Operation Action: Let's Get that Fat Butt Moving!!

DISCLAIMER: no kitties were harmed in the production of this post. I don't smoke and don't even have a cat, but thought you guys might enjoy the humor.

Ok, so I have this treadmill sitting beside me as I type this. Poor, lonely treadmill that cost an arm and a freaking fat leg to accommodate my size and I bet it probably has a total of 50 miles (and not all of them mine) logged on it since I purchased it about 3-4 years ago. I know the mileage because when we moved a year ago, I had to have a guy come out and make sure it was good to go and he told me it only had about 50 miles clocked...delivered through a sarcastic grin that said "I'm not surprised it's been used so infrequently by the size of you."

Actually he was very nice about it, but I was still mortified. It didn't help that he was pretty buff and sorta cute and here I was this middle aged sow getting her treadmill tuned up for god knows what reason because she obviously wasn't using it.

Anyway, I digress. Today starts my path back to physical fitness. As I said, I'm going to start off doing 5 minutes x 4 times a day. I'm going to do my first 5 in the morning before breakfast and before work. I'll do my second 5 on one of my 15 minute breaks, the third 5 on my lunch, and the last 5 after I get off work. My goal is to work my way up to 10 minutes 4 x a day by the end of the month without having a heart attack, acquiring shin splints, or otherwise harming myself.

I'm also going to start having T join me after school doing the seated exercises and wall pushups I learned about here . He is dying to go to the Y and work out on their weight machines. I'm going to tell him that he has to lose 20 lbs before we will get him started there and he has to do these exercises with me as part of getting there. I think it will work, we'll see.

I have a feeling Monday's loss isn't going to be the amazing 10-pounder loss we saw last week (cuz I stepped on the scale again!)but I know I just need to give my metabolism a push by increasing my activity. What do we repeat to ourselves anytime we start moaning about how much we haven't lost?

"It isn’t about the scale, it’s about getting healthier. The rest will follow!”

I'm also going to continue with my food journal so that I can have a way of tracking what I'm eating. It's helpful. For instance, I was trying to evaluate my food log yesterday...where am I spending the most fat? Looks like those darn fiber bars are doing the lion's share of the damage. Those are definitely going to be reserved to maybe 1/2 a bar per day as a treat. Should be fun to see whether increased activity and better attention to what I'm putting in my mouth equals a bigger loss next week.

Another mantra that is helping me keep perspective is:

Every day I'm healthier and stronger than I was the day before

I know I sound like Jack Handy, but whatever works right?

Yesterday's Food Log
BTW, can you guys take a look at what sparkpeople is recommending for my daily allowances? At my size, I can see the caloric intake but the fat seems really high. Could I really lose weight with a fat intake that high? I have been trying to keep mine around 20g/day, no higher than 30g (obviously I do go over now and then)

Buffed, Beautiful and Bitchin'!

Sorry, I couldn’t NOT give a little shout out to Vera when we're talking about exercise. Of course it is just for your amusement. I'm quite fond of my bazooms so I won't be purchasing this particular workout to follow.

However, now that I have 10 whole lbs off, I figured it is time for me to start thinking about getting physical (cue Olivia Newton-John…just another little earworm for my faithful readers). At this weight, I am somewhat limited about what I can do. I’m limited for a couple of reasons. The obvious reason is my size; and honestly, let's just face it...at this size ALL my reasons are fairly obvious. My poor body is just having a very difficult time hauling itself around lately and for good reason. As I’ve mentioned before, I not only have gained weight in the last year, but I lost a lot of muscle mass as my daily activity decreased to almost nothing. I work from home, I have someone who can run errands for me, shop for me, etc so even the normal every day activity I used to get disappeared.

Initially, the help with errands and shopping was done more because I was the breadwinner and literally was working about 80 hours a week while I put my husband through school. He took over a lot of the other household duties while I scheduled practically every waking moment with some kind of work. In my mind, it would be worth it once he got his degree. Then, all hell broke loose with my son and the school placement we had him. It was particularly traumatic for our family and came at a very fragile point in our marriage. Once the dust cleared, our marriage was toast and we were struggling to get T on even footing again (which took lots of hospital stays and more). As I said, when T and I finally moved out, I went into a deep depression and everything just snowballed for my physically.

I’ve always enjoyed exercising…once I can get going and get a routine in place. For me, it’s taking that first step that always seems to be so hard, and lately I have more than enough excuses at the ready. I’m currently on medication for problems with my heart, blood pressure, thyroid, diabetes, and depression. I also have a history of chronic migraines; like 3-4 a week although they’ve gotten much better since I started the on blood pressure medication which makes me think my headaches weren’t migraines at all. When I try to exercise, I always have to worry about keeping my heart rate in a certain zone or it will trigger migraines…I know other people suffer from exercise-induced headaches as well and I’ve had them all my life, no matter what size I was. Even when I was in the best shape of my life I would get migraines if I exercised too intensely or got my body temperature up too high.

So…finding some exercise that I can do can be a bit of a challenge, especially lately. I know that I could do pool walking. That is great for getting my muscles back in shape, it keeps me cool. Apart from the embarrassment of getting into a swimsuit (which I really don’t care about at this point lol) its perfect for me. The weather, however, makes it a bit of a challenge to find a pool to use. I can join the gym over at my bariatric center, but it would take $300 that I don’t have at the moment. The only YMCA with an indoor pool is in a bad part of town and I decided it was going to be practically impossible to get there in the rush hour traffic. So, at least for now working out in the pool is on hold.

I have a sturdy treadmill at home I could use. I bought it at least 3 years ago and of course it’s hardly been used. It supposedly will accommodate my weight, but lately, my heart rate goes up almost immediately and then surpasses the “safe” zone in the first 5 minutes. I decided the other day that what I should probably do is start some strength training exercises and work on getting 20 minutes of cardio in a day even if it’s just jumping on the treadmill for 5 minutes at a time. I have to start somewhere right?

I’ve been trying to find some ideas for strength training exercises that I can do that don’t require me getting on the ground because once I’m down, it’s going to take a village to get me back up. I found some seated exercises here and even though I’m sure I’m going to feel like a complete loser doing them, I’m going to give them a shot.

Now I just need to get my fat butt UP to do it. How do you get yourself motivated to exercise? Better yet, how do you motivate your teenagers to exercise…he’s my next challenge!