A better me

Losing weight the CORRECT way is a lifestyle change. It is a total change in how we view our lives and the world around us.   To really make life altering changes that result in weight loss that is maintained, we have to look deeply into our lives.  It’s not just eating and exercise. It is the very fiber of our lives that we have to evaluate.  

 

Obesity, or even just being overweight has a profound impact on how we live our lives.  Some of us had circumstances and situations in our lives that caused us to turn to food to bring on obesity….those circumstances impacted us.   Others of us are simply fighting genetics and a love of food that has caused a weight issue in our lives.  Regardless of if we are dealing with one issue or two issues or even untold other scenarios about how obesity affects us, know that it DOES affect.

 

For me, I don’t know of any deep seated reason for my obesity.  Maybe some psychologist out there would beg to differ, but I feel I’m a product of genetics and growing up in a family that loved food. Food was an integral part of our lives.  It got out of control with me and left me morbidly obese.  Yes, 315 pounds (my highest) was morbidly obese.  (I’m still considered obese…..I have about 16 pounds until I can be considered in the ‘overweight’ category. There will be much celebration when I reach that weight!)   I began to live my life as a fat person.  There are things I’ve wanted to do, that I didn’t do because “I’m Fat.”   There were places I would have gone but I felt unworthy because, “I’m fat”.   I let the fat eat at me from the inside.  I let it rule my life.

 

I started reading a book the other day.  I actually picked up the book because it was free (gotta love the free books for my kindle…I’ve read some amazing reads, and admittedly some pretty lame ones too…LOL) and because it was about running.  It is called Running the Edge: Discover the Secrets to Better Running and a Better life.  It’s by Adam Goucher and Tim Catalano .   I hadn’t even gotten past the first chapter and I was highlighting sections of the book because it was speaking to me.  Seriously…I NEVER highlight books that I’m reading (ok, I have once before because I wanted to see how the feature worked on my kindle…..I’m a geek…what of it.?)   It’s all tied to running…but it is stuff that goes much deeper than running.

 

So my thoughts from this book. 

 

Mediocrity.  I have settled for a life of mediocracy.  I have not pushed myself to be GREAT.  I have not tried.  I have just settled in and let life wash over me.   I have become complacent with everything being good enough.   I don’t want just ‘good enough’ anymore.  I want spectacular.  I want awesome.  I want over the top superb!   I need to take control of my own life.  CONTROL.   That means not only in the food I eat and the exercise I do….but also in how I spend my spare time.  How I approach my finances.  How I attempt to live my life.  I have control over my life and I’m no longer going to sit back and allow life to happen…I want to push forward and MAKE it happen.

 

The second thing that stuck out is a bit of a story that these two authors shared. They talked about how early on in their friendship that they decided that the adage that everyone uses so much “someday I want to…” was not allowed in their vocabulary.  They made allowances for some things that it really is not feasible to do at that point and realize that sometimes it is acceptable to say “someday I want to….”  (for example….”someday I want to have kids”   or  in my case… “someday we will finish our patio and get our hot tub in working order”….it’s acceptable to say that because right now it is not a possibility due to money constraints.)   But overall,  all those things that I you say “someday I want to…” needs to be DONE.  They talked about how one day one of them said  “someday I want to learn to scuba dive”  so they went right out and signed up for scuba diving classes.  But they also talked about how one of them had said “I’ve always wanted to ride my bike the 50 miles to my parents house.  So 2-3 hours later on old ratty bikes (one of them borrowed) they were on the road in the blazing sun riding for 50 miles.  They did it.  The conquered and they conquered it in a blaze of glory.   They did not wait until the next day.  THEY DID it.  The were LIVING.

 

I want to live my life that way.  I don’t want to be mediocre.  I want to live to my fullest and push for greatness….and I want to LIVE!   My weight may hold me back on some things (seriously..I think they have weight limits for sky diving…which I’m still pondering….so right now I may not qualify for it…but I may qualify for it in a month down the line….should I decide that I’m serious about that thought).  

 

This morning I went out running.  I learned a valuable lesson.   Cheap ‘knock off’ KT tape is NOT a good choice.  I may have saved 8 bucks…but it was not a good savings….considering I went through more pieces of tape just trying to get it to stick to my skin in the first place (no I’m not a grease ball) and then halfway through my run I could feel that it had totally popped free.  SO off to the pharmacy on my lunch break to buy the REAL stuff.  I have been using the KT Pro…..the local pharmacy sells just the straight KT tape. I’m going to try that next.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll be back to the pro stuff. 

 

I ran 2.5 miles. I would have run longer, but I ran out of time.  Yeah, I got a late start. Seriously, I blame it on the off brand KT tape….messing with that had to have killed all my extra time!  I felt good and I’m going to say that I’m ok to run the Donut Alley Rally on Friday night.

 

So my exercise plans for this week.

 

Monday:   Run-  morning

                  Exercise bike- evening (optional…depending on time and opportunity)

Tuesday:  Road bike-  Morning

                 Zumba- evening

Wednesday:  Road bike – Morning

                 Exercise bike- Evening (optional…depending on time and opportunity)

Thursday:  Rest day

                Walk- evening

Friday:   Donut Alley rally Race

Saturday:  Road bike

Sunday:  Run AND road Bike

 

I wanted to try to do my higher impact things earlier in the week to save my foot for my race.   Even though I’m not running the race to set any PR, I do want to finish it without having to hobble or even crawl across the finish line…which means at this time babying my foot.  So that’s my plan. J  Lets see if the weather cooperates!