Hi everyone, it’s been a while (understatement) since i’ve posted a blog. Lately i’ve just been enjoying life and posting stories of my every day shenanigans on my @valbasedlife IG account. My life has had some ups and downs (mostly ups) this past year and I’ve been living more in the moment than I ever have before, which has been really nice. One thing that has stayed consistent is my love for plant-based food and fitness. And while my love for fitness has stayed the same, I’ve noticed something this past year that has changed, and that’s my body! For the past several months I’ve been struggling to achieve my fitness goals, whereas I can typically achieve them fairly quickly. I found myself working harder than usual to reach my goal, and then when I did reach it, I would quickly go back to not feeling as fit as I’d like to be. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the number on my scale, but more so the way my body felt. I just didn’t’ feel as strong as I normally do. I kept asking myself what I was doing wrong, it was really frustrating! I even found myself blaming the choreography in my pure barre workouts, and almost cancelled my membership after being a devoted member for almost 7 years. In all fairness, though, the choreography at pure barre isn’t always that challenging, so I’m not completely off there.

Several times throughout my above frustrations I thought to myself, “well, I’m just getting older, it’s all downhill from here”. Maybe that’s somewhat true, but If I had just taken the time to speak with a personal trainer or fitness expert (or even done a simple google search), I would have quickly learned that what I actually needed to do was more weight training. The National Association of Sports Medicine says that after 35, you lose 0.5% to 1% of your muscle mass per year. That, may sound scary, but the catch is that you’ll lose muscle at that rate if you DON’t exercise. So If I was able to maintain my muscle mass in my 20’s or early 30’s with only a couple of weight training sessions a week, I now need 3-4 days a week of weight training.  

So, I made the decision to put my orange theory membership on hold and focus more on building long lean muscle. Now, instead of two pure barre classes plus two orange theory classes weekly (which has been my routine for the last 7 years) I now just take 4 pure barre classes. I’m also more focused on taking long walks and getting my steps in on my FitBit https://www.fitbit.com/, which has been fun because it gets me out of my apartment more. I try to get in about 10k a day.

Once I tweaked my routine I immediately saw results and felt like my old self again, and I’m not exaggerating. I just wish I would have figured it out sooner. Again, the number on my scale has stayed the same but my body has gone back to feeling fit and strong.

I don’t ever expect to look the way I did when I was 30, trying to attain that will drive anyone crazy since our bodies are meant to change over time. I believe aging is a privilege and I’m just trying to be the best version of myself at my age.

PS, I’ll be 37 in July! Time sure does fly.

May 2022