It's been nearly two years since I last wrote, since I felt victorious about losing 50 pounds. A handful of things have conspired against me since then, and I've gained most of that back. I've had thyroid problems, new medications with adverse metabolic side effects, deep depression and lack of give-a-damn. Plus, when I lost the 50, my general practitioner told me to consider myself at goal weight and stop monitoring my diet and exercise so closely. I don't know how to maintain. I went a little crazy with the perceived freedom that my journey was done, assuming that meant I had permission to slack off, skip the gym, eat whatever I wanted. I mean, I wasn't that blatantly ridiculous, but looking back it feels like it. I started drinking REAL COKE again. One a week. One a day. Six a day. It took nearly two years to descend into the current state of health, or Unhealth, but here I am.
But I'm ready to fix it.
So, as my 39th birthday looms (Sept. 10, 2017), I am setting myself a deadline of my 40th birthday to lose 75 pounds. I don't know exactly what I weigh right now. A few months ago at the doc's office, it was 207. Which was startling. I honestly never thought I'd get above 200 again. But here I am. I'll note my current weight on Sept. 11 when I hit the START button.
I am going to get back on the diabetic diet, counting carbs. That worked well for me before. I've actually reversed the diabetes but fall in the "pre-diabetic range" ... so I need to shape up before I'm in trouble again. I also have polycystic ovary syndrome, which plays havoc with how I metabolize carbs. So low carb is a good approach for me, although I concede it's not ideal for everyone. (Please, if you're setting off on a fitness and nutrition journey, don't look to me for expertise. I'll post links to other experts here as I run across interesting information, but I'm a layperson, for sure.)
Oh yeah. The gym. This new place in Niceville, FL, (where I call home) was having a "sign up before the official opening" special, so I bit the bullet. And even though this new journey of mine doesn't really start until Sept. 11, I figured it wouldn't hurt to test the waters. See, I've just come out of a severe depression where I was pretty much bedridden for 6 months. I ain't moved a muscle in a LONG TIME. I was hoping to do a slow 30-minute stint on the elliptical but promised myself I'd quit at 10 minutes if I felt like I was dying. Well, I did indeed feel as if my heart were going to beat out of my chest if I kept going, so 10 minutes and I was done. My resting heart rate hovers around the 90s, so I'm not sure what my target heart rate is for cardio. Note to self: Find out! During my elliptical adventure, it got up to 180, which just seemed scary. I have no idea whether that was safe or not. Again, must research. In any case, this was two days ago, and I decided to skip a day and then go back for another 10 (maybe 12?) minutes.
But then I pulled a quad while stretching. I woke up sore the day after the gym (yesterday). Last night I soaked in a hot bath and did some stretching right before bed. Today when I woke up, I had a sharp pain in the top of my right leg. I tried some gentle stretching, but that seemed to make it worse. And just walking around the house has been a little painful. So I'm not doing the elliptical again today as planned. Hopefully tomorrow? If I don't feel up to that, I'll probably go to the gym just to help get into the routine of going, experiment with the circuit machines or something.
I knew I was out of shape, but this is humbling. I used to get on the elliptical and run for an hour and 15 minutes. Of course, that was in 2011. And it took months to build up to that. I think back then I started at 10 minutes too, now that I'm honest with myself. The upside is that when Sept. 11 rolls around and I begin again for real real, I will have a clearer picture of what I'm capable of doing in my current condition.
Wish me luck, folks!
(Author's note: I encourage comments but prefer them on Facebook, as this site seems to eat threads sometimes. I look forward to discussing fitness, nutrition, and motivation with y'all.)
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