Now I get it......

I want to write about what I have been doing. Yesterday, I took my 10 pound dog on a 2 mile jaunt. We walked at a pretty good pace. I wanted to take in the fresh air and get in a good workout. Poor little dog, she was panting and going as fast as her little legs would carry her. As soon as she saw the front door of our house she got real excited and darted into the house. Drank down some water, and plopped onto the couch. She looked up at me as if to say "are you crazy woman? I am going nowhere else today." It was hard to get her to move. She is so funny. But it was a great walk. I had some tunes in one ear and kept a watch on my heart rate, because I wanted it get it up in a good zone. And we just walked. It was nice. I was thinking about the movie "What Women Want". You know the movie where Mel Gibson can hear women's thoughts. I had just recently seen a part of the movie and was recalling the commercial they made for Nike. It was about a woman jogging on a road and the voice over was talking about how the road doesn't care what you are wearing or how you look, the road is just glad you came to visit again. It made me smile to myself. That commercial has a whole new meaning to me now. I love working out. It makes me feel so alive. I used to see people on the road jogging or walking in the rain or even really hot weather, and I would think "Are you guys crazy, are you in such a hurry to die? " I looked at it as foolishness to be out in all types of weather walking or running. Now I get it. Now I know the feeling they get from exercising. The weather is not always going to be perfect for a leisurely walk outside. But it is always good for workout for your health. You just have to dress appropriately. This is so weird, to think this way. I am addicted to working out. I love it.

Today is Thursday and I did go for my workout with Mandy. It was really good. I had a stressful morning with my son. My van needed some gas and I could have easily gone into Quik Trip and gotten a Mt. Dew and a cinnamon roll, my usual de-stress fare from QT. But I did not, instead I went to work out early and put in a 20 minute mile on the treadmill. I was nice and warm for our workout today. I was visiting with one of the my workout buddies. She has lost 110 pounds. We were talking about the Biggest Loser contestants having to put on fat suits and weights (in the amount of weight that they had lost) and then they ran on the beach. I asked her if she could still remember what it was like to be 110 pounds heavier. She started to cry, she said she remembers every day what it was like. She sees her wedding pictures and it makes her sad. She made me cry. I know the pain she is talking about. I was hoping it would go away when you have lost that much weight. But I guess it will be good to remember, so I don't get back to that weight again.

I went to Weight Watchers today. I took a friend from church who wants to lose weight too. She is having some back problems so she can not start working out yet, but as soon as her doctor releases her, she is hoping to join in with me and Mandy. It will be great. She is a really nice person. I have never had anyone I know to go to WW with or even work out with. I have gotten to know several ladies, but this is someone I already know. Kind of cool. Anyway, it will be nice. I lost 1 more pound this week. I know it was a tough week. I did count everything, and I did not have any Mt. Dew this week. But I know that I did not eat as many veggies as I have been eating. I need to eat a more balanced diet. I am working on it. I also know that I have been at this for a month now and my weight loss is bound to slow a bit. But I really want to lose at least 2 pounds a week. I will just be diligent every day and continue on my path. I know I feel so much better and can do so much more than I have in years. It really does feel good. It is funny, because I schedule just about everything around my workouts. I have to workout. If I do that 5 times a week, I know that I will continue to get healthier. I am tracking my food intake and sticking to the plan. So it is bound to come off sooner or later. :)

Back to the workout with Mandy. I have to say, she worked me hard today. I really can feel the pain. OOOOOHHHH, such sweet pain. It is not really bad, it really does make me feel alive. I love feeling like I pushed myself. I like feeling like I cannot do it and then doing it. Wow. So today, she had me do these push up things on the bench. Where you sit on the edge of the bench and slide forward in a sitting position with your hands on the bench. Then you drop your hiney down and lift with your arms and legs bent. She had me do 2 sets of 12. It was hard. I did not think I could do it. In fact, I kept telling myself I couldn't do it. So the first 6 were torture then I took a break and started again. I told myself, if Mandy thinks I can do this, I can do this. Then I was able to finish and it seemed to get easier, but still painful. Maybe I just had to work through the pain to get to the other side of success. It was great. I shared with Mandy an exercise I saw on Biggest Loser. She decided to have us try it out. You sit on the ball, slide forward in a sitting position and then instead of doing crunches, you lift your legs towards your opposite elbow. It was hard too. :)

I want to talk about someone else in my life that has been a great support. My son's teacher, she is a great lady. I just love her. I sent her my blog. She has been commenting to me about my journey every time I see her. The other day I saw her in her classroom before school started. She was unpacking her food for the day. She had all healthy fare, fruits and veggies. I said "look at you, eating all healthy." She said I had inspired her. That made me feel good. I complemented her on a nice cardigan she was wearing. We discussed where she had bought it and how she wasn't sure that she liked it for her. Then she said I could have it when I lose my weight. It was so cute, the way she said it. We kind of have this mutual admiration society. She is really a great teacher. I believe she is exactly what my son needed at this time in his life. I feel like we were led to move here for her. That is how strongly I feel about her influence in my son's life. So it makes me feel really good to have her say that I inspire her.

Recently, so many people have given me such great support. I want to be successful for myself and everyone who is cheering for me. I cannot express it enough how much I appreciate all the kind words and thoughts. I really needed this level of commitment to help me to keep going even when it is hard to do. Thank you so much to all of you. Now go do something good for yourself today.