was really unhappy with my softer, curvier body, I made a decision that changed my life. I decided I was tired of being unhappy with my body. I realized that I could spend my life feeling at odds with my physical self, or I could start appreciating my body for the things it could do instead of what it didn't look like. For starters, I'd grown two human beings from scratch. That was pretty amazing. Next, I made a mental list of all the things I was grateful to my body for being able to do: having healthy labors; being able to wrestle with my boys; having the strength to carry Matteas in a backpack on 3-mile hikes; being able to work in the garden; running through the back woods with Jack; skiing with Aaron. Sure, I'd like to look great in a bathing suit, but being able to do all those things really was more valuable to me than how I looked. Then I started seeing a chiropractor, which further improved the health of my body and relieved all my lower back pain. That was a huge turning point; I hadn't realized how much energy it was taking out of me to be in pain all the time, and once it was gone I felt reborn. Our friend Trevor kept raving about his personal trainer Laura, who happens to live two blocks from my house(if you're in the area and looking for a great trainer, e-mail me for her info). I realized that if I wanted to take better care of my body I was going to have to make space for that to happen, so I called Laura and made an appointment and then called the babysitter. I see Laura once a week, and our appointments motivate me to work out in between so that I can keep improving my performance each week. And then, thanks to my amazing goddess of a cousin Kayleigh, Core Fusion came into my life. Core Fusion was started in Exhale studios in New York, and some of the workouts are now available on DVD. Plans are in the works to open a studio in Seattle, at which point I will stalk them relentlessly. The beauty of Core Fusion is that it doesn't waste your time; every single movement has purpose and is designed with the support of the whole body in mind. My sciatica still bothers me from time to time if I'm not careful, but I'm able to do Core Fusion workouts without irritation because of the integrity of the movements; the exercises strengthen the body without stressing it. Don't misunderstand, it's hard. Ridiculously hard, at first. The first time I did one of the DVD's was so alarmed by the level of difficulty that twice I started giggling uncontrollably; I simply didn't know what else to do. It's a way of moving that is unlike anything else I've ever tried. It's so intense, so complete, so efficient. Your entire body will be absolutely exhausted by the end of the workout. But its intensity is also its greatest appeal; by my third time through the DVD I was able to complete the entire workout with considerably less difficulty. It was still challenging in the extreme, but I could feel that my body was stronger after just three workouts. Thanks to Core Fusion, I was able to eat like a hog the whole time I was in New York and lose weight, and that was only doing three Core Fusion workouts that week. Lest you doubt my criteria for "eating like a hog," I'll give you a few examples; one night I went out for an early dinner by myself and ate a lobster roll. This consisted of an entire lobster tossed with a mayonnaise dressing and served on top of a roll soaked in butter. Three hours later I ate another dinner of salad, fresh cheese and bread, roasted hen with turnip mash, pasta with boar ragu. And wine. Each morning began with a few big cups of coffee with plenty of half-and-half, oatmeal with butter and sugar. Lunch is usually pretty substantial, a big salad with poached eggs, cheese, whatever leftover meat I have in the fridge. I eat like this nearly everyday(minus the lobster, but only because it would get expensive). What all this leads me to believe with utmost conviction is this: the human body was made to move, and move often. Do that, and you can eat pretty much anything you want. During all this Core Fusion and personal training, I have never once restricted my food intake. I eat a lot of fat. I eat a lot, period. At this point, I'm working out three times a week, which seems to be kind of the magic number for my body. An hour of personal training, an hour of Core Fusion, and at least one run of 3-4 miles. If it's a great week I'll add a few Core Fusion workouts, but just doing the above seems to be enough to maintain my progress. It even allowed me to take the entire week of Thanksgiving off to eat and eat and not work out at all, and not gain an ounce. Now that Thanksgiving is over and I'm not spending two days cooking for a single dinner, I'm back to working out three times a week. I cannot recommend Core Fusion enough. I promise it will be one of the toughest workouts you will ever try, but I can also promise it will be the most rewarding. You don't have to spend hours on the treadmill, you just have to work your muscles correctly. I should mention that I have never been the type of person who enjoyed working out; I ran a lot as a teenager, but that was mostly because I wanted the endorphins and not because I'm one of those people who feels driven to exercise. I get bored very quickly with exercise. Core Fusion is different. It will change how you feel about exercise, it will change how you feel about your body, it will change the way it feels to exercise your body. Plus, it does great things for your backside.