I made a commitment this year that I was going to lose weight. I've weighed about the same for the last 5 years - give or take 5 pounds. I'm sure you're saying ... oh right ... but it's the truth. I just recently had to chuck a pair of jeans I bought 5 years ago because they were worn thin in areas that I might not want to expose in public. (that's the politically correct way to say I blew out the crotch) They fit perfect. AND I recently had to request my medical records so I could transfer them to my new doctor --- my weight for the last 5 years worth of physicals was about the same within that 5 pound range. AND on top of that -- a couple of weeks ago I reconnected the Wii Fit that has been in the box since the day I moved to Iowa -- before I wiped the data history I just checked to see what I weighed the last time I used it (which was August of 2009) and it said I had only gained 1 pound. So there! HA!
Okay, so to start my quest to lose weight ... I started using the Wii fit 3 times a week just to get into a habit. I'm not sure if that's considered working out -- but I definitely broke a sweat and I will say that my balance improved in all those yoga moves and dodging the soccer balls.
Yesterday I started a boot camp class at the local gym. This scares me a bit for a plethora of reasons ... so let me list a few:
1. I'm really bad at sticking to a workout schedule because I'm lazy. Last fall I tried to go to Jazzercize classes uptown at the St Joes gym 2x a week. I made it three times. Once I was there I was fine -- getting there was another story. Never mind that the entire distance from my house to the church gym is 1.2 miles ... My demise in that class started out when I over did it in class number 3 (because I didn't want to look like the WIMP in a class of women that were all older than me!!). So I didn't go to class 4 and then I decided that taking a nap was more important than exercising for class 5 and before I knew it ... a month had passed. So those 3 classes that I managed to attend cost me $13.33 a piece. I was better at the Wii thing because I could do it when I wanted -- and lets face it, in the end -- it's still just a video game.
2. I'm prone to injury ... because I'm lazy. Shit, I could sneeze the wrong way and knock my back outta whack for a week.
3. Exercising irritates my asthma. This isn't a cop out --- it really does. I can barely walk up the stairs at work without wheezing. You know that burning sensation you get in your lungs when you're working out - that for some crazy people makes them feel great and energized -- and the labored breathing while you're burning calories and working the muscles? For someone with asthma, like myself, it's a death sentence. Normal people can breathe normally after a few minutes. Me? Not so much .... my breathing might return to normal in about an hour without my inhaler -- if I'm still alive then. I medicate before I exercise and aaccording to the Merck manual should give me free breathing for 4-6 hours - but the reality is that at best it might hold for 20 minutes before the wheezing begins. Someone asked me once why I didn't do something about it and I said ... I am ... I avoid exercise.
4. I have no will power to stick to a diet. I can get addicted to the stupidest things ... like for the past couple of months I was addicted to playing scrabble on my smart phone with complete strangers all over the country. I'd have 15 or 16 games going at once and would be playing my words at all times of the day or night. But can I get addicted to improving my diet? oh hell no. Why? Because I'm hungry! And not necessarily physically hungry ... but hungry for the notion that I think I need to eat. Like I don't need to eat Doritos at 9:00 in the morning when I'm at work -- but I do, because they are just down the hall in the vending machine.
I tried to diet before my niece's wedding in December and I did lose 7 pounds, but mostly because I was sick all month and had no appetite. The minute I started feeling better and eating again .. the weight came right back on. Of course, this boot camp thingy has a cash prize for various categories at the end of 7 weeks ... so that might be some motivation -- and I have to weigh in weekly with my "coach" ... so I guess I have a little more accountability. My target is to be 14 pounds lighter than yesterday which means losing two pounds a week.
I'm not afraid for the world to know my weight ... 194 -- which actually surprised me. That's a little over my 5 pound bubble - but I was wearing clothing and it was the end of the day. I re-weighed this morning when I got out of the shower and I was only 191. Still a horrible number considering the "weight charts" say I should be between 130-155 .... I was 145 in 1995 -- but I worked out twice a day back then because I was trying to impress a guy. Theres no guy in the picture these days ... just me, the dogs, Humphrey and my overweight roommates -- that have their own sweet tooth issues.
5. Some of the participants in the class are scary -- and not exactly scary looking. In last nights class, we were walking warm up laps in the gym before the testing started and I got lapped by a bunch of over achievers. I'm taking it that these are people that also run full out on the treadmill. FREAKS!! Apparently I have a different definition of what a warm up lap is than other people.
6. In our bootcamp program, we have class twice a week and can work out at the club two extra times a week - 4 times total. Tonight I planned to go to yoga at 6 pm -- I thought about it all day and was looking forward to it. But at 4, I laid in bed to stream something on netflix and fell asleep. I woke up at 7! WTF?? Sheez .. I didn't feel tired when I laid down, but apparently I was.
Okay, so that's my story for the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment