Thursday, April 23, 2009

Walking

In case you haven't met me. I am overweight. Fine. I will 'say' it, according to the definition I am obese. There it is. Of course, I have known this for years. It's not like I can't see myself and I don't own a mirror. Regardless, it's not fun to say which means it bears saying again. I am obese. I need to loose weight. A large amount of weight. I am not prepared yet to put that figure in writing. Suffice it to say that it's a 3 digit number. Exactly. Ugh!.

So, here I am publicly saying these things because I need to force myself to do something about it. I have always been relatively healthy. But the past couple of years although my traditional Western medicine doctor said everything was fine my Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM) said that I was borderline. His range is more narrow than the range western docs use and so I already knew that I was leaning towards the usual stuff that goes with my obesity such as high blood pressure and diabetes. I have not been officially diagnosed with either yet but this year my Western medicine doctor said that I was pre-all these things. So, I need to act now to see if its not too late to prevent them.

I need to eat healthier more importantly eat less and exercise. Now, I have been on a bajillion diets in my lifetime since jr. high and I can attest to the fact that every single one works. You loose weight on all of them. I have lost hundreds if not thousands of pounds. The problem is I keep finding them and a few more each time I stop said diet. I need to just eat less because even too much of a good thing is not good.

So, in that vein a few minor changes were immediately made. I bought 2% milk for my morning cafe con leche. I am cleaning out the cupboard of bad (starchy) veggies such as peas which I seem to have a lot of and get rid of the fruit juice. When given the choice I'd rather eat my sugar not drink it thank you. I even measured out the rice for dinner and in prepping the leftovers for lunch.

Now, let's not all get crazy here. I have done it for 2 days. WooHoo! I know. Talk to me in a week or a month and we'll see. Anyway, I have to start.

The big news is yesterday I walked. I actually changed my clothes when I got home from work in stead of plopping in front of the TV to absorb the A/C and walked for 45 minutes. My son says that my route was just shy of 2 miles. He's the runner, he should know I really didn't care. I was exhausted and gratefully absorbing the A/C propped up against the sofa on the cold tile floor when he was calculating. Actually, he was very supportive. He gave me his old iPod, loaded like 60 songs on it while I changed and showed me how to work it before I set out. He checked the time before I left and said he didn't want to see me for at least 1/2 hour that I didn't even need to take keys, he'd be there. Sweet huh?

Today is day 2 and I already didn't have my oatmeal fro breakfast (which really fills me). I had a bagel that someone brought in for the office. That's the bad news. I guess the good news is in the past I would have had 3, one for breakfast, one for snack and one with lunch. I have only had the one for breakfast and now I had the lunch I prepared from home. I have a banana for snack later and then only dinner to worry about.

I plan on walking again when I get home today even though there was a point yesterday I didn't think I'd make it but in my head I just keep saying, you can't just stop and sit down here, you have to get home. We'll see how far I get. It's hot out. It was hot yesterday but gratefully there was an occasional breeze that helped a bit. I may try another route. I think we need more shade trees in my neighborhood. I'm just saying the heat and the sun in these parts is brutal.

I have been thinking about setting some goals to keep me motivated and on track maybe a few big ones and a bunch of little ones. I don't know. We'll see. I need to think about it some more.

3 comments:

Hilda said...

You're a better woman than me. I keep saying I'm going to walk, but I do it for a couple of days and then I stop.

I suck. :(

Noor Pirani said...

This is Jacquie not Marcia, I do not have an account to post. I faced these issues too. 11 weeks ago I started a boot camp. I have lost 12 pounds and one dress size. I feel so much better about myself. Even though I face a triple digit excess as well. I love boot camp. It is in Coral Gables, they have it a 5:30 a.m. and at 6:00 p.m. I go in the morning, five days a week, most weeks. This week I missed one day and the camp was canceled one day. I have added to the routine by walking 3 times a week. The progress is very slow, I have not lost as much as I think I should loose given the effort I feel I am putting forth. I love it when people notice. I still toy with the idea of taking a short cut...actually I have not ruled it out. But, in the meantime I am trying to stay active and focused. If you ever want to walk on a weekend, let me know. I have started replacing coffee or drink dates with walking dates.

Noor Pirani said...

Cristina, this is Marcia, not Jacquie, I know it is hard to keep us straight. I soooo need to start walking. My cholesterol is 258 which Jacquie says doubles my risk of heart attack. But I know I will not walk alone. Where do you walk? If we could find a nice place to walk a couple of times a week I'd be delighted to join you. Matheson Hammock has a nice trail I hear. Unlike Jacquie I will bring my coffee and why the heck not take the short cut as well. I'm too old for boot camp, heck I get that by just being married! Facebook me, e-mail me or just plain old fashion call me if you are interested, or not.

Love you,