Enjoying the Fall Weather and a Weigh In

Tanner and I just got back from our second outdoor walk of the week. The Fall weather here in Texas has been beautiful this week and it is so nice to get out, get some fresh air and spend some time doing something with Tanner that didn’t involve the TV (what we usually did around this time of night). Our first walk in a while was this past Tuesday. Tanner was walking behind me and out of nowhere said “Wow mom! You are doing good!” I think he was noticing the fact that I was walking with a normal gait, no limps or labored steps…I was walking confidently and with a strength he hasn’t seen me sport in a long time. I could feel it myself.

The last time I attempted the same walk, I made it to a certain point with Erik and had to turn around because I knew I probably only had enough steam to get myself home. When I made it to that point I realized that I felt GREAT! I was feeling some fatigue in my legs, but it was normal fatigue really so we kept it up. By the time we got to the end of our street (something I had NEVER accomplished…the total walk round trip was just over half a mile) we were both pretty proud of ourselves. We turned around and talked about how we were going to have to text daddy and let him know as soon as we got home! We were so excited! By the time I got home, I definitely felt like I had gotten some exercise, but I felt awesome. I think the problems I had walking home from the doctor the other day had more to do with dehydration than my actual capabilities. I’m setting a goal of going for a walk with Tanner at least three times a week, but hope to do more.

I forgot to weigh in Tuesday by the way. I was at 355, but today I am at 357.8. I think it is just my body adjusting to the lack of the diuretic and me getting myself rehydrated. It sucks to see the scale move up even when I know it is just water, but I know it can’t be fat. I’m continuing to track my food intake and I’ve been doing just fine…calories staying under 800 per day, carbs under 30. I’m not worrying so much about fat lately. When I did atkins I never did and I lost like crazy on that. My doctor had cautioned me to keep both carbs and fat low, but honestly, I’ve noticed improved weight loss just monitoring calories and carbs so unless I see evidence otherwise, I’m going to continue.

OH! I completely forgot to tell you about last Saturday! I had another NSV. I went grocery shopping and bought $200 worth of groceries by myself!!! I had to sit down three times, but I think that was due more to the dehydration I was experiencing than true fatigue. Of course, at the time I thought I was just overestimating myself. Now that I’ve managed two semi-challenging walks without the same sort of fatigue, I’m convinced I am just weeks away from being able to do darn near anything I want to do WITHOUT needing a rest break. Quite a change from the days when I had to take a folding chair with me because I couldn’t stand for longer than 2 minutes.

10 minute walk felt like NOTHING!!!

Holy cow peoples!!! I have spent the last several weeks really taking it easy. Like taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoon easy. Like laying in bed reading a book easy. I was a little paranoid about getting dehydrated again so I was really focused on making sure I could stay hydrated without activity before I added activity back in...I wasn't just being lazy ;)

I started back at the pool last week, but today was my first day back on the treadmill. I had a 10 minute break at work so I decided I'd jump on the treadmill and see if I could make it the whole 10 minutes. Pre-surgery, I literally watched EVERY SINGLE SECOND tick by and by 6 minutes I was just completely out of steam. My knees would be killing me and I would be out of breath like I'd just ran a marathon or something.

Today, my knees bothered me a bit. My calves felt a little tight, but the first time I looked at the time to see where I was I was past 6 minutes! Seriously, pre-surgery...I'd glance at the clock at like 2.5 minutes thinking I had to be almost done with my measly 6 minute walk! I got off at 10 because I had to get back on the phones, but I could have gone longer!

I'm pretty psyched about it :) The scale has me back down to 396 so that is another great thing! I'm taking Tanner swimming after I get off work and I may try to walk again on my next break. I don't want to overdo it and injure my knees so I'm going to continue out of the water exercise at a modest pace.

One Step At a Time

Today, I’m going to slip my tennis shoes on after I get off work at 6pm and take Tanner for a walk. I’m probably only going to get down my driveway and past the next house and back the first time, but every day, I’m going to try to make it one step further. By the end of the summer, I should be walking the neighborhood don’t you think?

I suppose I could hop on the treadmill and time it, but I want to do something WITH Tanner and we both won’t fit on the treadmill. If there are neighbors out, I’m sure I’ll get some funny looks. People may wonder what the hell we are doing every night taking our mini walks, but so what. Every day I’m going to push myself to get one step further and I KNOW I’ll do it. I’m hoping that having a REAL TANGIBLE goal for each day (some landmark on my street) to get to will keep me focused and motivated. I’ll let you know tomorrow how far we got. Maybe I’ll take a few pics of our street and show you each day how far we manage to get. I just don’t want to lose the psychological momentum I seem to have right now.

I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be approaching my 40th birthday (April 21st), but that doesn’t mean I have to be in the same damn place when I turn 41. Right now, I have simple goals. I just want to be strong enough to start doing my own grocery shopping some time this summer. I’ll get there, one step at a time.