Week 25 of Operation Get Fit No Excuses is finished. I can’t believe how fast it has gone! Next week will literally be my halfway point for a one year mark.
This past week has been filled with my usual diet and exercise regimen. We spent one day at the sea so I didn’t get any exercise done that day and I cheated and had ice cream. It was so good! But, I’m happy to report that one cheat day didn’t affect my weight loss at all. It’s good to treat yourself sometimes for all the hard work and dedication you put in towards losing weight.
Every other day, I’ve exercised a minimum of 45 minutes. I haven’t actually set this as a requirement or a goal for myself. I’ve done it just because it feels good. I change my routine every single day as well. Sometimes I stay home and follow different videos on YouTube, alternating Walk-at-Home videos with Toning and strength training segments. Other days I take long power walks outside and go different routes so that my body doesn’t know how I’m going to work out. This is a good training strategy when losing weight because your muscles are continuously working to keep up with your demands. If you do the same exercise routines every day, your body will lose the edge because it expects what’s coming and you won’t maximize the calorie burn.
While I was out today, I had the weirdest realization hit me out of the blue. It was about 7 am and beautiful outside. I had my music cranked up and my headphones on. I was in the zone and was pounding out the miles. The route I took this morning was one I had never taken before and was a little more crowded than other routes I normally take. I noticed that nobody paid any attention to me other than a cursory look or side glance.
I personally never really pay attention to anybody because I’m watching where I walk and keeping my pace steady. Normally the fact nobody was paying attention wouldn’t bother me or even register on my radar. But today it bothered me and I couldn’t figure out why. That’s when it hit me!
In the first months that I started on my Get Fit journey, people would stare at me and even make what I call a “stinky face” when they saw me out walking. Of course, when I started, I could barely walk 1 kilometer, let alone the 5 kms I do every day now. I was 19 kilos (42 lbs) heavier. People didn’t see a fat person trying to improve their health and lose weight by starting to exercise. They just saw a fat person and automatically had some type of negative reaction. I remember the ugly looks and scrunched noses as I was starting out. I remember people looking at me with disgust instead of encouragement. Now that I’m relatively an average size, nobody pays attention and I never see those nasty looks.
Because I realize this, I am going to make a conscious effort to give a nod, thumbs up, or something positive to every larger person I come across when I’m exercising to let them know I’m routing for them. It doesn’t take any extra effort and I hope it will help encourage them to continue. It may creep some people out, but if they have experiences anything close to what I did, they will understand and appreciate the encouragement. So, if you can, encourage others around you when you see them making an effort. I know I would have appreciated that versus that nasty looks I got.
Now, news about my Padrone Marco. He’s been experimenting with adding small amounts of normal food back into his diet. He is also walking to and from work twice a week in the month of July so that’s adding extra exercise to his daily routine. I’ll keep you all updated with his weight loss as he progresses.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement! See you next week!
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