The Biggest Brave in my Year

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I just don’t.

So of course, I wouldn’t make this decision until February.

Because January is just meant for a quiet ease into a new year- not dumping copious amounts of chaos and unreal expectations on yourself and loved ones. Blech.

Anyhoo- In February, I decided to do something about my health. Well, actually, in February I found my pants were fitting way to snug and that I am too cheap and vain to even consider buying a bigger pair. Even from a thrift store. I found myself pretty unhappy with the status of my pants vs. waist line situation. I realized, while sitting in worship service that I had a definite bulge in the tummy area when I sat…. so I tried to sit straighter. It didn’t go away. It was like a thick shelf and I found myself resting my arms on it. Ugh. I noticed the weight gain in pictures and after bravely teaching myself to embrace the camera, I began hiding from it once again. I did something I’d been avoiding…. I bought a scale. I normally add five pounds over the winter and shed them with more activity in the spring and summer and my weight from year to year (since having my boy- which was in 2004) had always fluctuated within a few pounds of the very end/edge of the healthy BMI status for my height and age. But the painful, pinching pants situation was making itself very known. The scale confirmed it. I weighed the same amount I did at nine months pregnant with my boy. And my BMI was officially in the overweight category.... way over- actually it was hanging tight to the edge of it, right to the edge of "obese."

Double Ugh.

Embracing Forty

I embraced 40 with gusto and felt the most comfortable in my skin that I had ever felt.

But 41 wasn’t fitting very well.

Not at all.

I was packing an extra 10 pounds from my previous heaviest weight. To say it was a depressing moment is a definite understatement. I told my husband, who is a very good man who truly loves me unconditionally. He asked me what I wanted to do about it.

Good man.

I told him I wanted to get rid of it.

He nodded and said, “Then do it.”

And that was it. No "here's what you need to do" or "I'm gonna train you" or "hey, don't eat that" or "shouldn't you be exercising" or any other such foolishness.... He left it to me to do something about and has applauded and cheered my every fitness goal accomplished.

Like I said- Good man.

And so it began...

Now- here’s the deal, I deeply love good food and I dislike sweating. I enjoy sleeping in and didn’t know how I was going to fit one more thing into my schedule. Even more than sweating- I hate running. HATE.

As a rule- I’ve always said there’s only two times you need to run—to the bathroom and from your enemies.

So running was out.

Period.

I started off with small changes to my diet- using a smaller plate at dinner and introducing even more salads and fish. I knew that diet alone wasn’t going to do this, so I started looking into an exercise program that I could do at home, in a half hour or less, that wouldn’t cost much. I actually had an exercise video that I’d been doing a couple of years ago and so I started with that.

I started T-Tapping again.
With a resolve and determination that I lacked the first time....

And it worked.

Sorta.

After one of my 1st runs...

I felt better and had more energy so I knew I was on the right track but it became apparent that this wasn’t enough. I lost a few inches in my body measurements but my weight wouldn’t go down. Oh, it would drop a pound or two but then I’d gain it back. And I was staying faithful to doing T-Tapp. Five days a week. Dropping a few inches was nice but it wasn't enough- I knew I needed something to rev my metabolism so that I could shed actual poundage.

And so it was- in late spring when we were in high gear with Lu’s graduation, college applications and all that- with my stress level increasing daily… that I stepped out the back door and took off on a run.

Oh you heard that right.

The girl who hates running with a passion- went for a run.

And then another

And another.

And I found in six weeks time that I had dropped 10 pounds.

But even better than that I had an outlet for the stress.

I'm finding as I write out this journey that it's become quite long so I'm going to be breaking it up into segmented posts. Which means.... more posts from me! After such a dry spell, y'all are gonna be inundated!

>>> stay tuned for My Fit Journey 2