I'll be the first to admit, the last couple of weeks have been hard on me. After being on vacation my first week hitting the gym, then going back to work, it's been tough trying to find the time to work out. I've also not had very favorable results on the scale. If Satan was to take an earthly form, I'd believe it'd be that little square I stand on every Thursday. I swear I can hear an evil laugh when I step off every week. I am also trying to get used to the pain and stiffness that comes with working out. We just recently got a new memory foam mattress and after a hard work out and a shower, when you try to wake up the next morning at 5:45, you find your body cussing at you to turn to snooze alarm off.
Despite all of this, I'm encouraged to keep going. What I've learned after the first month is I'm not on a diet, but I'm working on a life style change. I want to lose weight, but I want to be healthier even more. I want my blood pressure to drop, I want be able to get out more often, and I also want to be around longer. The thing I want everyone to understand about what is going on with me , is I may whine and moan about everything, or I may get frustrated and complain, but I never want to quit! I started something I want to see the end of. There are going to be days I am really down on myself. Days of utter frustration because I didn't lose like I wanted to, or I even gained. There are times I want to just crawl into bed and curl up in the fetal position and just ignore the whole world, but I never want to quit. Quitters never lose. Wait, isn't that supposed to be quitters never win? In your case, yes, but in mine, it fits perfectly. If I quit, I will never lose this things I want to! The high blood pressure. The weight. The labored breathing. Right now quitting is not an option for me.
What I'm learning is how to work around all the new obstacles that have been put in front of me. I'm learning new ways to eat what I want, but just do it healthy. I am still eating my cheese burgers, but I go about it differently. I will eat a small one from McDonald's and some apple slices about once a week, not 3 McDoubles and a fry, 3 or 4 days of the week. I'm eating a bigger breakfast and a decent lunch, and then try to eat light at dinner. That way I burn off bigger meals at work, and then I like to go work out after I've eaten dinner. It gives me a chance to burn off some of those calories I've consumed. It my be 9:30 at night, but I'm still going to go. I used to tease a friend of mine, Jade, when she was trying to lose weight. I couldn't understand, how she would eat a salad, and then want to work out. I thought she was being crazy. She would eat a healthy meal, and then go run 5 miles? I apologized to her the other day, because I understand now. It isn't the fear of getting fat agin that was driving her, it was the idea of keeping everything you had been working hard to get! I totally feel that way now!
To combat some of the stiffness, I'm finding out ice packs and ibuprofen are great allies. A couple ice packs on the knees or ankle for about 30 minutes after I work out, and a couple of ibuprofen before I work out, keep the inflammation down in my knees and the pain a lot easier to handle. I am also trying to sleep better at night. Ive always been one of those people who would watch tv or play video games till late, get a few hours sleep, and function the next day. I read an article last week and it said to be healthy you need to have at least 7 hours of sleep a night. You need to give your body time to heal itself. It's like when you turn off your computer for a while, you need to reboot yourself everyday. I find it cutting in to my me time some, but it seems like it is helping right now.
I haven't told a lot of people yet, but after the struggles I've had the last couple of weeks, I lost 3.6 lbs. last week. That puts my total to 20.4 in a month! Melody lost 3 lbs. and her total is 18 over the last month too! To me though, that is small, compared to the other things I've been doing. I set a goal last week to ride at least 3 miles without stopping every day this week, and I not only did that, but 2 days I went for 4 before I stopped, and I even increased my resistance on the bike! I've went from 6, to 8, to 10 on my first time going four miles, then I did a program the second day, where I went slowly up to 9 over 10 minutes, the went back down over the next 10 minutes. Sorta like going up a big hill and riding back down. I've increased some of my reps and my weights too! Melody joined the gym this week, and all she has been doing is walking on treadmill. She has been rotating her days. 2 on days in just do cardio, and 3 on days I do cardio and workout. She is wanting to do a 5k now, but only if she can walk it. I think she could totally do it too! I want try and do one with her, but I want to lose some more weight before I do. I'm not sure I could go the whole distance right now. I am so
thankful though that we are starting to see the results of our hard work paying off.
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