OT - Being mindful of where I came from

 This is all very stream of consciousness but here goes.

 

The divas paternal grandma…she is going down the same road my mom went down. She has diabetes but she’s not changing her lifestyle at all. I think she just doesn’t know how and is a bit intimidated by the process.

 

She and my mom were good friends and I know my mom wouldn’t want the same fate for her so I have been trying to help. I asked grandma (her name is Renae) if she wanted to start taking a family walk every week around the lake. Nothing too serious, I told her. Just a turn around the lake, some good conversation, all of us together, even the children. She liked the idea.

 

So yesterday we did our inaugural walk. In the days leading up to the walk she kept nervously joking that she’d be walking by herself because we were probably so much faster than her. I assured her we were walking as a family. One of my friends does this method of training, I think it’s called Krim. Anyway the principle is that you are only as fast as your slowest walker, so if you get too far ahead you circle back behind the slowest person so they are again leading.

 

Anyhoo…so we go. The weather was nice. She came with her daughter (the diva’s aunt) who had her youngest son, a baby six months old in a stroller. And I intentionally slowed down my pace so she and I walked stride by stride together, chatting and talking.

 

So before I knew it we’d gone around once and she was like “whew! I’m done!" and I was like “No!" She was quite insistent that she was, in fact, done though.

 

And at that moment I sort of remembered where I came from. It was something like a non-scale victory for me. I could have gone around about four or five more times personally. But I understood that she was in a different place than me. So now I am excited to walk again…and again…until we can go an equal amount of times around.

But that was an eye-opener for me. I say all the time that I am fitter now than I used to be but it really didn’t hit me what that MEANS. It means I don’t get tired after walking a mile. Heck, I don’t even get tired after running a mile (although depending on the terrain, I may or may not have lost a lung along the way).

 

Don’t get me wrong. I am not “there" yet with my fitness. Everyone else decided to have another go around so Renae waited at the car and I broke the group rule and jogged some (my legs were just itching to do it) and I did get winded far before I thought I should (I also did not eat my banana pre-walk!) so I have a ways to go, but I do have this to say. Fitness is such a gift. Yes weight loss is important to us, but fitness is something you should also be paying attention to. If you’re working out, you are getting stronger, with more endurance and more strength and that MEANS something. It translates to something in the real world.

 

I remember the first time I realized I was a bit different than I used to be. I was walking and it started to rain and the nearest shelter was a block and a half away and I ran to it and noticed afterward I was not out of breath.

 

I’ll quit rambling now. But me and grandma are gonna continue our walks. And I’m going to get on her about the massive amounts of sugar she consumes a day. God as my witness, I can’t see another go the way my mom did. Renae doesn’t mind me nagging her so…onward and upward!

That's awesome!  I hope Renae doesn't quit on you! 

I remember the 1st time I realized how much fitter I was.... I was walking between 2 properties I work at, I thought, "Wow! I used to think that this walk was difficult!  I'm even speedy...." 

THEN, it occurred to me that I couldn't possibly do the walk carrying a 100lb weight.  Not close.  AND, if you asked me to, I'd tell you where to go. 

It was such a moment to realize that I asked myself to carry that weight all of those years!  I resolved to be kinder to myself in the future. 

Now, I'll stop rambling too! Have a great day!

Laura

Very good points!  I could use someone like you in my life, for realz!  My fitness level is poor.  **** poor.  I'm smaller, but I'm weaker than ever.  I've not exercised at all, except for a month or so of getting on the treadmill randomly a few months back.  I've always got some excuse - my low iron level makes me too tired to exercise, my low blood sugars make me too dizzy to exercise, etc.  Maybe, just maybe, if I just stopped the excuses and did something, I'd feel better.  I really need to try, because at this point I'm so weak and exhausted all the time that I pretty much have no life.  It's depressing.

Anyway, great, motivating post!

Awesome as always! I was thinking the other day as I carried a couple of big bags of dog food up the steps "I carried this and more everyday, just trying to make it through the day" and now I know what it is to really LIVE life. I wish I could hug that depressed, sad, feeling like nobody me.

 i had such a similar experience this weekend! my friend came to visit, and she is larger than i was. she has been working out like crazy and losing weight so i wasn't too worried about all the walking that comes with being in ny. when i could tell it was too much we would take the bus or whatever (i was originally planning on us walking at least one way from the met the other day, but we took the bus both). by the time we got back to the apartment sunday night i could tell she was hurting, and she asked to take a cab to her bus stop home instead of the subway. i know 2 years ago i would have felt the same way. i could hear her breathing heavily as we were walking, and especially as we walked up to my third floor apartment. i can pretty much run up those stairs now, whereas i wouldn't have even looked at a third floor walk-up before.

it made me so greatful for where i have gotten, and the tool i have sacraficed a lot for. 

That truly is fantastic. I had a much smaller but fun realization like that yesterday. I was chasing my son around on the playground and he was chasing me around. We did this for like 20 minutes and then I had to go back into my office (He attends the day care center i run). I wasn't even winded. An amazing feeling