This afternoon, as I was drowning in work (gone for one day, and I have so much catch-up to do!), I read my blog comments. I received this from anonymous:
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You. Rock.
I, unfortunately, am still floundering around like a beached whale! I am so frustrated with myself. I know I need to chnage my lifestyle and get healthy, I just haven't found the desire, willpower, or whatever it is that is going to get me moving.
Any advice?
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Sure, I've got advice. I must say, though, I feel weird having people ask me for it, especially when it comes to getting fit and losing weight. This is such a new experience for me, I wonder to myself (and now to my readers) "Why on earth would anyone want advice from me?" But, as I've read back through my posts, I see that I have made a lot of progress, and I have changed my attitude quite a bit. So, here goes my advice:
--Just get to it and start out small. It's not always easy, and it's not always fun and I still hate looking at myself run in the mirror. But, getting fit is more important than looking fabulous on the treadmill and getting over myself has been one of the key ingredients to making this stick. In order to get over myself and get running, I have...gotten music for my ears which leads to the next point.
--Get an iPod or a CD player or even a Walkman. Put on your headphones, ignore the world around you, and get to it.
--Go for a walk. Don't rush. Lollygag if you want. Just do something to get yourself moving. Even for 5 minutes. Just do something small.
--Change one thing at a time. If you notice, in mid-December when I started back to this adventure, I only changed one thing: I went to Weight Watchers and that was only after seeing Erik on the Biggest Loser lose like 214 pounds. So, I began WW and told myself, "I'll start working out on January 6." And, that's what I did (and dragged hubby with me).
--As cliche and trite (sp?) as it sounds, Love yourself enough to make the time to get fit. As you may know, I don't have children, but I have a dog whom I adore. I also tend to be a perfectionist. So, combine those two things, and you come up with an obsessive dog owner. The dog owner who wants the dog to have as much exercise and socialization as any dog possibly can. And, failing that, I fail. So, I decided, Miss Cleo may have to wait an hour or two to get her daily walk. If it doesn't happen at 6am, it doesn't mean that it won't happen at all. She just needs to wait until I am done at the gym. And, guess what? She doesn't even notice the time difference. I've discovered that, to dogs, 6am and 8am are pretty much the same.
--Celebrate the small victories. Notice I haven't run a marathon yet, but each second--even the seconds I'm *only* walking-- I'm on the treadmill is a celebration.
So, there's (some of) my advice. I hope it helps. I've gone from 165 pounds to 153.2 or something like that in about 2 months, and it's the best thing I've ever done. I feel better than I have in a long time, and I think I even feel better than the last time I weighed this much. And, it's because I'm making accomplishments with fitness.
Hang in there, Anonymous. Believe me, I've surmounted some pretty serious challenges in life, like completing my PhD, and I think I can honestly say that losing this weight and getting running has been a bigger challenge than that PhD thing sitting behind my name. Keep coming back to read, because, as much as you need advice, I do, too. And, I'm always keeping my eyes open and my head up for words of encouragement and wisdom from my trusty readers. Since I haven't lost much weight in the past 2 weeks, I've been feeling very sad and frustrated. Anonymous has truly helped me articulate why I'm doing what I'm doing. It's not just about losing weight. It's about gaining a healthy life.
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