If you don’t struggle with weight issues, then, well, Hell I don’t know, but it doesn’t make me happy if you don’t. Since I was about nine, I started getting chubby. It took a lot of effort to keep my weight at the low end of my recommended level. Once I hit 16, I resorted to eating a small bag of cheddar Combos and a Dr. Pepper and nothing more. Every day. I was a cheerleader and played tennis and it was hard to stay slim. I always had big boobs, too, so no matter what I did I looked heavier than I really was.
Fast forward to my early 20’s. After basic training I got my Air Force desk job and promptly put on ten pounds. When I hit my late 20’s, I had that ten plus ten more. This is where the yo-yo dieting kicked in. I have done every diet known to man: Atkins, South Beach, Slimfast, Body for Life, Physicians Weight Loss, calorie counting, Abs Diet, and the list goes on. My biggest problem is that I love food. I also live in Texas where you are hard-pressed to find a restaurant that sucks. We also have something like 10 restaurants for every citizen of the city of Houston. And that’s a crap load. Pun intended.
What I’ve come to realize is that because I’m little, I can’t eat as much as most people. At only 5’1” my daily calorie intake shouldn’t exceed 1200 unless I’m working out like crazy. Do you know how hard it is to live in Texas and eat less than 1200 calories a day? That’s basically one meal at any given restaurant.
Last year, I tried a fitness bootcamp. When I went to real, bonafide bootcamp it was in the middle of July and it was too hot to do much exercise outside. Needless to say, I gained weight while I was there. They make you eat so much and the Mexican food at that chow hall was amazing! The bootcamp class last summer really did work. I had some visible changes and clothes fit better, but once it ended, I stopped working out so much.
So, I ran yesterday and today. I wouldn’t really call it running. I walked mostly, but I did run for about six minutes straight. That’s pretty impressive. I’m hoping to be able to complete a half-marathon early next year. I’ll take you on my journey each Tuesday to let you know how much the weekend prior has derailed me and what I’m doing to reach that goal.
Later!
Hooray! Yay for running!