Run, Sayra! Run!

When we are in a hurry, my children and I often call out to each other in deep Southern drawls, "Run, Forrest! Run!" We say it when we are playing a game in the yard. We say it when someone forgets something and must run back into the house while the rest of us wait patiently (ahem) in the car. We say it to mock each other in good fun. I know it is not original, but we enjoy ourselves.

Well, lately I have been saying it to myself. You see, after a winter where I wasn't all that careful about the amount or type of food that went into my mouth, I found that my booty was inexplicably expanding. Seriously. Inexplicably. Wait. What do you mean that there's a link between what I eat and how much I eat and how big my butt gets?!?!?

I knew that there was a problem when clothes that I had no trouble slipping into last fall when it was warm had somehow shrunk over the winter. I scratched my head and suggested to my husband that we had some kind of Magic Closet that was replacing my clothes with clothing a size or two too small. Or perhaps, I suggested, there was some sort of evil gremlin or elf that took apart my clothes in the night and altered them so that they no longer fit me. For some reason, my beloved looked dubious at my ideas. I cannot fathom why.

Not having a bank account that allows me to get rid of perfectly good clothing that no longer fits well due to my weakness for chocolaty, pizza-y, potato chippy, junk foodie food, I decided that Something needed to be done.

When I was all done praying for the weight to be miraculously lifted from me, and when I finished searching for a miracle pill that would cause my fat to evaporate and still allow me to eat whatever I wanted, and when I couldn't find an exercise that would work my body out in a sweatless manner while I slept, I decided that perhaps I should stop stuffing my face with junk foodie food and watching info-mercials about fat people who got skinny doing one of the above and get off of my own fat arse and do Something.

Years ago, after I had James (who is now 11) I hit my all time heaviest weight. I was sick of myself. I made a decision and went to Weight Watchers. It worked for me. I lost somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds before I discovered that I was pregnant with Joseph. Then, when Joseph died and my world crumbled around me, I tried going back and just didn't have the heart. So for a lot of years, I yo-yo-ed back and forth with my weight. I never got as heavy as my heaviest, but I never got back to the weight I was before Joseph. And I was sort of okay with it. I was busy making and tending to babies and toddlers and then elementary schoolers. I didn't have time to exercise. My husband travels frequently for work. I don't have family nearby to help watch the kids. It was too much work for me to think about it. I didn't care.

And then we moved into our new house. And I don't know why, but something changed. I just stopped eating as much and I lost some weight. I liked it. I liked being able to buy some new clothes. I liked that I felt better. I liked that I wasn't getting as many migraines. My doctor commented on it at my annual physical and I was pleased.

Aaaaannnd then there was last winter. For some reason, I just couldn't deny myself much of anything. I'm a stress eater. Fo' sho'. You give me a stressful situation and I will face plant in the nearest crappy food. And I was certainly more stressed with going back to work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it was a big change. So I packed on a few pounds.

And then I had the ideas about the Magic Closet and gremlins and such. Yeah. Nice denial.

Anyway, my mom (who was not very heavy before but is absolutely tiny now and on the verge of disappearing) decided that she really needed to lose a few pounds and she and a friend decided to join Weight Watchers. I cheered her on. I cheered her on and fed my face.

But then, she mentioned a walking program that WW has that starts you out walking 10 minutes and moves you up a couple of minutes a day over six weeks and by the end of the six weeks, you are walking 45 minutes and should be able to walk a 5K. This intrigued me.

Now, I am certainly capable of walking a 5K. This was not the issue. I knew that I could walk it at a pretty good clip and be okay. But, I thought, I know that I cannot run it. And that was the challenge I needed. So I modified the walking program to a running program by doing pyramid running. My older kids do pyramid running in their gym classes and it sounded like something I could implement.

I am amazed at how far I've come in three weeks. I know that I've dropped weight and my booty is smaller. (Yea!) I feel better. (Yippee!) And I don't really mind the run. (What the what?!?!) I kind of like getting sweaty. (What the what what?!?) I get time to myself.(Reason enough to continue, right?!) The schedule calls for a day of rest every third or fourth day. (A good thing, because I tend to be a wee bit competitive and would probably have overdone it by the second day if I didn't have the schedule.) The time increase is in increments that don't seem like a big leap to me, and paying attention to my timed intervals keeps my mind on keeping track of the time rather than the fact that I am chuffing my way around the neighborhood making a spectacle of myself.

How far have I come? Well, let's see. I started at a total walk/run time of 10 minutes, only being able to run a two minute interval and then wanting to curl up and die, to, as of today, running 26 minutes and hitting four minute intervals and feeling really good. Now I'm more than halfway to my goal. I'm not going to break any records, and I definitely make a spectacle of myself (my hair is particularly pretty when I finish) but I'm moving. And with the movement, I find that I crave more movement. And my appetite has diminished and changed.

In short, I'm healthier* than I was three weeks ago. Plus, now I can make fabulous mohawks with my beautiful, sweaty hair when I'm done. Couldn't have done that three weeks ago!

*Stay tuned tomorrow to find out how while running has improved my physical health, it really hasn't changed my insanity mental health.