The reality of getting old

Yes, yes, I know, it happens to everyone. It's just that I wasn't really paying attention. There's a first time for everything right? What, you say I consistently don't pay attention? Isn't that the reason why I ended up with a kid? Sure yeah but this is different. OK well meybe nosomush huh?

A few months ago I realized that not only was I feeling creaky, slothful, and a wee bit less flexible (that last one really shouldn't count, I've never been flexible and at best can only sit cross legged for a minute) but I was getting a little plump around the edges. After the brain explosion fiasco of 07 I was down to a whopping 120lbs. Which put me at slim in pictures size, i.e. stupid skinny. Mind you, I've been skinnier (haven't we all?) like as in 104 lbs at my towering 5'1". 104 was post high school and lets face it, no one gets back down to that size. That's like pre-depression of adulthood and child birth. Not gonna happen, never ever again. Which is fine, at that point my head looked too big on my body. But I popped on the scale one day in, oh, December? And I was fast approaching 150. Like at break neck speed. WTF?

That was like 25 lbs in one year. Time to bring that train to a screeching halt, no? First came the evaluations. I couldn't fit into any of my clothes. Good thing I wore scrubs to work every single day. Wait, no that was probably a bad thing. It made me notice the belly roll much later than I should have. MUCH later. So I took a look at my exercise. 1.5-3 miles a day of walking the dog. Should have helped. Nope. Eating? Hasn't changed in years, I've never been a big eater. Growing up in So Cal does that to a girl. Anorexia is our friend when in a bathing suit. Went to the doctor, told her about the fast weight gain. She didn't find much problem with the weight I was at (good thing I do though) but was alarmed at the rate and the lack of any lifestyle change. We did thyroid and lipid testing. All great. Still fat. Not happy.

So I sucked it up and joined a gym. I used to be a member of a gym. I hate exercise but when I did belong I kicked ass. Went in every single day. Back when I was young and durable. I was also working at that particular gym (biding time after college graduation, prior to moving back to San Diego) and had just broken up with my last boyfriend in Maryland. While we were still living together(awkward much?). I didn't want to be around him so I was either working or working out. It was the best shape I had ever been in as an adult. Too bad I dropped the habit once I left the state. I am not against gyms at all but I hate paying money every month to go to them. Some are sooo expensive! I've found some super cheap ones but, ew. Mine is middle of the road but I figure if I go 5-6 times a week it'll be worth it.

The end result I had is probably not a gym I would have gone to in my younger years. It's small, clean, very new, and only staffed like 4 hours a day. There's no pool (I wouldn't use it anyway) and they only just rented space next door to think about having classes. They have 3 Treadmills, 1 Tread Climber, 4 Elipticals and 2 recumbent bikes. There's a weight area and a boat load of Nautilus machines. At any given point in time there are maybe 4 people in the gym. Many times I've gone and been the only person there for all 2 hours of my work out. Not something you're going to see at most Gold's or Bally gyms. I've found that I prefer to be left in peace when I work out. I know lots of gyms have a 'womens' area where it is small and secluded. My gym is like that in it's entirety, I LOVE it. That's saying something mind you, I hate exercise.

So here's what I've been doing while I haven't been on the net, exercising. Seriously folks, to get a good workout in and have time to spent a wee bit of time with the family is almost a joke. There isn't enough time in the day. I've been doing the gym thing 5-6 times a week for 3 months now. 45-60 minutes of cardio and 25 minutes of weights each time. The results? I feel a lot better. When I'm not in pain. Weight loss? NONE. I'm sure I've lost fat and gained more muscle because I've lost an inch off the belly roll. Now if I was just looking at numbers though I'd be depressed. I've concluded that my body just likes to bulk up muscle and coddle the fat. It took at least a year to put on, figure it'll take at least a year to get off. It's ok, I'm still going to work out regardless. Hence the lack of blog postings. Sorry, once the days get more than 24 hours in them I might be able to pop on more. In the meantime, priorities ya know?

And for those of you that think I'm obviously eating too much (I can't tell you how many people go on an on about this no matter what I tell them I eat) I downloaded an iPhone app called Lose It. You tell it how much you want to lose (or maintain if you want) and it gives you a certain amount of calories you can eat per day based on your age, height, and weight. I log in all of the food I eat and all the exercise too. My calorie allotment, if I want to lose a pound a week, is 1367. Yes, that's right, I get a whole 1367 calories to consume per day. If I exercise that allotment goes up accordingly. You know what I figured out? I ate about that much even without recording it. On a really super splurge day I'd maybe go up to 1500 or 1600 but never 2000. So you know what? I still don't know why in the world I gained 25 pounds in about 1 year. Age? Who knows, my doctor doesn't think so. All I know is that I am never going to get this close to 150 again. It may take me a year but this spare tire is on it's way out.

See ya on the flip side of 150!