When making the journey from couch potato of the year to physically fit there are many milestones along the way - the first 5 or 10 pounds, that first reduction in clothing size, etc. But there are milestones we reach that we never thought about when starting out. Sure I listed in my diary that I wanted to be able to lift my ankle up on my knee to tie my shoes without having to use my other hand to lift it over my knee and I said I wanted to be able to tie my shoes without feeling out of breath. I wanted to be able to walk to the end of the hallway without sounding like a locomotive. Like I said - I was the couch potato of the year two and a half months ago.

Last week I was I was watching a video clip I had made in November of 2010. I was walking through my hotel suite filming it and saying what everything was for my husband. Yes, he's a little strange and he wanted to know. I noticed how hard I was breathing on that video clip and realized that at that time I was always breathing hard. Not so much today. That little milestone came and went without notice because I hadn't realized how bad off I had been before.

When I started this journey everything hurt. When I walked - it hurt and kept hurting. I had to alternate the days I walked with days of rest because my hips would hurt so bad I couldn't sleep. I was in some real agony in the beginning. A nurse practitioner friend of mine suggested I start doing some stretching exercises to loosen up the tendons and build some muscle. A few leg lifts every night, some light weight work with my arms - that sort of thing.

So last night as I was doing my stretching rountine I hit a previously unknown milestone that made me so incredibly happy I wanted to jump up and down and shout it to the world. As I lay on my side lifting my leg in the air I felt something hard and tight in my leg. A muscle! OMG I have muscles! For 2 1/2 months I've been "feeling the burn" every time I walk. For 2 1/2 months I have struggled and wondered if it wasn't actually too late to rebuild what I had lost through years of increased inactivity because I just wasn't seeing the results. I finally saw some results - not spectacular muscles mind you, but the beginnning of better things to come.

It is so wonderful to realize these little victories and feel the burst of hope and joy that comes from them. It just adds to the motivation to keep on moving.

I like to move it, move it
They like to move it, move it
We like to move it, move it
MOVE IT!