Fat Woman With A Band

I’m starting week 2 of the “walking a half-marathon” training. It all seems do-able, happily. Basically a whole bunch of walking, with some uphill walking to build strength, and then fast walking to build speed.

The hard part – I’m thinking doing the uphill walking will be hard – begins the week I’m in Barcelona. Darn. I’ll try to do it on my own the weekend after I get back, and then do it with the group from then on. I’m also thinking that even if I missed one of these hard sessions, no biggie. What might be a little difficult while away is any big walks to keep my weekly mileage up. Again, I’ll do what I can, and not stress about it.

The training is given by The Running Room/The Walking Room. There are about 20 people in the group – all women. Some women have already done a half-marathon, or a full marathon. They’re doing the training again, well, for the training I suppose. We meet three times a week, and then are expected to do some walking on our own to make sure we get the mileage in that our coach has outlined for the week.

We were asked to set some goals for ourselves. I have two easy ones – at least easy to think of, that is. The first is to finish the half-marathon in 3 hours. The second is lose 20lbs by the end of the year. Easy to say – hard to do. I’m more confident in finishing the half-marathon in 3 hours, then in the weight loss. Maybe the former will help the latter. I hope so.

I know that I need to keep my activity level up, so committing to the training is important. Exercise seems to be the key for any weight loss for me, even more than the eating.

Got to go put my walking shoes on to begin week 2.

Losing weight is like the Great Wall. It’s an upward climb, with a bit of a break, and then another climb, and another break. Over and over again. And along the way the steps are uneven, some easy, some almost insurmountable without assistance. I’m still doing the weight loss, and I walked a very little bit of the Great Wall. I couldn’t have done the latter without the former.

My China experience was everything I hoped for it to be. I saw China; I saw the places in China I wanted to see. I did the things in China I wanted to do. I left knowing where I would go back to on my next trip.

I could not have done this trip 112 lbs ago. No way. Not a chance. A couple of times, mind you, only a couple of times I saw women who looked like me more than 18 months ago. I knew exactly how they felt in their bodies, travelling in places where everybody is smaller, and where the Chinese are quite happy to stare and stare at you.

We did a lot of walking, and it was not a hardship. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, without a second thought. I enjoyed Chinese food and the more than occasional ice cream or treat. It was all fine. I came back to a two pound weight loss. What could be better than that?

I thank S (& the kids) & M for the opportunity. Great travelling companions. A trip I will not forget.

I’m a fat person. I’ll always be a fat person even if I may one day be of average weight.

I’m saying this so that you know I have credentials for the next bit.

Fat people don’t do everything they want to do. O.K., I know that many people don’t do everything they want to do, but for the fat person lots of the stuff we don’t do is because we physically cannot.

I tried to do things. I went to movies, the theatre, travelled a bit, and worked hard (no snickering, I did do that once upon a time). But I felt that I couldn’t do as much as I wanted because of my obesity. Public seating isn’t fat-friendly. People aren’t fat-friendly. I didn’t have the stamina to walk for any length of time to explore new places. Sure I could drive – and I did – but, some experiences need to be done closer than through a car window.

For a long time my dream was to visit the Far East. I’d tell myself “When I’m skinnier, then I’ll go.”

And when I got my lapband, began losing weight, and exercising more I started to think about this dream. I wondered if I’d get there “now.”

It’s “now”. Today I go to Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. I feel that I can physically meet the challenges. I can walk for extended periods. I can fit in the airplane seat. I can rest comfortably in smaller spaces.

Thanks SZ and MD for the opportunity. Thanks sis, for doing my work while I’m gone. Thanks bL for understanding and supporting my fervent desire to go.

See you in 24 days.

I’m having a hard time, mentally, keeping on track. On Thursday I did not, did not, want to do my work out. I didn’t want to do the vertical crunches, the treadmill, the aquafit. Not, not, not.

But I did it. The only thing that kept me going is the thought “only four more sessions after this, and I’ve got a month’s break.” Two more upper body workouts, two more lower body workouts, and one aquafit. And somehow a bit of walking has to be worked in.

