The Quintanas, Week 32: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get to the Gym

Has anyone else ever noticed that when you are just lying around doing nothing, well, you are just lying around doing nothing?

How accomplished does that make you feel? I know it doesn't do a lick for me! I have often thought, "If I could just get one full day of rest I will feel better."

I have gotten that full day of rest and all I did was rest. I then had nothing to show for it.

I was so proud when I saw that, David, my husband, was not going to take life's punches lying down.

I've shared this fact with you before: Prior to the Healthy Families Challenge, we were not exactly the most productive family when dealing with stressful situations. OK, I retract that statement. We were definitely productive ...at putting on extra pounds every time a stressful situation came up.

Throughout the HFC, America has watched us go through some of the toughest times in our lives, and thankfully, through the wonderful teaching of Su-Nui Escobar, our nutritionist, we have learned that food is fuel for our bodies. If we put the wrong foods in, especially in stressful times, our bodies will not perform the way they should. It's kind of like putting diesel into a gasoline-engine Camaro and trying to run a race with it. It's not going to go very far.

There was a window where I thought we should all throw in the towel. Too many things were happening, one after the other. Elizabeth, my oldest daughter, broke her thumb; my dad had suffered yet another heart attack; and, of course, in February, we lost David's mom.

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It felt like we were in the third round of a boxing match with barely a leg to stand on, and although I never said it, I was ready to give up. I was tired of seeing everyone around me hurting. I did not see how exercise and eating could matter right now.

So it was a huge surprise to me when David, right then, decided to start going to the gym six days a week, no excuses. He has lost over 60 pounds, all tolled, and his fear of all of that lost weight leaving him floppy encouraged him to get to work at toning up. He started a regimen of tightening exercises, alternating body parts and allowing himself to rest in between.

If he was sad, he hit the gym. If he was angry, he hit the gym. If he was happy, he hit the gym.

Guess what? The Gym hit back, and apparently, in all the right places.

There are these things coming out of his arms that I've never seen before. I think they're called muscles. I can also feel abs tightening under what we all used to refer to as "the belly."

David's example has done wonders for me, and I have attempted to follow suit. As I recently shared, David's new passion is to help other people achieve their health goals, and he's been taking me to the gym and pushing me to new levels in my workout three times a week. When I am on my last few minutes of the Elliptical machine in my neighborhood gym, and I think I cannot go another step, I apply the "David Principle." I just think about how angry I am that he made me get on that thing, and stay on it for so long. All of a sudden, I get a second wind.

Here we are, a few weeks away from ending the Challenge, and I have been working out five days a week. Me. The one who never exercised. Now, I crave the adrenaline produced by the movement, and by knowing I can accomplish something I never thought possible. That propels me to yoga at Pranoga twice a week, as well as to boot camp at Doral Vineyard once a week, and down to the gym with David the other three days.

We are feeling the burn and the burn feels good.

Though not quite as good as those new muscles on my husband.

Who's the rest of the competition? Check out all the challengers' latest updates here.

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