Let's Get Physical

By now you may have noticed that I have yet to discuss…exercise! Let me reiterate the fact that I was a fat kid, so I was never exactly…athletic. And while I did play the occasional kickball game with my brother in our backyard, exercise, or anything physical, was not exactly…encouraged in my family.

I remember the dreaded mandatory gym class. And one of those experiences still haunts me. I don't recall the name of the game, but we as students followed the commands of the gym teacher kinda like a musical chairs sort of thing. The last one to follow the command was "out." I remember one particularly humiliating experience, where the sadistic gym teacher had me paired with a small thin boy, and she ordered us to do the "piggy back" command. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to support my bulk, so being that he was one of those smart geeky kids, he jumped on MY back. That was perhaps the beginning of the humiliation concerning my weight. So, with an experience like that under my belt, you are probably beginning to understand why I was not naturally inclined to do anything physical.

During my final semester at college, I agreed to take a phys ed class with my friend Maureen. The deal was Maureen took an English class with me, and I took a phys ed class with her. Since I was an English major, I had to take a class for English majors, while she merely needed to fill a core requirement. So, being the good friend that she was, she took a Major American Author class with me, and I took a basic exercise/aerobic class with her.

To be honest…I didn't hate the class. I didn't love it, but I don't recall hating it either. Plus, I HAD to go! I wouldn't let something as simple as a phys ed class ruin my grade point average, so I never skipped the class since attendance was the only thing we were really graded on. You know what, in my four years in college, that was the ONLY phys ed class I ever took.

After college I took the occasional gym class with my sister who worked at the YMCA and therefore got me in for free. And I recall joining a gym once called "Woman's Word" in an attempt to keep my weight down. I remember pouring myself into a leotard and tights for those aerobics classes. Funny to think back on that. But it was the 80’s so I guess leotards were in!

Somewhere along the line, I gave up on all things physical, and settled into an incredibly sedentary lifestyle. This lasted for years, and many, many pounds!

During my last "real" WW attempt, I came across something that motivated me to exercise like nothing else ever could: Activity Points! I remember thinking the people at WW were truly ingenious! They motivated me to exercise with food, or the promise of MORE food!! Based on my weight and time spent exercising I was allowed to eat more food. I LOVED it! It really worked for me. I then started walking!

After getting into a semi-regular walking routine, only to allow myself to eat more, I finally realized I actually started to enjoy those walks. I especially liked the early morning walks, when it was kinda cool and quiet outside. Somewhere along the line I added music to these walks. That made the experience even better! I can't tell you how much I grew to enjoy my morning walks with John Mayer. He and I had a regular date, and I actually started to love it!

I had my Saturday morning routine, get up, have coffee, head out for an hour and a half walk. When I came home I would shower, go grocery shopping, then clean the apartment. When I think back on it, my husband had it pretty good, cause he would sleep through the bulk of that, until I got to the vacuuming part. But walking in the morning used to give me so much energy, I got all my chores done early, so he didn't have to any. Yeah, life IS pretty good for him. And, I would go through the same routine on Sunday morning, except for the cleaning of course.

I kept this up for several years. Somewhere along the line I stopped walking, though, and started going to the gym. After all, my husband made me join the gym after we got married, and he even dragged me there, kicking and screaming for the first year of our marriage. Eventually he got out of the gym routine and thankfully, so did I. But, in an effort to burn more calories in less time I moved from the outdoor walks to the treadmill at the gym.

At one point, I was lured into signing up with a personal trainer. I admit, the fact that he was young and cute probably had more to do with it than I want to admit. But I got it in my head that I needed a trainer to get me into a good workout routine, then I would stick with it. I didn’t stick with it. What I did get out of it was a certain liking for the elliptical machine that he forced me to try.

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason that machine was not quite as excruciatingly boring as the treadmill. And, the more I did it, the more I liked it. I went from BARELY being able to make it through 20 minutes to doing a solid hour doing intervals, and bumping up the resistance.

I don’t know how long I did that, but I went to the gym about six times a week for several years. I fluctuated with my weight within five pounds, ten at the most, during that time. I realize now that it was the constant, almost obsessive, exercising.

Somewhere along the line I tapered off. I think it was when we bought our house. It needed much work, and I didn’t have the time to spend at the gym. That’s when I really started to gain weight too.

I realize now, that there’s a certain association in my head, Maybe it’s just that if I am spending this time exercising, I better be eating healthy as well. Either way, they seem to go hand in hand for me.

I am gearing up to get back into a solid exercise mode. I guess that means I need to start eating healthy again. And then, hopefully I will have some real progress to report to you!!

Happy Mothers Day Blog

I’m taking a break from our regularly scheduled blog to just enter a short little comment about Mother’s Day, and perhaps more specifically, my mother.

It’s Sunday morning and I am in the middle of my usual routine of drinking coffee, reading emails, playing some mindless games, and surfing the web. But it’s Mother’s Day, and as I am searching the web for the perfect chocolate mousse cake recipe (and I wonder why I have a weight problem?) I decided I could take a minute to be a little serious and sort of give a shout out to my Mom.

My Mom passed away several years ago. And I miss her…some days more than others, but naturally, today I miss her a lot. What I wanted to do was just to thank her for passing on her love of food and baking to me. Yes, I know that has been a HUGE (no pun intended) factor in my weight issues, but I do love to cook, which I apparently inherited from my Mom, and I especially love to bake, which I definitely got from her.

So, I just wanted to send a little Mother’s Day message out there to wish all the mothers who read my blog a Happy Mother’s Day. And if you’re reading this, and you’re not a Mom, be especially nice to your Mom today, if you’re fortunate enough to still have her in your life. And if not, be sure you’re especially nice to someone else’s Mom.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!!