I didn’t do my long walk yesterday. My right leg and heel haven’t been 100% and I though I might be overly cautious, I just don’t want to risk making them worse just before my trip. I’m thinking rest and time will heal the heel.

My food intake, I’m reluctant to admit, has gradually increased. Or, rather my food intake of food that should only be occasional foods, has increased. Another reason I need a reset, I think. It shows I’m tired of the same old, same old.

After the trip I’m working in earnest on my half-marathon goal. So twice a week sessions at The Running Room half-marathon walking clinic, and I definite reset on my eating plan.

More exercise. Less food. More weight loss. Keep going.

There. Another goal.

Jackie sent me numbers, and as I’m all about numbers as you might have already figured out, I’m going to share them.

These numbers are the change in my body measurements. When I started training with her she took a baseline measurement of my shoulders, chest, biceps, waist, hips, thighs, and calves. And I’ve been pretty diligent about weighing myself each Wednesday morning.

I won’t bore you with the individual numbers, so here’s the summary:

total of 54.5 cm/21.5 in & 31 lbs/14kg lost in 282 days.

There was some change in each area with the most change in my hips, chest, shoulders, and waist. And with the least change in calves, biceps, and thighs.

There are a couple of other changes that are also all about numbers. The most obvious is the change in clothing size. I don’t actually remember what my clothing size was then, but I do know it’s a smaller number now. The “hidden” change is that my cholesterol numbers have decreased enough that I no longer need to take prescription medication.

As I’ve lamented the scale has not moved in many, many weeks. When I look at the measurement numbers my body has clearly changed even if the scale doesn’t reflect that change. Some day the scale will catch up … some day. Sigh.

I’m content with my progress. I wonder what the next 282 days will bring?

This week marks the end of training with Jackie. Very, very sad.

Jackie is off on her summer adventure on May 2nd, and when she returns in September she won’t be doing personal training.

It’s been an amazing time with her. I know that my fitness has improved since I began training with her in July. I’ve improved my stamina, my strength, lost weight, and lost inches. Of course, I still have lots of room for improvement.

Some sessions were depressingly difficult, where I felt I just couldn’t do what was asked in the way the exercise needed to be done. Jackie was always encouraging, always positive, always up beat. I’m not sure I ever got the “high” that some exercisers get, but the sense of accomplishment after completing a morning’s routine was huge.

Jackie has given me enough routines and ideas to keep me going for a long time. It’ll be really different doing them by myself, particularly staying motivated. I’m going to try, as I don’t want to lose the benefits I already accrued.

Thanks Jackie – you’re the best!

I like eating chocolate.

Chocolate bars

Chocolate cake.

Chocolate milk.

I like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, too.

‘Nuf said.

The word for me the last couple of weeks is “procrastinate.”

There’s tax stuff to do, there’s a FitBit to set up, and there’s some paperwork I need to get to. I haven’t done a darn thing.

I did, however, do another 10km walk and I’m happy to say I shaved six minutes off my time. My goal is to shave another six minutes, and then start to lengthen my long walks. I want to be able to do the 21km in less than 3hrs and 40min.

There are two experiences I have while I’m walking. One I can remedy fairly easily, and the other is tedious. I’ve found now that I have the energy to do the walk, that is I don’t seem to run out of steam before the end. But what I do find is that I get bored, and I just want to finish so I can do the next thing. This, I recognize, is my usual issue of not being in the moment. So with the walking I’ve been listening to podcasts like CBC’s Norah Young and Spark, NPR’s Terry Gross and Fresh Air, CBC’s Shelagh Rogers and The Next Chapter, NYT’s Freakonomics, TVOntario’s Jesse Brown and Search Engine, Spacing Radio, and various others. This definitely helps a lot.

The second experience is physical. I always seem to have something wrong – my hip hurts, my Achilles hurts, my foot hurts. Always something ‘effing thing. And always on my right side. It’s not a huge 10/10 of pain, usually a 2/10 or 3/10. I’d just prefer not to have it at all. I bought some compression tights on Friday and tried them out yesterday to see if they’d help with the right side pain. It could have been one of the reasons I managed to shave six minutes off my time. After walking, and this morning, my Achilles is 3/10. Not good. More stretching required.

