C25K

I have lost a tremendous amount of weight in this first 1.5 weeks of doing Weight Watchers, and that is because I had been carrying alot of water weight. Tonight is my first official weigh in at WW, and I will start using their measurements as my official weight.  It will also allow me to see how their scale's readings compare to mine here at home. My home scale says I have lost 15 pounds already. Now it should slow down, since I seriously believe that was just getting excess water weight off.

The following is what I wrote on my Weight Watchers blog today:

When I was a child, I was chunky, but I was strong and fast. I played soccer for years and loved almost every minute of it! I could run faster and kick the ball farther than most, and I was respected for it. I still got called names for being overweight, but never on a soccer field. I loved running, riding my bicycle and generally moving. May have had something to do with hyperactivity, but I won't really go there...

Fast forward 30-something years. I am still strong in some ways, but I am afraid physically is not one of them anymore. I still can't believe I allowed this to happen. Sure, I can blame it on something. Years of intense pain. Injuries from car accidents. Herniated discs. Fibromyalgia. Anemia. Insomnia. WHATEVER - I still allowed it to happen. I really want to turn around now, so my youngest child and I have taken on walking together. She is 10 years old and quite precious. She loves this time with me, and I love my time with her. We have been walking briskly for 30 minutes at a time, several times a week, for two weeks now, and we are going to work it up to an hour soon. I think this is the longest she has stuck with something like this. I desperately want to make walking in the outdoors a lifelong habit! We fully intend to lengthen the amount of time we spend walking as well.

Today we tried something new (to us.) I downloaded a Couch to 5K app to see if there was any way possible I could learn to run again. You see, all of this weight has changed me. My once-strong legs are not so muscular anymore. My knees and ankles have felt weak. Oh, and there's the quick breathlessness that a sedentary lifestyle endows upon you... I have been literally afraid to try to run! (Part of that is because of the herniated discs in my lower back, so I really do need to be very cautious...) The course today was simple. It would be a 30-minute session. The first 5 minutes are spent warming up by walking, then you start alternating periods of jogging and walking.


After the first full minute of jogging, I thought I was going to pass out. Then it suddenly occurred to me that I had finished that full minute when I had thought I wouldn't make it past 5 steps!!! I do believe the first hurdle has been overcome! My daughter stuck it out with me. We'd finish a 1-minute period of jogging and both say we didn't think we could possibly do another, but when the time came to start jogging again, we did it! We jogged every single time the command was given. VICTORY!!!!!

I have to be honest and admit that I wondered how utterly ridiculous I must have looked on many occasions. I have to admit that I probably could walk faster than I ran. I have to admit that is was so hard to keep going.

But I kept going.

Is it silly or stupid for a grown woman to rejoice because she jogged a total of one-half of a mile and walked another 1.6? I don't care if it is. I count it a personal victory and I celebrate it! I need to determine how often I am supposed to do this. I would love to get out and walk every day. I guess I will have to figure out how to accomplish this when it is 20 degrees outside, too. I hear it is supposed to actually get cold soon... Any tips appreciated!