40

40

          At the ripe old age of 28 a doctor informed me that my current stress levels were quickly making my 30^th birthday a pipe dream. He suggested exercise. So I drafted a will (just in case), joined a gym and started exercising. I loved it!

I made it to 30 and to top that milestone won a national beauty pageant to boot. For the next 365 days I traveled the world and had the time of my life. I went through so many different airports that I started keeping a journal of the best places to eat. FYI Chicago has the best meatloaf! And being a polite southerner, I never passed a cocktail party buffet without becoming personally acquainted. Unfortunately, exercise began a slow descent down my ladder of priorities. To compensate I learned the tricks of the trade. Spanx became my new best friend. If I had one too many appetizers at the Victor Awards I would just slap on an extra pair. Ever in denial, after a while I convinced myself that the lack of circulation to my lower extremities gave my face a nice girlish flush.

After my pageant days were behind me I found a new gym and attended regularly. However, much like church, attendance alone does not success guarantee. If your heart isn’t in it you are simply wasting space. I rarely left the gym having generated enough sweat to trigger my super strength deodorant much less my metabolism. Then on April 27, 2011, an EF4 tornado destroyed my gym and I gave myself permission to sit on my bum and wait for the construction of its replacement. By the time the grand opening invitations were mailed, over a year, and a good ten pounds later, I was firmly embedded into what I declared to be the most comfortable couch in America where in November 2013, I greeted 40.

 Over the Christmas holiday a friend suggested that I try Adventure Boot Camp. The class runs on a 4 week cycle and meets at the Mary Ann Phelps Center in Tuscaloosa. Up until that point I defined adventure as shifting from my sofa to the big chair and ottoman on a commercial break but I could no longer ignore the fact that none of my clothes were fitting. Among those straining at their threads were the suits I have to wear for court on a daily basis. Suits are not cheap to replace and in my opinion are frumpy by nature. I prefer to devote my hard earned dollars to great shoes and so I decided to give boot camp a shot.

Although the camp is made up of women at all different fitness levels it is designed to allow you to work at your own pace. Every workout is different which, having the attention span of a gnat, I love. The constant change also keeps the muscles from learning where you are headed and cheating-which they will do if given the opportunity.

I’m now on my second cycle and excited at the progress I have made. Saturday I played in an alumni basketball game at my old high school (Seniors v Senior Citizens) and actually made it to the end of the game without emergency intervention. Today when I zipped the pants of my suit I could swear I heard a sigh of relief from the zipper. I can feel and see that my body is changing. However, I’m still having issues with my energy levels. It could be my age but I think the more likely culprit is my horrible eating habits. So I’ve decided to start a 30 day nutritional cleanse program with Isagenix. Don’t get grossed out…it’s not one of THOSE cleanses. I’ll keep you posted!