I’ll get to my tasks this week. Really. Really. Really. Sh*t.

I wish I was saying last five pounds to lose. I’m not.

I’m saying the last five weeks of training with Jackie begins tomorrow. I’m doing four workouts a week – Day 1 and 3 work on the same body parts, and Day 2 and 4 work on the other body parts. For example, last week I worked on my legs on Monday and Wednesday, and on my arms on Tuesday and Thursday. I also participated in aquafit on Tuesday and Thursday, and did a little bit of walking on Monday and Friday.

This week I’ll be working my upper body on Monday and Wednesday, and legs on Tuesday and Thursday. I’ll be doing aquafit also, and walking. I’m hoping that we’ll have less rain this week so it’ll be more fun to walk.

The last exercise topic for this post is about the Scotiabank Marathon. I’ve signed up for the half-marathon. That’s 21 kilometers on Sunday, September 26. I know that I can walk it, but what I don’t know is if I can walk it while the course is officially open, that is 3 hours and 40 minutes. So the goal isn’t just to walk but to finish in that time.

I’m going to be doing as many training walks as I can, not all the same length as the half-marathon. For example, a walk from my place to the intersection of Bloor and Yonge is 10 kilometers. I’ll going to try to do that this week and get a time measurement. I think I can do that in just over 2 hours. Not bad, but not good enough. I have about six months to improve on that.

I’m finding easier to concentrate on the exercise part of my life rather than the diet part. I admit that I’m not doing as well as I should. I have to find the push to start cooking more at home again. I’m thinking about it a lot, I just haven’t done anything about it. Yet.

I’m half-way through a week at Disney World with Doug and Alnoor. It’s been a blast so far, and I have every expectation that we’ll continue to have a magical time here.

The weather hasn’t been all that good, but still better than the snow events happening at home. We even managed to get a couple of continuous hours of relatively warm weather so that we could enjoy Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s water parks.

I didn’t plan any structured exercise during this week as I thought that walking the parks would be enough. I’m not sure that it’s actually “enough”, but I’ve been pretty tuckered out at the end of the day.

As for eating, well, forget about it. I think we’ve all eaten a bit more (or in my case, a lot more) than usual. And I have no regrets. The mint sundae at Ghirardelli’s at Downtown Disney a couple of days ago was stupendous. Orgasmic, actually. And the Tex-Mex at Chevy’s was yummy. We are all in agreement that US portion sizes do seem a bit over the top. Happily the portion sizes at the Pop Century’s cafeteria aren’t over the top, though we’ve had only breakfasts here.

The big story for me though is how different this Disney holiday feels. Slightly more than ten years ago I was here when I was at my previous lowest weight as an adult. That was about 30 pounds more than I am now. It’s difficult to explain how I feel in my body – I’ll try.

I sat in the middle seat in the airplane row on the way here. I could do up the seat belt. I could put the seat back tray down without it hitting my stomach. I didn’t crowd Doug and Alnoor sitting on either side of me.

I can walk the parks without the aid of a cane (as I did ten years ago because of back problems). I have the energy to do the walking and to keep up. On the buses I take up one seat, not two or three.

I have my choice of souvenir t-shirts and don’t have to stick to the oversize racks. I fit in any chair available and don’t have to look for the chairs without arms.

I fit on any ride – the safety bar that closes you in on the seat doesn’t crowd me. I can sit with another adult or more and each of us has enough space. I fit in the inner tube that you use on the creek in Typhoon Lagoon.

I brought a medium sized suitcase slightly more than ¾’s full with lots of changes of clothes. In the past I would have had to pack a much larger suitcase for the same number of pieces of clothing. I know I would have also packed more because finding something in an “emergency” would have been difficult.

I walk up and down the three flight of stairs to the room without a second thought. At the top there’s no huffing or puffing.

You see all these little things that most people don’t even think about or take for granted, each of them has been a “wow” moment for me.

I’ve enjoyed all these non-scale victories that accompany weight-loss.