I should admit at this point that I probably have accumulated the most outstanding group of individuals in the world that anyone could call friends. I was feeling a little down yesterday after what I am going to forevermore call the great elliptical debacle, and I received the best timed email correspondence ever.
*Insert short back story here* my pre-baby employment was as a referral coordinator at a local medical office. For anyone interested that isn’t up on their medical speak, I made patient referrals to other offices and set up diagnostic testing, oh yeah, and I made sure that their insurance would pay for it. I made an ungodly amount of contacts through this job. One of my “contacts” that evolved into a dear friend will for the sake of keeping personal lives personal be referred to as “D”. Well since I had a baby and fell out of the local medi-circle, D quit her job at the medical facility through which I met her. She is now a personal trainer, and from the praises I have heard sang of her, a really good one.
So anywho, I got an email from D yesterday, which was a reply to an earlier message in which I was asking her about how to best build up to a normal fitness routine. She was full of support and advice, she didn’t judge or preach, which to me is a big thing. Something some people don’t realize is that overweight people know that we need to lost weight. Doctors let us know every chance they get (oh you have another cold? Well if you lost weight you might reduce the chances and symptoms of that – yeah totally not joking there) as does the rest of the populace. Our entire society impresses upon us daily that we are wrong for being overweight. It is in magazine ads, on television, and even in children’s programming (which I consequently watch a lot of). Getting preached at by someone about the benefits of weight loss, while well intentioned, can be very discouraging.
Let’s just put it this way… if it were that easy, to say ‘hey, I wanna be 50 pounds lighter’, and poof it worked, there wouldn’t be fat people. It is hard work, and in a time where most of the world has a day job, children to raise, school to attend, and social engagements, hard work is neither appealing nor convenient to add into the mix. For most of us, it is just easier to be fat… and consequently miserable.
Back to my original point, I got the encouragement I so desperately needed from D, and then when my husband got home from work he built me up even more. Upon visiting with some of our other friends, I was loaned a zumba for beginners dvd. I was super excited to get my zumba on, as I have heard great things about it from so many.
That dvd kicked my butt all the way across my living room. It was only about 20 or so minutes (a guestimation on my part) but oh my goodness. I was a large sweaty spaghetti noodle when it was over. But, I finished it. It is a small victory on my part, but it made me happier than anyone else is likely to realize. I feel like I accomplished something today, it makes me eager to get to Sunday. (I’m going to try alternating, elliptical training one day, zumba the next so that my legs are still semi-useful when I am in need of ambulation.) I’m not as eager to tackle the elliptical tomorrow, but I will do it all the same.
I also have been looking up recipes for healthier meals. (Oh yes, another reason I am overweight, I LOVE food. I love cooking, I love smelling it, I love eating it. For me Food = Happy.) I want to find ways to enjoy healthier options. I know that a turkey burger is never going to hold the joy for me that a giant slice of red velvet cake will, but maybe if I can make a healthy meal utilizing things like turkey burgers, I can have a (very less than giant) slice of cake, and not have to feel like I am a complete failure. I have found a few recipes I am eager to try. Tonight will be ground chicken burgers, with bbq spices added in for flavor. I am going to skip the bread on mine, or at least half of it. I have to kind of make baby steps or I run the risk of sabotaging myself unintentionally. I will try to report on the success of the chicken burger experiment tomorrow. Until then.
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