It begins….the skinny girl wants out…

It’s not a big deal really. Or so I told myself. All those wedding photos that I am in. You think it’s tough being in one lot, try being in about 10 a month. I started to get very critical of  my appearance. After all, everyone else has worked hard to look good in the pictures, why shouldn’t I?

Over the past year and a half I have had a number of surgeries and at one point became quite unwell. I was told to ‘take it easy’ on the road to becoming fit and well again. ‘About a year’ was the estimated time of expected recovery and life possibly being normal again. Well, that was 40 pounds ago. A lack of exercise is a terrible thing for a woman of 48 who is only 5 feet 2 inches tall. My wardrobe is full of cute clothes that haven’t been worn, and a big pile of baggy T shirts and leggings that are almost worn out. I’ve had enough.

A month ago I started walking every day for 30 minutes, rain or shine. I recruited a friend to walk with me. She does not like rain. So on rainy days, I walk alone. It’s actually very relaxing and therapeutic. I have always liked rain. I found that after 2 weeks I actually don’t feel as good if I don’t walk. There’s a marked difference in my day. Weight loss? Zero. But I do feel better.

I was trying to think of a way to accelerate the weight loss healthily, without a huge dietary change. i eat pretty much a meditteranean style diet, and a lot of vegan dishes so there’s not much to trim there. Then it hit me. I used to run as a teen and when my children were teens we would do ‘fun runs’ together as a family activity. Nothing serious. Just 5 miles of run til you need to walk, run some more, get a medal and/or a T shirt, feel great and go home. We used to have a rack for each of us on the wall with all these ribbons and medals hanging from them. It made us feel good and as a family activity it was a pretty even field. [of course they used to have to wait for mom].

So this is my goal. I want to go from 167 pounds to 125 pounds. Who is with me?

Today is day 1. I got up at 5 am and ran for 15 minutes. Well, I call it running. It was more of a run, wheeze, walk, jog, wheeze, wonder what the heck I am doing out of bed, run, limp, wheeze, walk, run. My legs got so wobbly that I thought they might give out, and my arms burned. Bear in mind that I had taken the wise step of wrapping my chest with a big ace bandage to keep ‘the girls’ under control. So here I am. Fresh spring morning, fat flying in the breeze, bandaged like a mummy. Wheezing and puffing like the big bad wolf at the pigs house.

I finally made it home and those stairs looked like the side of a mountain. Each leg felt like ti weighed 60 pounds on its own. A nice cooling shower, all scrubbed up and clean, and wow, the energy. I do hurt and ache, don’t get me wrong, and tomorrow I will probably suffer more. Will I be out again in the morning. You betcha!