Quick Update

Okay, okay, yesterday's post may have been a bit hasty. While I'm still disappointed in my poundage, I measured myself this morning and found that I've lost 2 inches off my waist (from 35 to 33, I know you're curious) since January 22. I had planned to wait until February 22 to re-measure, but I needed to feel better. Bad news is, every other measurement is still the same. Maybe I should look on the bright side, because who knows how many inches I could have gained had I not been changing my ways.

Gym update
Yesterday at the gym I felt similar struggles to keep up a fast pace. I know that putting the treadmill on a steep incline and speed walking can be just as effective, I was looking forward to running again, but just couldn't quite get there. Even with 10 minutes warming up I found myself being held back with the strenuous jog. Today I spent 30 minutes on the recumbent bike, hopped on the treadmill, and again found myself going way faster than I normally do. Now, I had it on a much lower incline than normal so I can't say for sure that it was the bike that did the trick, but I can say that I was able to go twice as fast for twice as long for a whopping 25 minutes.

And boy, did I sweat. I never realized how fantastic sweat is. I love that feeling of it seeping down, soaking my clothes. I love wiping my hand across my forehead and then my hand across my shirt. Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets me as sweaty as the treadmill, and it is by far the most liberating feeling of my life.

Point taken, body

It's amazing what you learn when you start something new. I've learned that changes in diet alone really do have positive impacts on your weight; I've learned that water can actually quench your "hunger;" and this weekend I learned the importance of warming up before exercise.

We've all read the dorky signs that suggest that we actually need to warm up before using exercise machines. We've seen the exercise videos that start with marching in place. And at the same time, we see calm, dry, individuals jump on the treadmill and go full blast. My two days at the gym have shown me what a different experience it can be to warm up first.

I learned this quite by accident. On Saturday I did a few stretches and made my way to the treadmill in the basement of my building, jumped on and took off. Sure, I started slow. Three minutes in, I was good to go and started a brisk jog. About 10 seconds later, my throat was hot, my stomach acid crawled up my esophagus, and the air in my lungs was gone. I desperately slowed down and gulped at the water that did nothing to calm my discomfort. Cursing my physique I continued on, much more slowly, for a pathetic a

nd tragically painful 20 minutes.

Sunday morning I got out of bed and knew that I would continue on in my quest to a better body. Excited that I would enter an empty (or mostly empty) gym I approached the door to find both treadmills filled, one by my new friend from Saturday. Knowing that my now nearly eight year old pelvic fractures prevented me from riding the normal bike, I hopped on to the recumbent bike and peddled (I hope I looked as cool as my f

riends here). Sure, I burned my legs up at high levels, but riding this bike just doesn't get the heart rate up like the treadmill does. 25 minutes later, as I pushed myself to go for 30 minutes, my friend from Saturday motioned to me that he wanted to trade machines with me.

As I hopped on, I worried that my legs were too weak to continue, but thought I'd give it a try. After a few minutes walking uphill, I kicked up the speed and an amazing thing happened: I was fine. Sure, I couldn't keep it up forever, but it was more of a choice than

a demand. For another twenty minutes I proudly jogged and ran uphill, without the same agony as the day before. When I got off, I felt better than ever--I was sweaty, red, and incredibly happy.