A balance of Mind-Body-Spirit

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Dusting off the treadmill

Hi Everybody,

Cindy extended me an invite to this support blog so here I am. This is a perfect time too. Twenty plus years ago I was a model. We just unearthed my two portfolios and Robert (my dh) has been scanning them and putting them on the computer. My oh my, I will never get back to that girl. It's okay though. My 20 year old self was 5'7" and 117ibs. What is funny is that is too much weight for a model of 5'7" but if you saw the pics (and I will see if I can snag one and post it) you would think I probably needed to eat a sandwich...or two. LOL That was 40lbs ago. I am only interested in meeting my old self halfway. So, 140 is what I am shooting for, even though 20lbs seems like Mt. Everest to me. Stupid, I know, but still...it seems almost impossible.

So, I gotta dust off the very nice treadmill in the basement (which is finished and nice to hang out in) and just start walking. These are my initial goals:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water. Seems like no big deal...but it is for me. I know I don't get enough water. Coffee is another story.
2. Walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes, at least 3 days a week, to start. I love music, but for walking I really enjoy listening to books. So, I gotta find some fun fluffy book to listen too.
3. Cook more at home. We are blessed (and cursed) to be able to eat out ALOT. There are alot of calories in restaurant food. I love to cook (especially to bake) so I really need to get back into that...as it feeds me both body (and soul).

I am not going to put myself on a time table either. If I lose it slowly enough, it won't come back quickly...if ever. The point is to change stuff slowly so that it becomes habit. I really want to become pregnant again and I don't want to be doing something so extreme to my body (like really lowering calories or tons of exercise) that I would have to abandon it, if pregnant someday. It needs to be something a pregnant 41 year old could do. So far, the above 3 goals seem perfectly fine if I should be blessed enough to ever find myself pregnant again.
So, thanks for this great idea. I am glad I am here.

However, tonight is my husband's 42nd birthday so we are having 40 Cloves and A Chicken (40+ garlic cloves, tons of olive oil, thyme, cooked for 2 hours....amazing!) A big crusty French Boule with fresh grated Parmesano Reggiano, some wine, and a big, homemade Chocolate Cake (served with milk and/or coffee). So, even though I am cooking tonite....I don't think it is going to help with those goals....but hey! it's not New Years Day yet!

~Rachel in ATL.

3 comments:

Cindy said...

Wow, Rachel--- you are ready to go I can tell. (Well, after you finish off that wonderful dinner... I LOVE 40 clove chicken, too, and it is pretty healthy, really...! )

I am so glad you joined us and now we have two Rachels.. cool!

Well, I used to be 5'7" and 114 pounds. Can you guess which one I am not anymore? My story was that I was a bit pudgy in high school, so went off to college and ate the salad bar in the dorm, dropped weight and all of a sudden got dates. I was thrilled.

I still did not look like a model, but my eating was messed up because I equated *not* eating with warm fuzzies (dates), so had a very hard time finding normalcy. My good friends thought I was on the verge of anorexia--- and maybe I was, I don't know, but probably not as I still ate enough to average around 120 until I got married.

But, my weight has creeped up over the past 10 years especially and I kept looking at the scale thinking, I really can't weight that much.. or I carry it all over, so I am not really unhealthy.

But this year when I saw some pics of me on a trip, and then a doctor for the first time in my life suggested I needed to lose for health was the nudge to get me going.

Funny thing, I have alwasy worked out some, but I think it just became ineffective the last 10 years and things change as you age- (I am 48)--

But, I love your enthusiam and your goals. Water is so important. Now it is a no brainer for me on days I work out as I glug a bunch!

Losing slow is important, too, so I am off that diet race that I was on in my twenties... learning to accept myself but try and make slow changes for the better.

I will have to look back at what else you said.. my brain is old, too!

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing....

hugs,
Cindy

Leonie said...

Welcome, Rachel! Love your relaxed time frame - that always works better for me, too. Those SMART goals, with deadlins, just cause me too much stess!

Rachel May said...

Glad you're here, Rachel! I'm curious what a 5'7" model s "supposed" to weigh. And has it changed much over the years?

Wisely and slow is a great way to go!


A balance of Mind-Body-Spirit

Thought for the Day


"Good friends are good for your health."

~Irwin Sarason

"Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy! And happy people just don't shoot their husbands!"

Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde