 |
My oldest and me on a snowy trip
around The Matterhorn--and I'm still smiling! |
After a year of family-related medical anxieties, I have
finally decided to take back my healthy lifestyle choices that I’d started
nearly three years ago. Although the stressors have not lessened, my stress
eating needs to stop and I have to get back into my old exercise routine. I
look at where I was this time last year (walking/running 2.5 miles 3-5 times a
week and covering it in 37 minutes along a rugged, hilly township-maintained
dirt road) and then look at my current fitness and want to cry in frustration.
If it makes sense, even after the holidays, when I knew I had returned to my
old bad habits and my new clothing wasn’t exactly fitting as it should, instead
of changing things, I binged on more unhealthy stuff. I went from stress eating
to what-does-it-matter eating. Crazy.
 |
| I love to cook and my entire family suffers for it! Foodies!! |
Other things contributed to this motivation as well. My husband came home last week
from his yearly work physical and said I had to stop being such a good cook
because he’d put on ten pounds in a year. Although he has a very physical job
and can usually burn some serious calories over the course of his workday, he
was just as guilty of overindulging. Our youngest takes medication to control
her epilepsy and, while the medicine and dosage is an absolute necessity, the
side-effect is weight gain. Not only does it cause the brain to trigger a false
sense of hunger, it makes the weight gain settle mostly around the subject’s
midsection. We’ve been told it’s very common for those taking Depakote to later
develop Type 2 Diabetes. And we don’t want that. Because of her autism and
cognitive issues, it is extremely hard making her understand that she really
isn’t hungry. The way she acts sometimes, you’d think we were starving her!
She’s very sedentary, too. Her activities are more electronic gadget powered
ones versus moving her body activities.
With our oldest away at college, it makes it easier for our
household family of three to transition into healthier eating habits—besides, she's the fussy one who complains the most over menu choices. The first thing we
did was purge the house of junk food, including processed foods and sweets (we’re
big fans of ice cream and chips). Instead, we filled the fridge and cupboards
with the good stuff. Losing weight isn’t about starving yourself and I hate the
word “diet.” I would even go so far as to say you don’t need to pay for some
fancy brand diet food or supplements to get results. I ate better and walked
myself into a fifty pound weight loss. No DVD’s. No shakes. What I’m advocating
is a healthier lifestyle. Plain and simple. Training yourself to make wiser
choices when it is time to eat—or even snack because snacking is totally
permitted!!!
 |
| For the first time in my life, I wore out a pair of running shoes using them for their intended purpose-- exercising! *Sniff* My Saucony TR7's. |
The second thing I did was more for myself. I purchased new
running shoes. Plantar fasciitis makes having the perfect fitting sneaker with
the best support a must. My first pair of running shoes were the awesome
Saucony TR7’s! I loved them! The fit and feel were perfect and the tread was
perfect for the terrain I am on—especially for running downhill. When they wore
out, I was prepared to buy another pair of TR7’s. However, Saucony replaced
them with TR8’s (and now TR9’s). They offered nothing in support even remotely
similar to their predecessor. I settled on a slightly more expensive model,
happy with the toe box and heel support even though the arch was nothing like
my tried and true TR7’s. I know they say you need to replace sneakers after so
many miles and, while I literally wore out my TR7’s from lots and lots of miles,
I wasn’t nearly getting out as often as before to wear this new model out.
Midsummer, plantar fasciitis came with a vengeance and benched me for six
weeks. Sure, two weeks in, my feet began to feel better only I overdid it
trying to get back into my regular workout. Reinjuring isn’t recommended.
Recovery takes even longer. My left foot still has residual issues. My family
went sneaker shopping with me last week and pretty much ended up hating me by
the end. I lost count of how many shoes I tried on. I wasn’t going to be brand
loyal. Whatever fit the best and offered the support I needed was going to go
home with me. This was further proven by the fact that I didn’t care what the
shoes looked like. I tried on everything—much
to my oldest daughter’s chagrin. I guess old moms like me aren’t supposed to
wear iridescent colors in five different shades. Whatever. I was about to give
up when I spotted a brand I had never tried before. I knew from my running
friends the brand had a good reputation, but they tended to be pricey. As I
pulled them out and my oldest gasped in horror over their appearance, I had my
misgivings. They sported those open heel shocks through the sole. I didn’t know
if I would like that. I’m a plus size lady after all. How would this feature hold
up? And then I tried them on. It was like walking on air! The shoe also has a
damn sturdy foundation around the perimeter and a decent arch. The others I’d
tried had very disappointing arch support. I didn’t want to use insoles to gain
arch support. Insoles always mess up the feel of the rest of the shoe. I
decided to snap them up. I prepared myself for sticker shock only to discover
they were on sale. I should say ridiculously
on sale since I had returned home and searched online to see if I’d paid too
much only to find out that I paid half
the price they were online from the usual suspects. So, I am now the proud
owner of hot pink Mizuno’s! Of course, I bought them just in time for the
arrival of the 2016 Polar Vortex and then the snow/ice storm we got that left
my walking/running path too treacherous to even dare attempting. AccuWeather is
forecasting a mild weekend in Northeast PA. I’m hoping to hit the trails
again—not running because I’m far too out of shape to do that in light of the 3
½ months I took off. Instead, I’ll take it at a leisurely pace to avoid cardiac
arrest. The Matterhorn is bad enough without adding further cardio! I should
also note, I purchased foot compression sleeves that are supposed to help offer
support for plantar fasciitis. They aren’t very fashionable looking, but if
they work? Who cares!!!
 |
| My new hot pink Mizuno's! I hope they don't disappoint me! How do you like those stylish compression sleeves? Jealous? |
Any of our Broads of
a Feather readers making lifestyle changes? What’s new with you?!
No comments:
Post a Comment