how have you surprised yourself lately?

Well, today I curled 20 pounds, single arm. I started curling 5 pounds and have built up over a period of several months. Woohoo!

Sometimes its easy to get bogged down in how we 'mess up', what mistakes we've made, or how we've failed in some way. How have you shocked/surprised/made yourself proud lately?

Go you!! :)

I can do 20 push-ups.  A couple months ago, I couldn't do ONE.  I have tiny little muscles on my arms now.  Yes, they are tiny, and it's silly that I'm soooo proud of them, but you know what?  They are still muscles!  I get ridiculously proud about my ability to do push ups.  And I'm only increasing the number.  :)

Awesome!!

I'm now able to jog for about 15 minutes, when before I couldn't even walk for 5!
Although its a small goal to some, it seems ginormous to me!  :D

I can almost run two miles now when only a month ago I could maybe run a quarter of a mile =)

congrats everyone! 

Those are great accomplishments, thanks for sharing!  I guess it can be easy to forget about the big picture and how one changes over time - good to remind ourselves of how far we've come, regardless of how far that is. :) 

keep 'em comin'

I surprised myself Sunday by resisting the strongest urge to binge I have had in the month that I've been 'dieting.' I just told myself, "Absolutely not!," and waited it out. Go me!

I can also do 150 crunches in a row now - started with 20 at a time.

Thanks for this thread! It's nice to count up our triumphs instead of our disasters.

I went running (after a long hiatus) yesterday and loved it. It felt totally incredible.

one arm tricep press at 15 pounds.

i was squatting 66 pounds - and forgot to add in the bar weight~ that was nice. (what i need is a partner to spot so i can increase this safely)

getting on a leg curl machine after a pretty-darn-fit guy, who had sweat like mad all over and taken forever grinding out his reps... and finding the weight ridiculously light.

 

i've actually started to enjoy shovelling my driveway.

i hear ya on the snow comment!

I can do 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5... and the best part, I like it!

Yes!  Me too on the 20lb curls.  It was a good day when I could complete my sets. 

Another one:  When did my first 3 sets of 3 pullups.  My goal was to be able to complete 5 by the end of the year, it's looking super doable!

I ran two miles today on the treadmill at 5.7! I haven't been able to run two miles without stopping in a very long time. I feel so great!

yes! when i realized i CAN run for 25 mins at 7mph! and on random so there are little hills! when i first kicked it up to 7mph, i was like no way can i keep this up, but i did!

and another thing i'm surprised about, i think i'm coming down with something and since i'm going away next week i decided to go home and rest instead of going to the gym. the old me would be happy to have an excuse to skip, but the NEW me is actually bummed!

luckily my vacation is skiing, so i'll be working out a LOT next week!

47 push-ups! (Real ones, too; not the supposed "girly" ones)

Wow everyone is doing so great!!!

 This morning I was finally able to use the 45lbs plates for my deadlifts!!! 

I am surprised that I am actually able to not exceed my calories. The first week was so difficult but now counting my calories and sticking to it is so much easier. Never thought I could do it!

Great post, I was just thinking about this when I was running the other night. I ran 3.1 miles in 25:34 minutes (at about 7.3mph). I used to not be able to run for more than 1 mile at 6.0 mph!!!!! It happened so gradually I hadn't really thought about it before. Also, I went to the gym with my DH last weekend (we usually go at diff times of the day due to work), and I could lift as much as him with some of the exercises!

I am suprised that I have had no urge to cheat / binge / take a day off from both my healthy eating or exercise, and moreover, when I do fancy something sweet or tempting I am enjoying finding a low cal / healthier alternative.

I am also suprised that when I see people like my husband eating chilli dogs with fries and gravy, I am not bothered in the least.

Great thread!

That I've only been working out/eating less for a little over a week and I actually ENJOY it! Not only is working out making me feel better (when I always felt like I would vomit after 5 minutes of working out before!) but last night when I was under my calorie limit and picked up a cookie to reward myself and fill up my calorie count at the same time- I actually felt gross after eating it. I thought that saying goodbye to sweets and my greasy foods would be hard, but after eating healthier versions of my favorite snack foods (new Quaker Mini Delights are my FAVORITE dessert) everything else just doesn't taste right anymore.

 

So surprisingly- dieting and working out isn't killing me like I thought it would (and now I'm wondering why I was putting it off for so many years!) 

The biggest suprise for me was that I actually signed up for a 10K in April!!! Walking, of course, but that's still 6.2 mile!!!! The most I do on the treadmill is a half mile!!!

Tonight I suprised myself - I jogged in the pool for one hour straight!!!! It was 2.5 miles too!  Maybe I'll be able to do the 6.2 by April!

(PS: I also finally broke through my plateau & lost 3#'s this week! That's a total of 16#'s in exactly 2 months!!!