My New Fitness Plan

Some background: I have always been "healthy" and "big boned" but I have also always been muscular and energetic and physically active. I have almost always been comfortable with a higher percentage of body fat. It keeps me warm, I like that. More recently I have gained considerable weight in short periods of time, twice. I am no longer comfortable in this body.

First, I quit smoking. That was August 9, 2004. I immediately put on an ugly 55 extra pounds and that was just the first two months. I had more stretchmarks suddenly than I had being pregnant with Rhetta. Yikes.

I leveled out and emotionally was fine for awhile. I vowed I'd stay quit of smoking for three years before I tried to start something else, like losing this extra flab. My clothes didn't fit anymore, I was wearing my maternity clothes. I insisted on not buying any new clothes, what a waste! I was going to lose the weight and I'd be in my old clothes in no time.

My metabolism changed again, and quite suddenly, and I was faced with gaining another 30 pounds. Yikes again! I broke down and bought a new pair of jeans. I'm still wearing them and refuse to buy more but I have jeans that fit. My two year mark was coming up and we decided to have another baby. I wasn't sure I wanted to lose weight then gain a bunch while pregnant. Both times being pregnant I gained weight but lost all my pregancy weight during the first week post-partum. I'd love to blame my fat on that but alas I cannot.

My target date for weight loss remained my three year guit date and I felt great about it all. However during the pregnancy my hips and knees started to give me lots of trouble because of all the extra weight. I stuck it out and figured it was loose ligaments from the fluctuating hormones and figured it would go away after giving birth. Surprisingly it did not! It grew progressively worse and a month before my target date I couldn't walk anymore. I went down our back steps and I mean went down, as in on my butt. My knees would no longer carry my body. I was scared.

I got some x-rays of my knees done and was diagnosed with Patello-Femoral Syndrome. Great! Not! PFS is what happens when your muscles atrophy from little activity and the bones in your knees start readjusting and your leg bones bang on each other when you walk. GAH!

I went to a physical therapist, Mike, who showed me one day at a time twice a week how to strengthen my quads. Mike is cool and funny and smart so I wasn't dragging myself to appointments reluctantly. After almost 6 months he and I sat down and he helped me map out a daily routine to work my whole lower body; my hips, my quads, my lower back, my hamstrings, and my abs. This allowed me to make a new target date. New Year's Day was again convenient, coincidentally. That brings us up to the present.

My daily exercise routine is this:

Morning -
20 minutes of stretching/exercises
20-30 minutes of the exercise bicycle (thanks Santa!)

Evening -

20 minutes of stretching/exercises
20-30 minutes of the exercise bicycle (thanks Santa!)

Real exciting isn't it? LOL Walking was going to be my primary form of exercise, taking the kids around town in the double stroller, going to the lake, the parks, the store, etc. PFS put that on hold as did this frigid winter weather. At any rate, my new routine is working well. I have to wait for Willon to be napping and after both kids go to sleep at night so Willon doesn't get clocked by a bike pedal but that's working well for the most part. I can really tell when I miss a session. I'm burnng almost 800 more calories per day than usual. Yay me!

The rest of my plan is really a jumble of small goals I'm striving for in changing my daily life in order to lose this extra weight plus keep fit and healthy. They are, rather randomly off the top of my head, as follows:

- Drink more water
- One small snack allowed after 7pm before exercises
- Want a snack? Drink a glass of water first and wait.
- Ration the chocolate
- No added sugar
- No soda (see Resolutions)
- Get out for fresh air daily
- Healthier snacks
- Cut dairy intake by half
- Little to no fast food
- Pizza only on birthdays
- No alcohol
- Smaller portions/no more seconds
- Don't shop hungry
- Make menus
- Dance with the kids mor often

Many of these I've already accomplished and I feel good about them. Others I dread and don't really want to do. I mean, who doesn't want to just eat as much chocolate as they want with no consequences? Same goes for pizza. (moan)

So there it is, staring me in the face. Eat less, exercise more. Easy Peasy.

Hold me.