I walked a half hour last night at a good pace and couldn't believe how much I felt it! Pathetic, I tell you! But I keep telling myself that's good for the first day. It has been three years since I've done ANYTHING!
This morning I got up just 10 minutes earlier. I usually listen to the radio for a good half hour before actually getting up. So this morning I set the alarm 10 minutes early and hopped right up with the alarm. My goal was to walk up and down the stairs 10 times. I made it 5. LOL! I used to walk up and down the stairs for a full 20 minutes as a WARM UP! I also remember killing my legs the first time I ever did it and didn't want to do that so I listened to my muscles and stopped after 5.
Then I did some lower body stuff with the ball.
All and all, it was a good workout. I can't believe how much I've lost in the way of strength, endurance, and muscle, but it will all come back. I am not training for the olympics!
I'm so sorry. I fretted about this all night long thinking of a way to respond.
Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry I made you fret! My tone on this board so often comes across differently than the way I am thinking the words; in RL I have a very dry sense of humor and the people who are used to me know how to take it, but online it comes across all wrong. I just wanted to make sure no newbies got the impression I was running around bragging about wearing size 8 pants (currently I have *one* pair of size 8s I can button, but I wouldn't wear them outside my closet!)
Size 8 skirts are much more forgiving, of course, but I can't wear a size 8 in anything that hugs my hips, so even pencil skirts are out. I *am*, however, wearing a size 8 top today, and it's a button-down, which is a style I used to avoid like the plague.
Anyway, you're absolutely right. Muscle makes SO MUCH DIFFERENCE. I'm thrilled to be 40 pounds overweight and almost in an 8 jean, that's for sure. And my legs (under the fat and extra skin) are pretty much solid muscle at this point. So definitely building muscle helps with how you look and how you feel about yourself.
And while I'm here, I'll say congratulations on getting back into your routine! I'm not sure I could do 20 minutes of stairs right now, so I'm frankly impressed that you ever did that at all.
Congratulations, Eliana on getting back on track with your exercising. I really feel so good when I do it regularly that I can't understand how I can stop and get out of the habit---but I do. And then getting back up to speed is soooo difficult.
My curiosity is aroused. Ignore if this is too intrusive, but what was the sport you were training for?
My curiosity is aroused. Ignore if this is too intrusive, but what was the sport you were training for?
None!! I was just insane!! I wanted to lose weight so very badly I just made myself a nut. Seriously! If I had a day off work, I'd spend three hours at the gym. One day I swam TWO miles which took just under two hours, then I did weights then I did the elliptical machine. In ONE day. I was doing spin class, exercise ball class, HIIT...and I was getting nowhere. That's not entirely true. I was THE most fit fat person out there. My BP dropped tremendously. But other than that...I got nowhere.
I walked a half hour last night at a good pace and couldn't believe how much I felt it! Pathetic, I tell you! But I keep telling myself that's good for the first day. It has been three years since I've done ANYTHING!
hey, congrats!
not pathetic at all. my bf tells me that change takes time, I was basically a couch potato for a many years, getting in shape isn't going to happen in a flash. I've come a long way, baby, ha.
Eliana, I think I understand you. Maybe. Let's test this: Does what I'm about to relate sound familiar to you, like some of your former thinking?
The last time I lost an enormous amount of weight, I noticed that I kept adding onto my exercise routine.
First I was walking in the mornings. Then I was riding an exercise bike, but I also had to walk afterward. Then I was doing weights and stretches, and this also had to be included to the routine... all on the same day, in the same session. Okay, that's not bad. That still sounds balanced. But wait ...
Then I took up horseback riding, but on that day I also had to walk & bike.
When I tried an aerobics class, I worried I might be getting less of a "burn," so in addition to aerobics at night, I walked & biked in the morning.
Then I felt I still wasn't doing enough, so I added walking at lunch hour.
What I mean is, I just kept adding & adding to my exercise routine & it kept growing longer & longer. There was a morning session, some activity at lunch, and again in the evening. Instead of my shaking it up, with a varied activity each day, or trusting that new activities would give me the same or better results, I just piled on more & more.
Lessons learned:
1) To swap out, rather than add in, and to keep the total time consistent.
2) If I have exercised in the morning, and the evening is free, to spend that evening time doing something that enriches my mind, rather than my body.
3) To ask myself, "Is this what your average person would do, or am I starting to verge on single-minded & crazy?"
4) To ask myself, "Am I moving the goal posts? Am I demanding quasi physical perfection, or to become a professional athlete, when my original goal was just to be healthy & to feel & look somewhat better?"
Because I have a problem with that. With moving the goal posts, I mean. I start off by feeling inferior, and wanting just to feel "normal" and "average." But somewhere along the way, the goal changes, and I want to be more than "average." I start making comparisons with fitness instructors, fitness models, serious athletes. I start wanting to excel. It happens slowly but the fog creeps in & nothing ever seems like it's enough & then one day I find myself with four consecutive hours of exercise scheduled.
I'm trying to leave the goal posts in place this time. I'm trying to keep my ambitions fairly moderate. Getting a little better gradually is healthy. It keeps the routine interesting. But aspiring toward absolute excellence ... there are some things in life I'm just going to accept being just "okay" at, since there jus isn't enough time in the day & there is a lot of life to enjoy.
I also remember killing my legs the first time I ever did it and didn't want to do that so I listened to my muscles and stopped after 5. 
None!! 
hey, congrats!
