With the weather being so crazy and unpredictable lately, I’ve been walking on the treadmill at the gym. Monday I made myself go sooner than later to try to beat the rain, but Lord knows I had to make myself go. It never fails that once I’m there and moving, I feel great and I have a wonderful workout. I did my 2 miles of walking, running and sprinting. I’m easing myself back into running, and it feel great. The only problem is I CAN’T breathe…LOL. It sucks having to rebuild my endurance. I can’t believe I’ve gone from running 5K races to just barely being able to run 1 minute.
But here’s what I know for sure…I did it once…I’ll do it again! This time around I KNOW it can be done, so that’s half the battle. I have to keep reminding myself of how great it’s going to feel all over again when I reach my milestones…5 minutes, 10 minutes, a half mile, one mile, and so forth. The more I walk and the more I run, the better I’ll become. It’s just a matter of time, consistency and determination.
But anywho, back to Monday. As I was finishing up my walk the guy on the treadmill next to me tapped me on the arm. He asked me if I could keep an eye out on his things while he went to the bathroom. When he came back, he thanked me of course and then introduced himself. I can’t remember his name, Vinny, Veto, something like that. But what I do remember is that he shared with me that he had lost 40 lbs. by “just walking”. He confided that he had also put back on 28 lbs., but he was back at it working his way back down. I of course shared that I was in the same bout, in that I had lost 71lbs. and gained 40 back. We both agreed how easy it was to put the weight back on, and encouraged each other to stay the course.
I was encouraged by our brief conversation because it showed me a couple of things:
- Walking is a perfectly acceptable and EFFECTIVE way to shed the pounds
- I’m not the only one who has succeeded in losing weight, only to gain some back
- We all have our story and we all struggle with losing weight and sustaining weight loss AND there is absolutely no shame in the regain – as long as you don’t give up on yourself
To my fellow walker, Vinny or Veto, thanks for sharing with me and encouraging me to keep on keeping on. I’m going to take a page from your book my friend and continue to walk away the pounds
Ethel says
Stacey I have often wondered why it is so much
harder to take off versus add :D. Like you said
we all have something but still we think we are
the only ones. I think if we keep in mind we have
company it might make it easier.
Stacey Strickler says
Having company on the journey definitely makes it more enjoyable! I’m glad you’re traveling it with me