(You mean no exercise... just tapeworms? Sign me up!)
Of course I need to explain some things from yesterdays post. Like... "how". While I'm getting everything up and running I'll try to catch up on my journey so far as well as keep you posted on the present.
I made a deal with my husband at the beginning of this whole thing. If I could lose 100 pounds in 1 year then he would agree to paying for a "mommy makeover" (tummy tuck/boob job). It was kind of just a deal to help keep me motivated. Excess skin is always a worry after a huge weight loss. I'm sure I'll be talking about that in the future.
So Charles asked what I planned to do to lose the weight. I said, "Eat healthy and walk". To which he replied, "You can't lose weight by just walking, it's not enough.". Basically he was saying my body would need more strenuous exercise in order to lose weight.
But I ignored him. At first it was only two miles, then it was two miles twice a day. And I gradually worked my way up from there. My son spent a lot of time in a stroller in the beginning. It was just the two of us on a mission. I learned to time my walks around his nap. I could get exercise in and he could nap in the stroller. We ended up averaging about 6 miles a day, but at times got all the way up to 10 miles.
During the week it would be around our neighborhood or to a local park. On the weekend my husband would join us and we could walk "The Bridge", a local bridge over the inter coastal waterway. This was a challenge because of the huge incline, but the water view made it something we looked forward to.
Tip: Find a form of exercise you enjoy, whether for the activity itself or simply for the view. If you enjoy it then you're more likely to stick to it.
I lost 20 pounds in the first 3 weeks and the only form of exercise I did was walking. So it DOES work. Charles was wrong. :)
But that does bring about an interesting point. A lot of people worry about not being able to exercise because they are too overweight to run or take a class at the gym. I know I was skeptical.
I had always heard it takes 21 days to make something a habit so I told myself I would stick it out for at least that long. (Did you tell me that, Melissa?) I would walk everyday for 21 days. At the end of that time period if I wasn't seeing results then I would reevaluate my plan. I started seeing results right away in weight loss and in endurance.
In the beginning I was marking days off on the calender, counting down to the end of that commitment. But a funny thing happened. I stopped thinking of it in terms of "only 5 days left" and started thinking of it in terms of "I've worked out 16 days straight". I didn't want it to end, I wanted to see how long I could go.
I think I'll take a break from the past for a bit. Tomorrow I'll talk about the food part of the equation.
(I wonder if the "Lard Information Council" is still around)