Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The elephant in the room


I know you hang on my every word, but let me remind you of where we left off yesterday:
Patience.
Don't quit.
Give it time.
Try something new. (Marshmallow rewards?!)
More patience.
Still more patience.
The key for me, right now, I believe, is the try something new line. Of course, I was totally kidding about the marshmallow rewards. Kind of.

Actually, this is where things get stickier than a s'more at a 4th of July bar-b-que. The "something new" I had in mind when I wrote that post . . . it's the elephant in the room.

She's not a cute, pink elephant either.
She's most likely red-in-the-face, huffing, puffing, and covered in sweat despite her very cool, the 80's are back, Olivia Newton-John-esque headband.

She's the elephant known as Exercise. (aka, activity, moving your butt, working out, hitting the gym, and sweatin' to the oldies, among others.)

I've been reading a fair number of weight loss blogs since I started mine, and I have noticed one common thread -- every blog author moves.

I've been so focused on the food portion of weight loss (don't we all do that, though, really? How many exercise programs are best sellers?), I've completely neglected the activity portion. And I don't think I can anymore.

Oh, sure, I've lost weight without exercising before. There was the Grape Juice Diet of '97. That was a good one. Yes, I definitely lost weight consuming nothing but diluted grape juice all day, but it was a little difficult to stand at times. That was a major drawback. No exercise required on that diet!

However, I've since discovered that I prefer to not faint whenever I stand up from a seated position, so I'm thinking I'll stick with a more conservative approach this time. And that means *gulp* exercising, doesn't it?

Why do I feel like a 2-year old being dragged towards a nap when I acknowledge this?

I have lots of excuses. Oh, lots. You don't want to hear them, do you? I'm sure you can figure most of them out. There is nothing new, except that I am still struggling with hip pain (even after physical therapy). So I won't be doing a 5K tomorrow. I could walk, though. Or do a DVD.

But, when?
Take the girls?
Work out after they go to bed?
Before they get up?


Ack! It's too hard!

I know this is important, but someone motivate me, please.
I sure could use Dumbo's magic feather.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved this entry. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I, too, have problems with moving. As I was reading your post, I was thinking of the April 14th post on Confessions of a Startled Fat Woman: the E Word and me as a recovering "inertiate" (pronounced "in UR she ate").

I'm on the journey to get those molecules moving. One day I walked up and down the stairs until I was screaming bored to get my raise-the-heart-rate time in.

Beetnik Mama said...

Nice to see you here! I'll be sure to check out your post. I know this is something many of us struggle with -- it sounds like you're especially dedicated if you're doing stairs!

Samantha said...

Hey I could go on and on about working out, but I enjoy it and I know a lot of people don't, so I don't have anything to say to change that really. But the food thing is HUGE- you can't lose weight w/o changing your diet. You can't be totally healthy w/o working out either for a million reasons. It's so good in so many ways but you know all that. But hey, a fitness instructor a few weeks ago told me that weight loss is 20% exercise and 80% diet, so you're still doing great things. Find a friend to work out with. That helps.